Artotel in JV: Artotel Group of Indonesia signed a joint venture agreement with Sinar Mas Land to establish one company, PT Sinar Arthotel Indonesia. The JV will manage lifestyle hotel brand Rooms Inc. and expand it throughout Indonesia, along with managing other brands owned by the new company, including Artotel Suites, Artotel Villa Artotel Casa and Bobotel.
Vienna Hilton sale: The Hilton Parkview Vienna was sold to a Korean consortium led by Meritz Securities and including Hana Financial Investment Co. and NH Investment & Securities Co., for €375 million (US$420.2 million). With 579 rooms, it’s Austria’s largest conference hotel and is undergoing refurbishment. The sellers were two Austrian family offices represented by Invester United Benefits.
Group challenges: The overall 24-month projected view of group booking in the U.S. is still fairly weak, according to the latest Cvent Group Business Outlook, which tracks group booking activity through Cvent’s supplier network. “As we look at the next two years, our sourcing data shows a relatively flat awarded group rooms pace and a slight downturn in awarded RFP activity within the U.S. market. Supply continues to increase, but booking pace is not keeping up, which means a drop in group occupancy across the board,” said Jeffrey Emenecker, senior director of analytics at Cvent.
Microtel to build five: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ Microtel brand signed an agreement with developer Pete Patel for five new properties using the brand’s Moda prototype design. The agreement will put Microtels in Destin and Fort Walton Beach, Florida; Saint Rose and Chalmette, Louisiana; and Midland, Texas. The Moda prototype updates design and reduces the brand’s total footprint by 28% over the previous prototype.
25Hours in Italy: 25Hours Hotel Company will open a 173-room hotel in Florence, Italy in early summer 2020. The 25hours Hotel Piazza San Paolino will be designed by Paola Navone and Genius Loci Architettura and will employ Dante’ Divine Comedy as the property’s narrative.
Google Maps guarantee: Search engine Google announced new Google Maps travel features, including a guarantee to show users the best prices for travel or their money back. It also introduced a flight guarantee – if a price drops during a certain period of time that Google chooses, it will refund the user the difference if it does.
Read about other features at the Points Guy
DoubleTree acquired: Real estate investment and management firm AWH Partners acquired the DoubleTree by Hilton Albuquerque, New Mexico. Spire Hospitality, AWH management company, is managing the 295-room hotel, which completed a US$23 million renovation in 2018. A purchase price and seller were not given.
Database exposed: An exposed database was found by consumer tech website Comparitech to have potentially leaked Choice Hotels guest data, along with a ransom note demanding bitcoin. According to Comparitech, Choice says much of the 5.6 million records were test data, all of which was stored on a vendor’s server. The hotel company said it has ended its relationship with the vendor.