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Briefs: Atwell Suites in Texas | NYC demand up

Third Atwell Suites underway: IHG Hotels & Resorts announced an Atwell Suites is planned for Austin, Texas. The 80-room Atwell Suites Austin Airport is owned and managed by Bob & Son and is scheduled to open in early summer 2022. It is the third hotel underway for the brand, joining hotels currently under construction in Miami and Denver. There are currently more than 20 properties in IHG’s U.S. pipeline for this all-suites brand optimized for longer stays of up to six nights.

City Lodge to sell Kenyan, Tanzanian hotels: South Africa’s City Lodge is selling its stakes in three hotels in Kenya along with its City Lodge Hotel Dar er Salaam in Tanzania to subsidiaries of Actis, the U.K.-based investment firm. The three Kenyan hotels — the 127-room Fairview Hotel in Nairobi, the 171-room City Lodge Hotel at Two Rivers in Runda and the 84-room Town Lodge Upper Hill in Nairobi — will be sold for almost R141 million (US$9.6 million), while its share of the 148-room Tanzanian hotel will fetch R1 million (US$68,352). The proceeds of the sale of all four hotels will be utilized to settle the company’s debt. Including impairments, the four hotels incurred more than R371 million (US$25 million) in losses for the six months to end of December 2020. The company suffered losses worth R550 million (US$37 million) in the six months to end-December 2020 after a profit of R46 million (US$3 million) in the previous year.

Star Entertainment withdraws casino buyout plan: Star Entertainment Group, the Australian casino operator, withdrew an AU$9 billion (US$6.6 billion) buyout proposal for rival Crown Resorts over concerns that Crown could lose its license to run its Melbourne casino, sending its shares lower. The decision removes Crown’s lifeline as it had been trying to convince regulators it can rebuild its culture after an inquiry in February revealed it had allowed money laundering on its premises and declared the company unfit to open a just-built casino in Sydney. Star said it might consider a tie-up with Crown but was concerned about the impact on its value “including whether it retains the license to operate its Melbourne casino or the conditions under which its license is retained.” 

IHG to Montenegro: IHG Hotels & Resorts announced a franchise agreement with Celebic Group, a Montenegro-based real estate development company, to open InterContinental Resort Amma, Canj — Monenegro in autumn 2023. The 198-room hotel overlooking the Adriatic seafront will be the first for the InterContinental brand in the market. Besides guest rooms, the hotel will also feature suites, a selection of villas and a luxury residential development. The tourist town of Canj, in southern Montenegro, is one of Europe’s fast-growing luxury leisure markets thanks to its coastline, beaches and easy access to Dubrovnik in southern Croatia.

Busiest week for NYC hotels: Demand for hotel rooms in New York City peaked last week since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. City hotels sold more than 481,000 room nights, a 17,000 increase from the previous week, pushing the city toward exceeding a weekly goal of 500,000, he said. The city initiated a US$30 million marketing campaign to boost tourism, which at its height created roughly 400,000 jobs and infused about US$72 billion into the city economy, including US$7 billion of tax revenue. However, the city’s hotel industry remained depressed with nearly 100 properties closed for tourism, analysts say. While occupancy rate was 63% in June, it was about 50% for the hotel room inventory. The average occupancy rate was 90% in the summers of 2018 and 2019.

First Hospitality’s addition: First Hospitality, the Rosemont, Illinois-based hotel management and development company, added Delta Hotels Chicago Willowbrook to its management portfolio. The 164-room hotel re-opened in August 2020 after renovations and rebranding. First Hospitality oversees three other hotels in the area and 17 other Marriott-branded properties. 

Maui mayor vetoes construction moratorium: Maui’s Mayor Michael Victorino vetoed a bill that would have imposed a moratorium on hotel construction in parts of the Valley Isle, stating that it wouldn’t be effective and was legally flawed. Bill 60 would place a moratorium on building permits for hotels and other guest accommodations in south and west Maui until community plans in each area were updated or two years had passed, whichever was sooner. Victorino said the bill wouldn’t relieve crowds at Kahului Airport, reduce traffic on roads and solve illegal transient vacation rental woes. He said the measure didn’t go through “proper reviews” mandated by the Maui County Charter, adding that the county’s corporation counsel didn’t sign the bill. The measure was supported by members of the community and was only opposed by the industry and union representatives, said council member Kelly King.

Hilton’s first Signia property: Hilton announced the conversion of Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek to Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, marking Hilton’s first Signia by Hilton property. Owned by Park Hotels & Resorts, Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is part of the Bonnet Creek Complex, which also features Waldorf Astoria Orlando. Both Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and Waldorf Astoria Orlando will undergo a multi-phased meetings and events space transformation and expansion, which will result in a more elevated meetings and events experience.

Cvent to go public: Cvent, a Tysons, Virgina-based meetings, events and hospitality technology provider, and Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. II, a San Francisco, California-based special purpose acquisition company, announced their business combination agreement and launch a public offering. Upon closing, the combined company will operate as Cvent Holding Corp. and will trade under the ticker symbol ‘CVT.’ The deal values Cvent at an initial enterprise value of US$5.3 billion and will provide the company with US$801 million in cash, which will enable it to accelerate product innovation, increase research and development, reduce debt and expand go-to market activities to capitalize on its position in the US$30 billion market for in-person, virtual and hybrid events.

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