Solomons joins MOHG board: Former IHG Chief Executive Richard Solomons will be joining a slimmed-down Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group board as a non-executive director on December 1, along with Jinqing Cai, president, Greater China, at Kering, the global luxury group. Solomons is currently chairman of Rentokil Initial plc. Mandarin also announced that Jack Chen, Julian Hui, Anthony Nightingale and Percy Weatherall will be retiring from the board on December 1. The company stated the board continues to evolve its composition as it responds to the changing business environment, and it will benefit from a smaller board with more external expertise.
JLL secures refinancing for Hyatt: JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group announced it has arranged a US$450 million refinancing for the 1,230-room Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa in Honolulu, Hawaii. JLL was representing sponsor Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. to secure the interest-only, floating rate, five-year loan. The loan was originated by Deutsche Bank AG, New York Branch and Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Senior Managing Director Kevin Davis and Executive Vice President Mike Huth led the JLL team representing the borrower.
IGIS to acquire Millennium Hilton Seoul: IGIS Asset Management Co., Seoul, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to acquire the 700-key Millennium Hilton Seoul from Singapore-based City Developments Ltd. for approximately 1 trillion South Korean Won (US$848 million). Both parties are expected to reach a final agreement next month. IGIS plans to redevelop the hotel into a mixed-use complex, consisting of a hotel, office and retail spaces. The hotel, which opened in 1983, was earlier co-owned by the now-defunct Daewoo Group and Hilton International. In 1999, Daewoo sold the hotel to CDL for US$213.5 million.
Phuket Sandbox performance review: Since the launch of the Phuket Sandbox program in Thailand on July 1, occupancy is on par with the same period last year (16.1% in 2021 as compared to 4.8% in 2020) but ADR has declined to US$67 from US$88 in 2020, according to a preliminary analysis of the initial two months’ performance conducted by HotStats and HAMA AP. RevPAR improved to US$11.36 from last year’s US$5.01. However, hotels’ profit still remains negative. GOPPAR has improved to US$-11.69 from last year’s US$-25.90. Significantly, Payroll per Available Room (PayPAR) dipped to US$15.37 from last year’s US$22.04, indicating that salaries or headcount have not been increased since the program was implemented. Although Phuket Sandbox was a “bold experiment,” it hasn’t been as successful as initially expected with some fundamental issues that still need to be addressed, the analysis said.
La Quinta launches virtual meetups for moms: La Quinta by Wyndham announced its collaboration with actor and podcast host Katie Lowes for the launch of ‘Thankful for Mom’, a series of virtual meetings to help connect mothers coast-to-cast and helping them overcome challenges and stress of work, home and holiday travel. The free, online series will start from November 3 and run weekly till November 17. The interactive events will be around 90-minutes long and will begin at 8 p.m. ET. Besides Lowes, speakers will include blogger Sarah Wagner, Disney Family Sundays host Amber Kemp-Gerstel and entrepreneur Karla Wu.