Business travel demand up: Demand for business travel is rising steadily, with domestic travel taking the lead, as per the latest polls from The Global Business Travel Association. However, government restrictions on international travel hamper the ability for companies to conduct key business functions. While 77% of respondents feel their employees are willing or very willing to travel for business, 54% said they feel optimistic about the industry’s path to recovery. Nine in 10 companies plan to resume domestic travel in the near future or are considering resuming domestic travel but have no definite plans, while three in 10 plan to resume international travel within one to three months. Over 52% of the respondents said networking, business prospecting (51%) and business planning and strategizing (50%) are impacted by government policies and curbs on international travel.
Prism Hotels & Resorts retains Hyatt: Prism Hotels & Resorts, Dallas, has retained management of the 581-room Hyatt Regency at the Los Angeles International Airport. This comes after the hotel was recently sold by Amalgamated Bank to the Southwest Carpenter’s Trust Fund. Prism Hotels & Resorts was engaged by Amalgamated Bank as the hotel management company in 2016 when the hotel was undergoing a US$75 million rebrand and renovation to become a Hyatt Regency.
Boca Raton Holiday Inn trades: The Montford Group and Opterra Capital have acquired the 180-room Holiday Inn Boca Raton North in Florida. Chicago-based real estate firm Griffin Hotel Management began operation and management of the hotel on July 8. The hotel will undergo renovations to upgrade the tropically landscaped courtyard and pool, lobby and common areas, as well as the restaurant. Based in Boca Raton, Opterra Capital is a real estate investment sponsor and operating partner capital markets advisor and asset manager. Charleston, South Carolina-based real estate and development company Montford Group’s portfolio consists of over 40,000 square feet of office and retail along with over 600 hotel keys of existing and ground-up development.
Loan for House of Gods: Manchester, England-based OakNorth Bank has loaned £4.8 million (US$ 6.6 million) to boutique hotelier House of Gods Hotels to aid expansion plans. Founded by brothers Mike and Ross Baxter, the House of Gods Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland, was partially funded via a £1.1 million (US$1.5 million) loan from OakNorth Bank in 2019. In February 2021, the business secured a £5 million (US$6.8 million) investment from IMBIBA, the specialist operator-led leisure and hospitality sector investor. The new loan, along with IMBIBA’s investment, will be used to expand the House of Gods brand with two new four-star boutique hotels in Glasgow, Scotland, and Manchester, U.K.
Seibu Holdings to offload properties: Japan’s Seibu Holdings is looking to sell some of its hotel and leisure properties. The target sales price is over 100 billion yen (US$90 million). Proposals have been sought from investment funds by Seibu, with the target of completing sales by April 2022. Seibu owns marquee real estate throughout Japan but is expected to sell only a portion of the portfolio. About 40 properties are on offer, of which 10 are hotel properties and the remaining real estate are golf courses and ski operations. The Shinagawa Hotel and Karuizawa Hotel are not for sale for now.
Ghassan Aboud Group’s acquisition in Australia: Ghassan Aboud Group, the UAE-based business conglomerate, has acquired the 166-room Vincent Hotel, formerly known as The Fantauzzo, in Brisbane, Australia for A$257 million (US$69 million). Vincent Hotel will be added to the Crystalbrook Collection, a subsidiary company of Ghassan Aboud Group, which was founded by Ghassan Aboud as a hospitality management firm in 2016. The Group’s hospitality and real estate investments across Australia are currently valued at US$1 billion, all of which are managed by Crystalbrook Collection.
Browns acquires Mauritius resort: BI Leisure, a UAE-based fully-owned subsidiary of Browns Investments, entered into a share sale and purchase agreement to acquire a luxury hotel in Mauritius owned by PL Resort Ltd. While the 100-room luxury beach resort was valued at US$12 million, BI Leisure acquired the business for US$3.7 million, the value after deducting the existing debt of PL Resorts. The resort is managed and operated by Radisson under its Radisson Blu brand. BI Leisure has interests in investments, leisure and travel, construction, manufacturing and trading, plantation, power and real estate.
Doha overtakes Dubai in air traffic: Doha surpassed Dubai as the busiest hub airport in the Middle East in the first half of 2021, as per a survey by ForwardKeys. From January 1 to June 30, the volume of air tickets issued for travel to Doha was 18% higher than it was through Dubai. Current bookings for the second half of the year through Doha are 17% higher than through Dubai. Air traffic in Doha at the beginning of the year was 77% of Dubai’s and climbed to 100% for the first time during the week commencing January 27. The trend was driven by the lifting of blockade of flights to and from Qatar (imposed in June 2017) by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Qatar also gained an edge over Dubai due to its reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the peak of the pandemic, many routes in and out of Doha remained operational, which made it a major hub for repatriation flights.