Hilton Worldwide has signed three new hotels in Russia, with openings in Yaroslavl and Kazan as well as the company's second hotel in Moscow.

The 179-room Hilton Garden Inn in Yaroslavl - whose old town is a UNESCO world heritage site - is expected to open in spring 2012 and will offer a restaurant, a lobby bar, 10 meeting rooms and a ballroom and be operated under a franchise agreement with RESO Hotel Investments. The Hilton Garden Inn in Kazan - capital of Tatarstan - is planned to have a 2014 opening and will provide 171 rooms, an all-day restaurant, a lobby bar, business centre, fitness centre and four meeting rooms. It will be operated under a franchise arrangement with Vostochnaya Zvezda LLC, part of the London & Regional Properties Ltd group.

Scheduled for an opening at the beginning of 2012, the 270-room Doubletree by Hilton, Moscow Leningradsky-Riverside will feature a full-service restaurant and bar, a dedicated fitness centre with an indoor swimming pool, 1,200sq m of meeting space and a ballroom, and a business centre. The property will be operated as a franchise with Autoconcept Co. Russia plays an important part in Hilton Worldwide's strategic development market, with the company having recently announced the signing of Hilton Garden Inn Omsk, which is scheduled to open in 2014.

Further hotels under development include the Doubletree by Hilton, Perm; the Doubletree by Hilton, Sochi-Adler; the Hilton Garden Inn Samara; and the Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk, all expected to open in 2012.