Aggressive bid for Spain’s Selenta: U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital and its partner, Geneva, Switzerland-based real estate firm Stoneweg, have made a bid of €460 million (US$558 million) to acquire the Spanish hotel group Selenta, which has a portfolio of some 2,600 rooms in Tenerife, Barcelona, Marbella and Valencia. The offer reportedly is bigger than previous bids submitted by Goldman Sachs and Brookfield. The new joint venture offer values Selenta at three times its normal turnover. Troubled Selenta had more than €200 million in debt before the pandemic and borrowed another €50 million in February. It also sold its Nobu hotel in Barcelona for €80 million. Earlier this month, Bain and Stoneweg acquired the 400-room Andalucía Plaza hotel in Marbella, Spain.
Hilton signs two in Sardinia: Hilton will open two hotels on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia following an agreement with Westmont Hospitality Group and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. The 77-room Baia di Chia Resort Sardinia, Curio Collection by Hilton, will open this summer, while the 107-room Conrad Chia Laguna Sardinia resort is expected to open in 2022. Both properties will be located in southern Sardinia at the Chia Laguna, home to flocks of pink flamingos. The project is held by a newly established real estate investment fund managed by Milan-based Castello SGR, an Italian real estate management company.
Kerzner to Athens: Kerzner International, owner of the ultra-luxury One&Only Resorts and Atlantis Resort & Residences brands, has entered into a resort management agreement with Grivalia Hospitality S.A. for One&Only Aesthesis to be developed in Athens, Greece. The 21-hectare beachfront estate, within a 6-hectare forest reserve, is tucked away in a legendary hideaway on the Glyfada seafront. The project with 127 rooms, including 12 private homes, is expected to open in 2022.
Hilton lets guests book connecting rooms: With family and friends traveling together and in greater numbers more often, Hilton is launching a program to allow consumers to book two connecting rooms. Confirmed Connecting Rooms by Hilton has started to roll-out globally and will be available on Hilton.com or through the Hilton Honors app. Users can select the number of desired rooms, along with the destination and dates at chosen hotels and receive instant confirmation. This concept was originally engineered by Hilton’s new urban lifestyle hotel brand, Motto by Hilton.
Hotelier recovers COVID-related losses: New Hampshire-based hotel company, Schleicher & Stebbins Hotels, operators of 23 hotels in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Jersey, has won a court case to recover losses from the economic impact of COVID-19. The judge, finding that coverage is triggered where there is a “distinct and demonstrable alteration” to property, has ordered seven insurance companies to pay more than US$100 million for those losses. The judge rejected the insurance companies’ argument that such changes to property “must be readily perceptible by one of the five senses, be incapable of remediation, or result in dispossession.” The lawsuit claimed Schleicher & Stebbins Hotels paid nearly US$1 million in premiums between November 2019 and November 2020 for US$150 million in coverage for business interruption and hindrance by order of civil authority. As of November, the company reported US$80 million in losses.
Ascott, ART to invest, develop in US: CapitaLand’s wholly owned lodging business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) and its hospitality trust, Ascott Residence Trust (ART), will jointly invest and develop a freehold student accommodation asset in South Carolina for an expected total of US$109.9 million (S$146.2 million). The 678-bed accommodation will serve over 35,000 students from the nearby University of South Carolina. Construction is scheduled to start in 3Q 2021 and complete in 2Q 2023. Initially, Ascott and ART will jointly invest to own 45% stake each. A third-party partner will own the remaining 10% stake for alignment of interest. When the property’s performance stabilises, Ascott and ART will acquire the remaining share. Ascott has separately formed a partnership with the student housing developer to invest and develop more student accommodation properties in the U.S. These properties could become a potential pipeline for ART from its sponsor. This acquisition comes after ART agreed to purchase three rental housing properties in Sapporo, Japan, as well as its first student accommodation asset Paloma West Midtown in Georgia. It will expand ART’s student accommodation and rental housing portfolios to about 9% of its total property value. It aims to increase this to around 15-20% in the medium term.
easyHotel CEO dies: François Bachetta, chief executive officer of London-based easyHotel, has passed away in France at the age of 56, easyGroup has announced. He joined easyHotel in 2020 after working as director of EasyJet in France and Italy. The group said in a statement, “There are no words to describe the sense of sadness and loss we are feeling at this time. He will be greatly missed by all of us here at easyHotel, and our thoughts are with his wife Angela, his two children and his entire family at this very difficult time… François leaves behind a strong executive and wider team in which we have every confidence and of which I know François was incredibly proud.”
Radisson Individuals grows: The first hotel in downtown Joplin, Missouri, to open its doors in more than 50 years is coming this fall in The Robertson, and it will become a member of Radisson Individuals, the company’s independent conversion brand. The soon-to-open 55-room property was originally built in 1917 by Riley Robertson as an apartment complex and will come back with a 1920s theme, complete with a speakeasy. This will mark the second hotel for the brand in the Americas.
Stonebridge updates Denver project: Denver-based owner-operator Stonebridge Companies has announced that The Slate Hotel at the site of the historic original Emily Griffith Opportunity School in Denver will open this fall under the Tapestry Collection by Hilton brand. The 4-story, 135,000-square-foot property will add 251 guest rooms to downtown Denver, adjacent to the Colorado Convention Center.
Accor partners with IGLTA: Accor and the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA), the member-based global organization focused on advancing LGBTQ+ tourism, announced a Global Partnership. Accor and IGLTA will aim to facilitate and drive equality within the travel sector. Accor is the largest hotel operator in Australia and New Zealand and has more than 260,000 team members in 110 countries. It has an annual reach of more than 4 million LGBTQ+ consumers.