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Briefs: Aimbridge tackles Vegas | L+R secures London financing

Aimbridge to manage Las Vegas project: Plano, Texas-based Aimbridge Hospitality has been chosen by Dreamscape Companies as the operating partner to reposition the Rio Las Vegas to multiple Hyatt full-service brand offerings. The more than 2,510-room Rio Las Vegas will be renovated and rebranded into multiple Hyatt full-service brand flags and will undergo a redevelopment of the current public spaces, including gaming, retail, food and beverage, spa and fitness, and pool recreation deck. One of the Rio Las Vegas’ existing towers will become a 1,501-room Hyatt Regency hotel with standard guest rooms averaging 580 square feet upon completion. The remainder of the Rio’s guest rooms are expected to be branded or affiliated with other Hyatt full-service brands after they are renovated.

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Aimbridge will manage the reimagined Rio Las Vegas (Photo credit, Tony Webster)
Aimbridge will manage the reimagined Rio Las Vegas (Photo credit, Tony Webster)

London’s Mayfair Townhouse financed: Aareal Bank has granted London + Regional Hotels a five-year loan, secured by The Mayfair Townhouse hotel. The funding is in the upper double-digit million British pounds range. The luxury hotel with 172-rooms, formerly known as the Green Park Hotel and the Hilton Green Park, enjoys a prominent location in the heart of the affluent Mayfair district and is one of the rare freehold properties in central London. L + R Hotels has recently invested a substantial amount in the refurbishment of the property, which was purchased back in 2004.

Mandarin Oriental Hangzhou: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will manage a new luxury hotel in Hangzhou, China, scheduled to open in 2025. Mandarin Oriental, Hangzhou will be part of the Westlake 66 mixed-use commercial and luxury retail complex owned and being developed by Hang Lung Properties. The 194-room hotel will have four restaurants and bars, a spa, fitness center, and indoor swimming pool.

Charleston Moxy Hotel in the works: Boca Raton, Florida-based Opterra Capital and the Charleston, South Carolina-based Montford Group are partnering on construction of a 7-story select-service Moxy hotel located in Charleston, South Carolina. Featuring 131 guest rooms, the hotel construction is expected to commence immediately, and is scheduled to open in late 2022. The companies have secured a $US25.2 million loan for the project.

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Fairmont San Jose owners target quick end to bankruptcy: The owners of the Fairmont San Jose in California have sketched out a swift endgame for the hotel’s bankruptcy case — filed due to fallout from COVID-19 — in the first version of a formal plan to reorganize the property’s wobbly finances, court papers show. Newly filed court papers in the case point to the completion of the court case about four months after the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on March 5. That sort of schedule could conclude the bankruptcy case by sometime in July.

More from The Mercury News

Can vaccine passports save travel? The arrival of mass vaccination campaigns has brought new ideas about how the vaccines could slowly allow society to reopen. Cards and apps issued both by governments and private organizations could certify vaccine status and might allow access to “vaccinated only” facilities like gyms, movie theaters and restaurants, which is now happening in countries like Israel. More complicated is international travel. Agreements between governments may slowly extend vaccine passports across borders, allowing something approaching a normal travel experience. Perhaps the main obstacle to wide use of vaccine passports is political: many see them as inherently discriminatory.

More from Nikkei Asia

German owners angry as tourists head to Mallorca: German hotel owners are fuming over an extension to measures that bar German citizens from going on vacation in their own country but allows them to travel abroad. Berlin on Tuesday extended a nationwide lockdown until April 18 in an attempt to break a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping hotels and holiday apartments closed for tourists. The BTW tourism association said the decision fanned fears and frustration in the industry for its future. It called for pilot projects to test how hotels and tourist regions can reopen safely.

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The impact of COVID grounding business travel: A new survey of 1,003 U.S. employees who travel or have traveled for business prior to COVID-19 reveals more information on the impact of business travel on companies, those employees who do the traveling, and even some thoughts on what the future of business travel might look like. Key findings from the survey, conducted by Censuswide and promotional product company PromoLeaf, include:

  • 32% of respondents said lack of business travel had a negative impact on their business, but 37% said it had a positive impact
  • 64% of business travelers enjoy their jobs less when they are not traveling, and nearly half (48%) are even considering a change in occupation
  • Motivation, productivity, and even the mental health of travelers has suffered due to the lack of business travel
  • One of the things travelers miss the most is the human connections they make. 45% have missed 10 trips or more, and an average of 7 connections per trip

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Summer travel is selling out in some U.S. areas: A survey from research company Toluna indicates Americans are gaining confidence to travel with each passing month, with 27% comfortable to travel in April and 42% by July. Leisure travel — particularly family travel (which is outpacing bookings by singles and couples) — is driving the growth. The most popular destinations for summer leisure flights are to: Honolulu; Denver; Chicago; Miami; and Orlando.

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