Nicosia getting Blu: Radisson Hospitality AB, part of Radisson Hotel Group, has signed a deal for the Radisson Blu Hotel, Nicosia in Cyprus. The deal with Stenson Investments Ltd., a subsidiary of Quality Group, is part of the master development agreement with Sunnyseeker Hotels to develop a minimum of six hotels and resorts, bringing almost 1,000 rooms into operation by 2025. The newly built 180-room Nicosia hotel will have 150 standard rooms and 30 suites.
Cavendish sale: Singapore-based CapitaLand, owners of London’s 230-room Cavendish hotel in the upmarket St. James’s neighborhood, hired Jones Lang LaSalle to sell the property for about £250 million (US$325 million), according to a Bloomberg report. CapitaLand bought the property in 2012 for a reported £158.8 million.
REIT refi: Hospitality Investors Trust closed a US$1.04 billion refinancing deal on dozens of hotel properties across the country, according to the Real Deal. The branded portfolio includes three hotels in Chicago, three in southern California and two in Miami. The refinancing package includes US$870 million of senior debt secured by 92 properties, along with US$170 million between two mezzanine loans. The properties comprise about two-thirds of the REIT’s entire 144-hotel portfolio.
April ADR record in London: STR’s preliminary April 2019 data for London indicates year over year supply growth of +2.3%; demand: +0.7%; occupancy: -1.6% to 81.1%; ADR +1.4% to £143.01; RevPAR -0.1% to £115.99. The absolute ADR level is the highest for any April in STR’s London database. STR analysts attribute the decrease in occupancy to supply growth, and to a lesser extent, the Easter calendar shift from early April last year.
Booking misses big: Booking Holdings revenue for the first quarter of 2019 was down 3% to US$2.84 billion, ending a long run of increases. Estimates were set at US$2.93 billion. Adjusted net income declined even more sharply, falling 14%, to US$508 million. Gross travel bookings were up just 2%, to US$25.4 billion, although the strong U.S. dollar cost the company about 6 percentage points of growth on that front.
Big get bigger: According to a Q1 2019 report from Lodging Econometrics on the U.S. construction pipeline, Marriott International is tops, with 1,499 projects/196,771 rooms and Hilton Worldwide has 1,386 projects/154,349 rooms; both are record highs. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) follows with 980 projects/99,115 rooms. These three franchise companies alone comprise 68% of total projects in the pipeline. The leading brands in the construction pipeline by project count for each of these three companies are IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 416 projects/39,078 rooms, Home2 Suites by Hilton with 415 projects/43,122 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 305 projects/29,566 rooms. Twenty percent of the projects in the pipeline are derived from these three brands combined.
REIT launching in Sinapore: US-based REIT Eagle Hospitality Trust has lodged a prospectus for an initial public offering in Singapore with 559.34 million shares being offered at US$0.80-0.81 per share. Investors such as DBS Bank, DBS Bank’s management clients, Gold Pot Developments, and Ji Qi have already subscribed to 139.50 million of shares. Backed by US-based property investor and developer, Urban Commons LLC, EHT will list in Singapore with a market cap of US$750 million. EHT’s portfolio of 18 hotels includes nine upper upscale hotels, five upscale hotels and four upper midscale hotels with 5,420 rooms. The assets, spanning 11 U.S. markets are valued at US$1.27 billion or US$234,317 per key.
Pakistan unrest hits 5-star: Five people, including a soldier, were killed after gunmen stormed a 5-star hotel in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, the military said Sunday. The attack on Pearl Continental in the strategic port city of Gwadar left four hotel employees and a Pakistan Navy soldier dead on Saturday. Six others were injured, including two army captains, two navy soldiers and two hotel employees. The military said that all three attackers, who planned to take hotel guests hostage, had been killed. According to a statement from the Pakistan’s Armed Forces, the gunmen forced their way into the hotel’s main hall, killing a security guard and firing indiscriminately as they attempted to reach the upper floors of the building. Military forces were able to reach the hotel, secure guests and restrict the attackers to the fourth floor, before killing them. A Pakistani separatist group claimed responsibility, warning of more attacks in China and Pakistan in a post on an unverified Twitter account.
Dreams are made of these: AMResorts, an Apple Leisure Group related brand, on Monday announced a new resort management deal bringing the Dreams Resorts & Spas brand to the island nation of Curacao. The property, owned by Lionstone Development and formerly known as Hilton Curacao, will undergo a US$15 million renovation before re-opening in December 2019 as Dreams Curacao Resort, Spa & Casino.