Accor arm hires Rothschild for US$3.4B debt review
AccorInvest Group has hired advisers to help fix its balance sheet in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The company, which has over 900 hotels, signed Rothschild & Co. to lead talks with its 19 lenders and evaluate options including raising new capital, according to unnamed sources. The talks, which are at an early stage, include a range of options from extending maturities to amending terms, the people said. The company has also applied for a €450 million (US$530 million) state-backed loan in France.
Perceptions of safety rising: MMGY
The latest findings from MMGY Travel Intelligence’s Travel Intentions Pulse Survey (TIPS) and MMGY Global’s Travel Safety Barometer show increasing confidence in the safety of domestic and international travel, cruising, dining and entertainment, business travel and lodging. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Domestic Travel Safety Barometer score rose above 50, indicating travelers are increasingly confident about the idea of traveling. The barometer, which measures perceptions of safety on a scale of 0 (extremely unsafe) to 100 (extremely safe), rose to 52, 22 points higher than it was in April. Wave IX of the TIPS survey, conducted in late September, found that 46% of respondents said they are likely to take a domestic leisure trip in the next six months. The international version of the barometer rose as well, increasing 6 points to 38 in October. Twenty-five percent of TIPS respondents said they are likely to take an international leisure trip during the next six months, up from 18% in Wave VIII.
Read the survey and the safety barometer
Ashford subsidiary speaks out about job loss
The decision by a Dallas hotel company to return tens of millions of dollars of the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program has cost one of its subsidiaries thousands of jobs, according to the CEO of the subsidiary. Ashford, which oversees an interwoven group of hotels and resorts, returned more than US$70 million in government loan money in May after facing criticism that the money was intended for small businesses. The CEO of Dallas-based Remington Hotels, an Ashford subsidiary, recently said that he could have avoided laying off thousands of workers if he had been able to use the funds.
More from the Dallas Business Journal
Budapest hotels expect a 70% revenue loss this year
Horwath HTL Hungary, in cooperation with the Hungarian Hotel & Restaurant Association, has published a snapshot report based on a national online sentiment survey to reflect on the unprecedented challenges in 2020, through feedback from hoteliers. Key findings include:
- Budapest hotels expect an over 70% revenue loss in 2020 versus 2019. In contrast, less than half (42%) of respondents from the countryside hotels expect a loss of between 20% to 40%
- The majority of Budapest hoteliers expect having to wait until 2023-24 to reach 2019 GOP results, while countryside hotels expect the recover by 2021-22
- Some 10% of respondents were still closed in September, of which 90% are located in Budapest
- The crucial importance of the extension of wage support is evident both in Budapest and the countryside