During this week’s Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles, HOTELS conducted multiple interviews with developers and operators making news. Here are some of the highlights:
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. The still-new IHG entry into the upscale boutique segment announced its first hotel development outside the U.S. during ALIS with the conversion of a Crowne Plaza in Amsterdam set for 2017. It will open as a 270-room hotel after undergoing a complete transformation. Brand CEO Mike DeFrino boasted a pipeline of 10 properties, expecting that number to double this year. He also talked about 10 more applications churning in Europe, as well as a handful in Middle East/Africa and China. Ten hotels are expected to open this year with another 10 coming online next year, adding no plans for franchising are in the offing. He also said getting Kimpton on all IHG platforms by the end of this year will scale the brand globally and deliver cost benefits for owners. Finally, he hinted that news about a new rewards program will be made public within a few weeks.
Yotel. Chief Development Officer Jason Brown told HOTELS that 11 managed properties are under construction, finally jump-starting a slow-to-develop brand with four open today after it truly caught the industry’s attention when it opened in New York City in 2011. Eight hotels are set to open next year with a goal of reaching 25 Yotels by 2018 and 50 by 2020. Most of the growth will continue to come via construction but Brown added the company is working on a conversion model. In fact, its development in San Francisco is an adaptive reuse and more of those are coming. Most of the deals it is finding are off-market and the team still requires A+ sites. Building infrastructure appears to be the company’s biggest challenge during growth, but Brown expects its team of 20 to double within a few years.
Hilton Worldwide. HOTELS sat down with Phil Cordell, global head, focused-service and Hampton by Hilton brand management, to talk about the launch of Tru by Hilton. He said the timing was right for the brand launch and what led to an impressive pipeline of 102-plus hotels (all but two are new-builds) from day one was its flexibility and the fact that it is more than an urban gateway play. While the first few will, in fact, be urban developments, Tru will work as an adaptive reuse, will grow in secondary and suburban markets, as well as university markets. All initial development is focused on the U.S., with Canada to follow. For the first year, Cordell said that out of respect for existing owners they will be the only ones offered opportunities to develop Tru. The first few properties will open this year and Cordell was quick to quote CEO Chris Nassetta, who predicts Tru will become Hilton’s biggest brand due to the big opportunity in the midmarket. Cordell called Tru “the basics done well with unexpected treats,” adding, “the public spaces are ‘go to,’ not ‘go through.’” Tru marketing will rely much more on social media to develop dialogues with guests. The biggest challenge, Cordell said, is to stay disciplined to make the brand true to its model.
Hard Rock International. Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer Marco Roca touted a newly aggressive pipeline that included 13 deals in 2015 (four in Europe, six in Latin America, two in the U.S. and one in Asia) and is expected to add 16 big, noisy, “boom factor” deals in 2016. “The experiential economy has helped our growth,” he said. Of 21 deals in the pipeline, 15 are managed and reflect growth in all-inclusive, gaming and the Caribbean.
Commune Hotels & Resorts/Destination Hotels. Just after announcing the merger of these two independent-minded owner-operators now with a combined platform of 93 hotels, existing CEOs Niki Leondakis and Jamie Sabatier said owners Lowe Enterprises and Geolo Capital put equal equity into the deal and are working out a new B2B name for the existing hotel brands to work under. The new company will be a pure operations play with increased ability to work more strategically with owners, cross sell and consider more locations for growth across its more integrated urban and resort environments. Initial focus will be on adding value and drive returns for owners, merging back-end systems and creating new opportunities for its teams. A new loyalty program is coming, as well, at some point.
Loews Hotels. CEO Kirk Kinsell keeps hinting at a potential portfolio acquisition but had nothing more than that to offer on the subject. He was happy to talk about Loews newly acquired Hotel 1000 in Seattle, its first property in the Pacific Northwest, which will be repositioned and eventually rebranded. Loews new OE Collection has its first property in Toronto with a few more coming, according to Kinsell. At the same time, Loews continues to add rooms to its Orlando, Florida, portfolio with 1,000 rooms coming online this summer at the new Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, as well as two, 200-room tower additions coming to the Cabana Bay Beach Resort.
Dream Hotel Group. The New York-based group formerly known as Hampshire Hotels Management and Debut Hotel Group has been quietly renamed Dream Hotel Group under new CEO Jay Stein, who said the big focus be on its most successful brand, Dream Hotels. In fact, the group just tapped Rockwell Group to design its Dream Hollywood in Los Angeles, set to debut this summer. Stein is also focusing on further development of the group’s Time and Unscripted brands, while the Night brand and Planet Hollywood developments will be phased out. Stein says upper-upscale Dream with its big emphasis on F&B has the potential to reach 20 markets from its current stable of four properties (Phuket, two in New York and South Beach). A Dream Dallas will be an acquisition by group Founder Sant Chatwal, while Doha, Boston, Long Island City, New York, and another New York City property at 40th Street and Seventh Avenue are under development. Mid- to upscale Unscripted has a new deal on the East Coast of the U.S. with several more (Miami, LA, Portland and a few in Texas) in the works, according to Stein. A development office has opened in Dubai with plans for a Dream and Time hotels. The Time brand just re-launched with a Rockwell-designed property in Manhattan with another coming to Nyack, New York. Deals in Long Beach, California, Seattle and downtown Miami are all close, Stein added.
Marcus Hotels & Resorts/MCS Captial. New Senior Vice President of Development Andrea Foster is focusing on branded full- and select-service development, as well as historic conversions for the public Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company with deep pockets yet a capital-light approach. Marcus has 18 hotels open and a Marriott in Omaha, Nebraska, under development. It is stepping into the select-service arena with management of the new AC by Marriott in Chicago and is also focused on improving its already-strong F&B department, naming former Hyatt F&B leader Susan Terry to lead its department. Foster will work closely with Bill Reynolds, Jr., senior managing director of MCS Capital, in pursuing high-quality management contracts and sourcing potential hotel investment opportunities.
Davidson Hotels & Resorts. Having just announced the launch of its Pivot brand, the team confirmed a recently opened hotel in San Francisco will be the first hotel takin on the new brand. The next Pivot will debut in mid-February in the Florida Keys. Additional properties are under development in Chicago, near Wrigley Field, and in Nashville, close to Music Row. Both have planned openings in 2018. Yet another is in the works for Eugene, Oregon.