Four Seasons to Osaka: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, developer Tokyo Tatemono Co., and Singapore-based real estate company Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), have announced plans for the One Dojima Project in Osaka, Japan, which will include a new, 175-room Four Seasons hotel. The One Dojima Project, which began construction on August 1, 2020, is a large-scale redevelopment project in the Kinki region of Osaka. The building will be approximately 195 metres high (49 stories), making it one of the largest in Osaka City. The high-rise tower will feature residences by Brillia, a meeting hall that serves as a base for tourism and business, and the upcoming Four Seasons hotel being designed by interior designer Gwenael Nicolas of Curiosity, as well as Shinichiro Ogata of Simplicity, and Yasuhiro Koichi of Design Studio Spin.
Hotel at St Andrews sold: Northern Ireland-based real estate investment and development company Wirefox, has acquired The Scores Hotel in St Andrews, Scotland, for an undisclosed amount. It will be the first time the property has come under new ownership in 34 years. The Scores Hotel is a historic 36-room establishment overlooking one of the oldest golf courses in the world, St Andrews. The new owners will undertake an extensive refurbishment and repositioning to enhance the property. St Andrews will host the 150th Open golf championship in 2022 and the hotel overlooks the first tee of the Old Course. Savills Glasgow represented the buyer, while HVS Hodges Ward Elliott represented the seller.
Executive shakeup at AAHOA: AAHOA (the Asian American Hotel Owners Association) has announced that Cecil Staton is stepping down as president and CEO. Industry veteran Ken Greene will serve as interim president/CEO. Staton will continue to work with AAHOA on ongoing projects as a consultant. AAHOA Executive Vice President and COO Rachel Humphrey also announced that she also will be leaving on August 7. The organization said it is in the process of conducting a comprehensive search process to identify new leadership.
Summit buys in Steamboat: Summit Hotel Properties has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the 110-guestroom Residence Inn by Marriott Steamboat Springs in Colorado for US$33 million through its joint venture with GIC. Opened in December 2020, the hotel has achieved a significant RevPAR premium of more than 30% compared to its competitive set in its first six months of operation. Summit – with 72 hotels, 61 of which are wholly owned, and 11,288 guestrooms – expects to fund its 51% interest in the joint venture acquisition using approximately US$17 million of cash on-hand.
Sonesta keeps growing: Sonesta International Hotels Corp, has added five hotels to the Sonesta Select, the company’s new upscale focused-service brand. The properties are located at the Tuscon, Arizona, airport; Atlanta, Georgia’s Duluth area; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri, airport; and Austin, Texas. All the hotels are owned by Service Properties Trust (SVC) and were transferred to Sonesta as of June 2, 2021. These five hotels continue Sonesta’s recent expansion, with Sonesta increasing by approximately 350% the number of its U.S. managed hotels since August 2020.
Curator to Hawaii: Curator Hotels & Resorts Collection has added four members in Hawaii from the Springboard Hospitality collection, one of Curator’s founding members. The four new member hotels span three destinations (Honolulu, Kapa’a, and Lihue) on two islands (Kauai and Oahu). They include the White Sands Hotel in Honolulu; Pacific Monarch in Honolulu; Plantation Hale Suites, Kapa?a, Hawaii; and Banyan Harbor, Lihue, Hawaii.
New InterCon coming to San Antonio: Scarlett Hotel Group, Chicago, has purchased the former Wyndham San Antonio River Walk in Texas as part of a joint venture with Trailbreak Partners, Denver. The new owners have closed the property to begin implementing plans for a US$50 million overhaul of the hotel which will be transformed to a 390-room InterContinental hotel in early 2023.
Recovery in Thailand: Horwath HTL has created a report about the realistic expectations for recovery of the Thai hotel market, more specifically in Bangkok and Phuket. There are talks about the country’s re-opening and vaccination roll-out plans, but several factors come into play when a market outlook is forecasted. Will the government be successful in meeting its vaccination targets? And what challenges could derail the targets?
iPhone room key: Apple is working with Hyatt Hotels Corp. to create virtual room keys and said on Monday during its software update event that by this fall it expects the virtual key to be available at more than 1,000 Hyatt properties worldwide. Apple said the process could be as easy as one tap for consumers, using stored credit card information to create a virtual room key.