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Briefs: Standard to Melbourne | Second Treehouse in UK

Standard Fitzroy: Private Melbourne developer DealCorp will partner with Standard Hotels to open the first Standard hotel in Melbourne, Australia, in the area of Fitzroy. The project, said to be worth in excess of US$60 million, will be designed by Woods Bagot architects with interiors by Hecker Guthrie. The project is slated for completion in 2023. DealCorp purchased the site in 2018 and subsequently had a hotel permit approved in 2019. The 127-room Standard, Fitzroy, will have over seven levels including a rooftop experience.

Dusit to manage more in China: Bangkok-based Dusit International, which is represented in China by Dusit Fudu Hotels and Resorts, has signed a management agreement with Zhejiang Xinyishang Tourism Development Co. to manage the Dusit Thani Resort Moganshan, Zhejiang, a luxury wellness-focused resort in an area just outside Hangzhou in China. The first phase of the project, comprising 100 villas and guest rooms, is set to open later this year. Phase two of the property, which adds another 200 guest rooms and villas, is set to follow in 2023.

Treehouse in Manchester: New York-based SH Hotels & Resorts will open its Treehouse Hotel in Manchester, the brand’s second UK location, in 2023. The 216-room Treehouse Hotel Manchester, owned by a controlled affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, is being developed in partnership with Property Alliance Group and will mark the first phase of a £200 million (US$278 million) redevelopment of the former Renaissance Hotel on Deansgate.

Travelodge’s new UK properties: Travelodge said it expects to open 17 new hotels across the UK in 2021, growing its hotel network to 597 locations in the UK, Ireland and Spain. New locations include Leicester city center, Mansfield, Newark on Trent, Poole, Rochdale and Sandwich. The new hotels are being developed by third-party investors with an approximate value of £175 million (US$243 million). It is expected that most properties will be open and trading in time for the summer season.

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Wharton will turn NYC retail into hotel: New York-based real estate developer Wharton Properties wants to turn a two-story New York City retail building into a 363-room hotel. The spot will also have retail on the ground floor and amenity space on the roof, according to the permits. Switching the property from fully retail to a hotel could be a bold move, but it could also soon become much harder to build new hotels around the city. The city kicked off the public review process for a controversial citywide hotel special permit on Monday that would require developers to undergo a two-year process to build any new hotels. 

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NY’s Allegria sells: New York-based Stabilis Capital Management has sold the Allegria Hotel, a 156-key luxury, beachfront hotel located in Long Beach, New York, to the Plymouth, Massachusetts-based Linchris Capital Partners. The hotel was offered fully unencumbered of brand and management and, in addition to being the only beachfront hotel between New York City and The Hamptons, boasts one of the only beachfront food and beverage operations in Long Beach. The property was converted to a hotel from a senior-living facility in 2009.

Wynn, Encore approved for 100% capacity: Wynn Las Vegas and the adjacent Encore have been approved to operate their casino floors at 100% capacity. This approval came because 88% of the company’s workforce has now been vaccinated against COVID-19, Wynn Resorts said in a statement. The resorts also are approved to take down plexiglass dividers from table games and slot machines and the social distance requirement has been reduced from six feet to three feet. Employees and customers are still required to wear masks.

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U.S. weekly occupancy flat: U.S. hotel occupancy remained relatively flat compared with the previous week, according to STR’s latest data through May 1. April 25 through May 1:

  • Occupancy: 57.1%
  • ADR: US$108.80
  • RevPAR: US$62.13

While the overall weekly data was stagnant, weekend occupancy rose modestly and came in above 70% for the fourth straight week. However, the top 25 markets showed a lower occupancy level in aggregate with more properties reopening on top of lower demand.

Among those top 25 markets, Tampa (72.4%) and Miami (70.8%) experienced the highest occupancy levels, while Boston (40.6%) and Minneapolis (41.4%) came in the lowest. The aggregate occupancy for the top 25 markets (54.6%) was lower than all other markets on average, but ADR in the major markets (US$117.38) was higher.

GF adds senior leader: Owner-operator GF Hotels & Resorts, Philadelphia, has added to its leadership team by appointing Jay Burnett as chief investment officer. He was previously senior vice president, Investments and Development, at Auro Hotels, in Greenville, South Carolina. Since its founding, GF Hotels & Resorts has operated nearly 600 hotels in 47 states.

NFL Draft lifts Cleveland performance: The NFL Draft boosted daily hotel performance to a 532-day high for hotels in the downtown Cleveland area, according to STR. Focusing specifically on 26 hotels in the four zip codes that comprise the immediate downtown area and nearby University Circle, the high point of the week was the opening night of the draft with average occupancy at 85%, ADR at US$244.58 and RevPAR of US$207.94. That April 29 RevPAR level was more than 14 times higher than the comparable Thursday in 2020 and more than double the comparable Thursday from 2019. Additionally, RevPAR for the area hadn’t approached the US$200 mark since November 14, 2019, the night the Cleveland Browns hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers (US$220.90). 

Radisson’s 16 new signings in EMEA: Radisson Hotel Group is growing its portfolio in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) with over 2,000 rooms and 16 signings added to the group’s portfolio in Q1. Highlights include:

  • Radisson Individuals saw new signings in Austria, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Africa
  • Addition of Albania’s first Radisson Collection property, Radisson Collection Morina Hotel, Tirana
  • Three new Radisson Blu hotels in Turkey, Albania and Zambia, the latter with the landmark Radisson Blu Resort Mosi-oa-Tunya Livingstone, Zambia close to the Victoria Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • Two Radisson RED hotels coming to Radisson RED Gatwick Airport (UK) and Radisson RED Helsinki (Finland)
  • Continued expansion of the Radisson Hotel segment with the signing of four new properties and entry into two new countries, Andorra and Montenegro, as well as Budapest and Istanbul
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