Dream Hotels to open in Nashville: Dream Hotel group will open Dream Nashville in mid-2018. The US$70 million project will include 169 rooms.
Read more at the Nashville Business Journal
Pan Pacific to enter Vietnam: Pan Pacific Hotels Group will open its Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts brand in Vietnam in October. Pan Pacific Hanoi, which has been operating as Sofitel Plaza Hanoi, will include 273 guestrooms and 56 serviced suites.
Read more at The Business Times
Wyndham to debut in Greece: Wyndham Hotel Group will open the Wyndham Grand Athens early in 2017. The 273-room hotel will be the first Wyndham hotel in Greece.
Read more at Wyndham’s website
French hotels file Airbnb complaint: A French association of hotel and tourism companies filed a complaint with Paris prosecutors against websites that offer holiday rentals for unfair competition, including Airbnb. The complaint was filed in November but was recently made public as French lawmakers prepare to consider an amendment allowing cities with more than 200,00 residents requiring short-term apartment rentals to register on the internet.
Jeju Sun sold: Iao Kun Group Hotel Company Limited entered into a share purchase agreement with Golden & Luxury Co. Ltd., Solaire Korea Co. Ltd. and Bloomberry Resorts Corp. to acquire the 203-room Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino in Jeju, Korea, for KRW117.5 billion (US$101 million) in cash. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2016.
Hawkeye Hotels buys in New Orleans: Hawkeye Hotels bought the Hotel Modern in New Orleans for an undisclosed price. The boutique property is scheduled to undergo a complete renovation and be re-branded as an InterContinental.
Vincci Hoteles, Ilunion launches REIT: Vincci Hoteles and Ilunion have formed a €500 million (US$567.5 million) Spanish REIT with plans for establishments in Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and the Costa del Sol, as well as several international locations.
U.S. leads construction pipeline: Lodging Econometrics reports that the U.S. has the largest construction pipeline in the world with 4,471 projects/551,965 rooms. China follows with 2,448 projects/549,222 rooms, Brazil with 407 projects/70,833 rooms, Indonesia 398 projects/64,695 rooms and India with 314 projects/47,566 rooms.
Airbnb versus hotels: A qualitative research study by iModerate found that Airbnb guests are seen as risk-taking extroverts while hotel guests are viewed as conservative introverts. The study asked 1,500 consumers nationwide to describe their preferences for staying at an Airbnb rental versus a hotel, their expectations of both experiences and the types of people who prefer to stay at both locations.
Grace Hotels nams CEO: Grace Hotels appointed Robert Swade CEO, effective September 1. Most recently, Swade was group chief operating officer at Jumeirah Group.