Reverb to debut in Atlanta: Hard Rock International announced that the first property of its Reverb select-service brand will be located in Atlanta, scheduled to open in February 2020 next to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The music- and tech-centric property, with nearly 200 rooms, will be developed and managed with Atlanta-based Bolton Atlanta and Hotel Equities, and will have a rooftop bar, a daytime coffee shop/evening bar, live music and a co-working space.
U.S. construction pipeline’s top cities: According to Lodging Econometrics, the top five U.S. markets with the largest total hotel construction pipelines in Q3 2018 are:
- New York City (170 projects/29,630 rooms)
- Dallas (157 projects/18,954 rooms)
- Houston (150 projects/16,473 rooms)
- Los Angeles (141 projects/24,129 rooms)
- Nashville (115 projects/15,179 rooms)
Projects already under construction and those scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, combined, have a total of 3,782 projects/213,798 rooms and are at cyclical highs. Markets with the greatest number of projects already in the ground and those scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are New York (145 projects/24,675 rooms), Dallas (112 projects/13,854 rooms), Houston (103 projects/11,562 rooms), Los Angeles (92 projects/14,249 rooms), and Nashville (88 projects/12,322 rooms). Reflecting the strong cyclical highs in the pipeline, LE forecasts that the number of new hotel openings will continue to rise in 2018-20. All in all, 10 of the top 25 markets show supply growth minimally exceeding demand growth in 2018.
Fattal adds Airbnb apartments: Israeli hotel chain Fattal Group, Israel’s biggest hotel chain, has leased two buildings in Tel Aviv neighborhoods and fitted them as short-term rental apartments. They are being offered on the home-sharing website under the master brand of Fattal’s Leonardo Hotels unit. The news was first reported by Yediot Aharonot daily. “For some time we have been observing the changes occurring in the hotel sector globally where the biggest chain entered the short-term apartment rentals segment,” Fattal reportedly commented. “We intend to continue examining closely those changes and update the services of the chain as all the world is changing.”
Joie de Vivre in Northern California: Two Roads Hospitality’s Joie de Vivre Hotels announced that El Capitan, a 114-room hotel, will open in Merced, California, in late 2019. Merced is proximate to Yosemite National Park. The property is being developed by Denver-based real estate company NuovoRE and will be managed by Two Roads.
Cambria in Georgia: Choice Hotels International signed an agreement with an affiliate of HB Capital Management to develop a Cambria Hotel in Alpharetta, Georgia. The five-story, 144-room upscale hotel is slated to open in 2020.
San Diego strike ends: One more down, four to go: Union workers at the Westin San Diego Gaslamp Hotel in California voted Sunday to ratify a new contract, ending a 35-day strike by 162 Unite Here Local 30 workers. Some 7,000 workers of hotels managed or owned by Marriott International continue to picket in San Francisco, Boston, Maui and Oahu.