Opportunity Zone hotel in Minnesota: Joint venture partners PEG Companies and EKN Development Group formally opened Hyatt House Rochester/Mayo Clinic Area, the first opportunity zone project in Rochester, Minnesota. The hotel has 172 apartment-style extended stay suites along with functional kitchens to cater to the needs of Mayo Clinic patients and their families. The hotel was the first-ever Qualified Opportunity Zone project to break ground in Rochester in April 2019. The property earlier belonged to an American Legion Post. In-Group Hospitality, a PEG Company, will manage the property.
Union Investment to Ireland: Hamburg-based Union Investment has acquired with a €70m (US$83.5 million) forward funding acquisition deal the planned 262-room Premier Inn hotel in Dublin’s Docklands from Glenveagh Properties. Union Investment said the asset is being acquired for the UniInstitutional European Real Estate fund. “We are expecting demand for hotels to recover by 2023 – the year of completion at the latest – and we intend to further expand our high-quality portfolio through targeted acquisitions,” said Andreas Löcher, head of investment management hospitality at Union Investment. “We will focus primarily on core products with resilient concepts and operators.”
Aid for US tourism: The U.S. Department of Commerce will shortly announce a US$750 million investment in travel and tourism. The announcement was made by Secretary Gina Raimondo, who spoke during a virtual session on Wednesday hosted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Chris Thompson, CEO of Brand USA, said at the same event that his agency will launch its first marketing campaign since the pandemic began, starting on August 1, with the message that the U.S. is ready for international visitors. “I will do everything I can to revitalize domestic and international business travel through agencies that report to me,” Raimondo said, adding that her agency is doing everything it can to safely ease travel restrictions.
Canada slump continues: Canada’s hotel industry reported slightly lower performance from the previous month, according to STR’s May 2021 data. While year-over-year percentage changes show significant increases because of comparison with a pandemic-affected period in 2020, the country’s performance levels remained well below the pre-pandemic comparable of May 2019:
- Occupancy: 28.1% (-58.6%)
- Average daily rate (ADR): C$113.40 (-32.0%)
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR): C$31.87 (-71.9%)
Among the provinces and territories, Prince Edward Island recorded the lowest May occupancy level (16.8%), which was 71.5% below the pre-pandemic comparable. Among the major markets, Calgary saw the lowest occupancy (21.3%), which was a 62.9% decline from 2019. The highest occupancy among provinces was reported in Saskatchewan (33.3%), down 42.5% against 2019. At the market level, the highest occupancy was reported in Vancouver (33.1%), which decreased 60.3% from 2019.
COVID troubles in Sydney: With a spike in the Delta COVID-19 variant, downtown Sydney and its eastern suburbs, which include Bondi Beach, will go into a one-week lockdown from midnight Friday. The Australian Medical Association wants to see a more robust response, calling for a complete lockdown of the country’s biggest city.
Park Hyatt New York’s floor buyout: Park Hyatt New York has launched an exclusive floor buyout booking experience, which will allow guests to book the entire 19th floor, featuring nine guest rooms and five suites. Guests will be able to access five one-bedroom corner suites and several connecting guest room options. The package can accommodate up to 12 guests and features experiences like private pool time for two hours. Guests can also tailor the spaces with three of the guest room transformation experiences – kids video game room or kids tee pee sleepover, home gym, theatre room, wellness or meditation room and home office.