Hyatt openings in 2021: Hyatt Hotels Corp. will focus on global growth of its independent collection brands, including recent openings and development plans through 2025 across The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt and JdV by Hyatt brands. Planned new hotel openings in 2021 include properties in key markets across the globe, notably the first JdV by Hyatt hotels in Canada and Sweden, as well as: Hôtel du Palais Biarritz, a part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt (Biarritz, France); Mission Pacific Hotel, a JdV by Hyatt hotel & The Seabird Resort, a Destination by Hyatt hotel (Oceanside, California); Commune by the Great Wall, a part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt (Beijing, China); and others.
First Residence Inn By Marriott in Nordics: Marriott International has signed an agreement with Danish hotel operator Core Hospitality to bring the first Residence Inn by Marriott to the Nordics. The 95-room Residence Inn by Marriott Copenhagen, Nordhavn, will be located in Copenhagen’s North Harbour district. Owned by PFA Properties, the hotel will become part of the group’s Nordø development project in the North Harbour area. With construction having begun in Q2 2020, the property is expected to open in 2023.
Apple Hospitality REIT extends credit facility waiver period: Apple Hospitality REIT has amended its unsecured debt agreements to extend the waiver period of all existing financial covenants through the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 with all but two existing financial covenants waived through the end of the first quarter of 2022, unless the company elects an earlier date. Apple’s unsecured credit facilities consist of a US$425 million revolving credit facility, US$820 million of funded term loans and a US$50 million senior notes facility. As of March 1, 2021, the revolving credit facility had an outstanding balance of approximately US$161 million with availability of approximately US$264 million.
Invesco, Westmont to co-invest: Atlanta, Georgia-based Invesco Real Estate has partnered with Houston, Texas-based hotel group Westmont Hospitality to co-invest in hotel properties. Invesco has agreed to make Westmont its partner for a portfolio of IHG branded hotels located in cities in Germany and in Amsterdam. Invesco initially acquired the portfolio of 13 IHG branded hotels on behalf of three mandates in 2017 for €530 million (US$638 million). As part of the partnership, Westmont will act as the tenant of the portfolio, as well as co-invest with Invesco’s clients in the property-owning companies. The duo also expects to make further investment into eight Holiday Inn Express hotels in Germany and a hotel in Heidelberg.
IHCL expects recoveries in corporate travel: Indian Hotels Co. (IHCL), which owns and manages “The Taj” brand of hotels, expects further recoveries in corporate travel over the next few months. Currently driven by leisure travel, business recoveries are to the tune of 50-55% for both the hotel industry and IHCL, in the December-February period. According to Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and CEO, IHCL, “corporate demand has picked up at the ‘lower and mid’ management levels.” Government bookings have begun, too. Leisure travel currently accounts for 60%, while corporate/business travel is at 40%.
Portuguese hotels lost 73% of revenue in 2020: Portuguese hotels lost 73% of total revenues last year compared to 2019, the Portuguese Hotel Association reported. Over 60% of hotels said do not expect business to return to 2019 levels until early 2023, showed a survey of 502 hotels conducted by the association last month. Two-thirds of hotels were closed in January and February as Portugal imposed its second lockdown since the start of the pandemic. The majority of hotels do not expect to reopen until May. One in three hotels said they will either not reopen or are not sure when or whether they would.
Global profit performance split in 2021: Though travel remains stunted across the world, some regions are showing signs of sustained performance positivity, including Asia Pacific and the Middle East, according to 2020 year-end data from HotStats. Though there remains a wide chasm in year-over-year comps, Asia Pacific has now had eight consecutive of positive gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR), with January hitting US$5.48. And though positive, it’s the lowest recorded since June and 88.1% off from the same time year ago. Asia Pacific’s relative success compared to other global regions in containing the spread of COVID-19 has, and continues to have, a positive impact on domestic travel and, by extension, its hotel industry.
U.S. hotel profitability improved slightly in January: U.S. hotel gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) improved slightly from prior months but remained in the low single digits, according to STR’s January 2021 monthly profit and loss data release. The industry’s GOPPAR was its highest since October (US$12.69).
In a year-over-year comparison with January 2020, the industry reported the following:
GOPPAR: -95.9% to US$3.14
TRevPAR: -73.3% to US$60.94
EBITDA PAR: -120.1% to US$-11.88
LPAR (Labor Costs): -63.3% to US$31.82