Jingle mail for 2 NYC hotels?: Hartz Mountain billionaire Leonard Stern is reportedly ready to hand over the keys to the lender to the Soho Grand and Roxy Hotel in New York City, according to a report by The Real Deal, citing notes on the hotels’ securitized loan. Stern has requested to transfer the hotels to the special servicer on the US$110 million loan via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
Wynn raising shares: Wynn Resorts announced Monday that it’s selling up to 6.32 million shares of equity to bolster cash. News of the share sale comes after Wynn stock gained 17.54% last week. Wynn Resorts intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 825,000 shares of common stock, the company said in a statement.
A bit of optimism in the UK: Glasgow’s hotel occupancy on the books is pushing 90% for the UN Climate Change Conference, and London is showing increases around two key sporting events, according to data from Forward STAR, STR’s forward-looking benchmarking solution. The highest level for occupancy on the books (21%) is currently showing on June 18, the day of the UEFA Euro group stage match between England and Scotland. Later in the year on October 2, the day before the London Marathon, occupancy on the books sits at 15%. “These numbers indicate the optimism for vaccine distribution, better control of the pandemic, and improved conditions for travel and events,” said Steven Cote, STR’s product manager for Forward STAR. “Guest booking windows have shortened significantly during the pandemic, so there is plenty of potential for these levels to grow even higher as we get closer to the event dates.”
Daytona Beach hotel sold: The Nautilus Inn, a 99-room beachside hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, that has been family-owned for decades, has been sold for US$8 million to a company that includes the development of Daytona’s Hard Rock Hotel. The Nautilus Inn has been bought by Asante Asset Management, the new name for the company previously known as Summit Hospitality Management Group. Asante, under the name 1515 South Atlantic Ave., bought the property from longtime owner DeNure Holdings, the holding company for a Canadian family that bought the hotel years ago.
More from The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Miami convention center developers push for shifts: The developers of Florida’s planned Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel are asking the city to make changes to their development and ground lease agreement to better position the hotel for financing when the market for new-build convention hotels eventually reopens. Specifically, they want to make design changes to reduce the building’s height and mass and first floor programming, eliminate the on-site parking requirement, and the ability to utilize meeting space at the center. They’re also seeking extension of the outside dates for completion in the development agreement due to the pandemic.
IHG data says consumers want to rebook: A recent survey from IHG Hotels & Resorts examines guests’ social and emotional well-being during the pandemic, as well as their sentiments towards travel going into the new year. The results showed that more than half the travelers surveyed want to rebook or have rebooked their cancelled trips (both leisure and business) from 2020. And while the pandemic isn’t over, the roll-out of vaccines is igniting hope and optimism, as respondents across all age groups, 18 to 55-plus, say spending time with family and friends is a primary motivator for travel this year. The survey also revealed that of those that had planned to getaway in 2020, close to 60% ended up cancelling one to four trips over the last year.
Trump could be fined US$12M for Chicago violations: Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Chicago hotel is improperly using water from the Chicago River to cool the building in violation of environmental protection regulations, a judge in Illinois ruled this week. That ruling stems from a 2018 lawsuit against the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. The Illinois attorney general had argued that Trump’s property used 19 million gallons of water each day from the Chicago River to cool the property and returned the water to the river at a warmer temperature.
Hotels transfer in Indonesia: Jakarta-based Hotel Indonesia Group has been appointed as operator of 14 state-owned hotels owned by PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (Persero). As the holding operatorship appointed by the Ministry of BUMN, PT Hotel Indonesia Group will later manage and develop all state-owned hotels as Hotel Indonesian chain or Hotel Indonesia flagship. Apart from state-owned hotels, the company will also target management of private or individual hotels.
Could mandatory quarantines harm lower-income Canadians? The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is questioning Ottawa’s move to require hotel quarantines for international travelers, saying it may harm lower-income Canadians and infringe on citizens’ mobility rights. Cara Zwibel, a lawyer who heads the organization’s fundamental freedoms program, is calling on the federal government to produce any evidence that returning passengers are breaching the current requirement to self-isolate at home, which she suggests is the only fair basis to toughen the rules. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced more than two weeks ago that travelers flying back from abroad will have to quarantine at a federally mandated hotel for up to three days at their own expense, though he acknowledged that only a fraction of COVID-19 cases appear to stem from overseas trips.