Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide signed two management agreements on September 12 marking its entry into Georgia with planned two hotels in Batumi and Tbilisi over the next three years.

The company said its flagship brand Hilton Hotels & Resorts with 247 rooms is planned to debut in the Black Sea resort of Batumi in summer 2014 and 14-storey, 165-room Hilton Garden Inn in Tbilisi, on Chavchavadze Avenue, is planned for 2016.

A management agreement has been signed over the Tbilisi project with LTD Chavchavadze 64a, co-owned by businessman Lasha Papashvili. Redix, also owned by the same businessman, will act as a developer and asset manager of Hilton Garden Inn in Tbilisi.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing USD 18.66 million loan to finance the Tbilisi project, which has the estimated total cost of USD 31.1 million, according to EBRD; Papashvili is a co-sponsor of the project.

On Batumi project, Hilton Worldwide entered into a separate management agreement with Tourinvest Ltd.