Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index up 31% in November
The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was up 31% in November to a level of 4,354. Year to date through the first 11 months of 2020, the stock index was down 17.4%. “Election clarity and several positive vaccine updates caused a sharp reversal in investor expectations and led to significant outperformance for hotel stocks during November,” according to Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. “The positive vaccine updates allow investors to look to ‘the other side’ and reset their expectations for growth in 2022 and beyond. Worst-case scenarios, especially for the hotel REITs, are unlikely to unfold as previously feared, and more clarity exists regarding the timing of the broader travel recovery.” The November index outperformed both the S&P 500 (+10.8%) and the MSCI US REIT Index (+10.6%). The Hotel Brand sub-index increased 26.3% from October to 7,570, while the Hotel REIT sub-index jumped 47.7% to 1,068.
Wisconsin disburses US$18M to lodging operators
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced that over 650 Wisconsin lodging operators received COVID-19 Lodging Grants, supporting hotels, motels, and bed and breakfast operators. Some US$20 million has been designated for this grant program and so far, a little more than US$18 million has been disbursed. Awards were based on the average of approximately US$175 per eligible room in Wisconsin. In Milwaukee, 33 lodging operators received funding, with Marcus Hotels receiving the most at US$658,000. Marcus operates three hotels in the city — the Hilton Milwaukee City Center, The Pfister Hotel and Saint Kate-the Arts Hotel.
More from the Milwaukee Business Journal
Bulgari’s first U.S. hotel will be in Miami
Italian fashion house Bulgari announced plans to redevelop a 100-room oceanfront property, formerly Seagull Hotel Miami Beach, and re-open it by 2024. The hotel, which is permanently closed, sold to Blue Horizon Group in January for US$120 million. Italian architectural firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel will handle restoration and design work.
Read the story in the Real Deal
U.S. coalition asks for ‘urgent relief’
In a recent letter sent to the U.S. Congress from the COVID Relief Coalition, a group of more than 300 major public and private sector groups, the organization makes an “urgent request” for another round of COVID-19—related economic relief. The letter states: “New jobless claims again exceeded 700,000. There are signs that a once-nascent jobs recovery has markedly cooled — especially at the lower rungs of the income ladder. 35% of respondents to our survey say their business, organization or government has slashed its workforce due to the current economic situation. However, the worst may be yet to come: 95% of survey respondents believe their organization or industry will face growing challenges — or be forced to shutter altogether.”
Leisure, hospitality joblessness double U.S. average
According to unemployment figures prepared for the U.S. Travel Association by Tourism Economics, the leisure and hospitality industry’s unemployment rate is 15% unemployment rate, nearly double national level. Any early signs of a modest recovery for the sector — which accounted for 11% of all pre-pandemic employment in the U.S. yet has suffered 35% of all pandemic-related job losses — have been effectively extinguished, the USTA said. The sector resurged slightly in September with 413,000 new jobs, but declined precipitously over the past three months, adding only 31,000 jobs in November.
‘Dine out’ in a hotel guest room
As restaurants are required to close their dining rooms again to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, a hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is offering customers an alternative. The Hewing Hotel is offering a room service experience where customers can eat in a guest room turned dining room for a contactless dinner service. The package, offered only on Friday and Saturday nights, includes a seven-course tasting menu for up to four people at US$110 per person. The experience also includes a flat US$65 rate for the three-hour room reservation.