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Briefs: Driftwood’s crowdfunding way to expansion

The crowdfunded way. Miami-based Driftwood Acquisitions & Development (DAD), a hospitality real estate firm that has developed a crowdfunding business model allowing accredited investors to co-invest in hotel assets after they have acquired them, purchased last week three Marriott-flagged hotel assets  (368 rooms) in Atlanta as part of a six-property portfolio. The deal includes the Fairfield Inn & Suites Atlanta Buckhead; Fairfield Inn & Suites Atlanta Perimeter Center; and Fairfield Inn & Suites Atlanta Alpharetta. All of the properties will be managed by DAD’s sister company, Driftwood Hospitality Management. The other three hotels included in the transaction are owned separately by DAD’s joint venture partner.

Festive results in Europe. Hoteliers had cause for celebration in October as European hotels recorded a 6% year-on-year increase in profit per room. Performance was boosted by a number of major festivals hosted in key cities, according to the latest data tracking full-service hotels from HotStats. While GOPPAR levels actually dipped against September—dropping to €79.57 for the month, against €96.80 last month—the considerable year-on-year growth in October was sufficient to continue to drive a strong year-to-date increase in profit per room, which is now 9.8% above the same period in 2017. Growth in profit this month was aided by a 6.1% increase in RevPAR, fuelled significantly by a 5.2% increase in achieved average room rate to €171.79.

Two for one. IHG has announced the development of the new-build, dual-branded Staybridge Suites and Holiday Inn Express Quincy hotel in Quincy, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The 90-room Staybridge Suites and 90-room Holiday Inn Express will be owned by XSS Hotels and Cathartes Investments. Colwen Hotels, the management company affiliate of XSS, will manage the property expected to open in Q2 2019.

News from Vietnam. Absolute Hotel Services, Bangkok, has added the 5-star, 380-room Eastin Grand Hong Van Hotel Halong to its portfolio – its fourth Eastin Grand property in Vietnam. The hotel, set in the Ha Long Bay area, is targeted to open in 2021.

Encore’s encore? Mohegan Sun says it is willing to buy the US$2.5 billion Encore Boston Harbor casino if Wynn Resorts is found unsuitable by state regulators — a move apparently aimed at giving the Gaming Commission an easy out from its high-stakes dilemma, according to a Boston Herald report. Mohegan has held initial meetings with at least one neighboring community to say the company would be interested if Wynn’s license is stripped, and that it intends to honor existing surrounding community agreements that Wynn has negotiated. Mohegan has also told the Gaming Commission it would be interested in the license. But the mayor of Everett has rejected the idea of Mohegan Sun taking charge of the casino. The city has said its deal with Wynn Resorts gives it the ability to approve or reject the sale to a new company.

See Boston Herald report

Back to work. A tentative agreement has been reached in the Marriott hotel strike in San Francisco that is impacting 2,500 workers, according to an ABC7 report. Workers have been on the picket line nearly two months calling for better wages, affordable health care, and safe workloads. Workers could be back to work by Wednesday.

Oyo, no. Budget and midmarket hotels across India are angry with Oyo because their businesses are suffering due to deep discounting, high commissions and arbitrary contract changes being sought by the upstart platform, according to the Economic Times. The hoteliers are banding together and considering legal action against Oyo, the room aggregator in which Softbank is an investor and had a valuation of US$5 billion in the last round of funding. The Budget Hotel Association of Mumbai, a grouping of 250 properties, has won support from similar alliances in Delhi, Mysore, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad and they are in the process of forming a nationwide lobby.

See Economic Times report

Into the sunset. AccorHotels has announced that its Chief Operating Officer for North and Central America, Kevin Frid, has decided to retire on January 31, 2019, after more than 36 years with the company. Chris Cahill, deputy CEO, will work closely with Frid to ensure a smooth transition.

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