Lion roars in Florida. RLHC (Red Lion Hotels Corp.) announced Friday it signed a franchise license agreement to open a new Red Lion Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, next month. The Red Lion Hotel Jacksonville will features 167 guest rooms and will be followed by the Red Lion Hotel Orlando – Lake Buena Vista South slated for November 2016.
IHG releases results: InterContinental Hotels Group’s first quarter trading update shows the company’s global comparable RevPAR increased 1.5%, with rates up 1.0% and occupancy up 0.3% over the year-earlier period. The company opened 5,000 rooms in the quarter, increasing its total 2.2% to 742,000 rooms; its current total pipeline is 220,000 rooms, with 45% under construction.
InterContinental in San Diego: InterContinental Hotels & Resorts signed a partnership with Portman Holdings to open the 400-room InterContinental San Diego in 2018 in the city’s North Embarcadero area of downtown.
Rock star perks: Hard Rock International announced upgrades to its guest loyalty program, including priority seating and access to “collectors only” events.
U.S. transactions slow: Transaction activity is off to a slow start in 2016, according to the most recent United States Transactions Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics. The first quarter saw 252 hotel transactions, the lowest volume recorded since the third quarter of 2012.
Dalata in Cork: Dalata Hotel Group acquired a partly completed hotel property in Cork, Ireland, for €10.2 million (US$11.7 million). The 121-room hotel started construction in 2007 but stopped shortly after it was begun. Dalata, which plans to invest more than €22 million (US$25.2 million), aims to open the hotel in the second half of 2018.