Hurricane Ida shuttered 155 hotels: In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, as of Friday at least 155 hotels in New Orleans, Louisiana, were closed temporarily due to power outages, staffing issues and lack of third-party services, STR reported. Based on analysis of the operating status of 208 hotels accounting for 35,835 rooms, 155 properties (75%) and 28,756 rooms (80%) are currently closed. Most hotels show short-term reopening dates but these dates are prone to changes are properties make decisions based on power restoration, availability of suppliers, staffing and demand. Out of the 155 closed properties, 41 have not reported a projected reopening date.
U.S. performance improves: Hotel performance in U.S. improved slightly from the previous week, backed by the Labor Day weekend, Hurricane Ida evacuations and the return of college football, as per STR’s latest data.
- Occupancy: 61.3% (+0.7%)
- Average daily rate (ADR): US$132.94 (+9.4%)
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US%81.54 (+10.1%)
Among the top 25 markets, Houston recorded the highest occupancy (+50.5% to 76.6%) and RevPAR (+77.1% to US$77.82) increases as compared to 2019. Oahu Island saw the steepest decline in occupancy (-36% to 53.4%), while ADR increased the most in Miami (+42.4% to US$179.36). San Francisco/San Mateo saw the largest RevPAR deficits (-51.9% to US86.93) and Oahu Island (-38.3% to US$117.88).
Wyndham expands in China: Microtel by Wyndham, a chain of more than 340 hotels across North America, Mexico, the Philippines, reported that it is set to open 20 new hotels in key cities and emerging locations in China by the end of 2022. Microtel by Wyndham debuted in China as a mid-scale brand in late 2019 and has since grown to a collection of six hotels in the country. The most recent additions to the portfolio were the 165-room Microtel by Wyndham Tianjin and the 131-room Microtel by Wyndham Kunming City Center, which debuted last month. The brand has planned more openings in cities including Huangshan, Qingdao, Changsha, Fuzhou and more.
Pebblebrook completes sale in San Francisco: Pebblebrook Hotel Trust closed on the sale 189-room Villa Florence San Francisco on Union Square for US$87.5 million to a third party. The sale price, based on the hotel’s operating performance for 2019, reflects an EBITDA multiple of 12.4x and a 7.2% net operating income capitalization rate (after an assumed annual capital reserve of 4% of total revenues). The proceeds of the sale will be used for general corporate purposes and to acquire hotel properties. Pebblebrook currently owns 51 hotels with almost 12,600 guest rooms across 14 markets with special focus on the west coast gateway cities.
Chef Academy tackles recruitment: Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the international management division of Aimbridge Hospitality, has launched the Chef Academy in the U.K. for apprentices to help deal with the recruitment crisis. Interstate, along with Babcock Training, will train 17 apprentices aged between 16 to 20 years to become a production or sous chef within 18 months. A second batch is planned to allow trainees to progress to senior production chef level, chef de partie, head chef or departmental manager. The apprentices, who will receive on-the-job training, will be placed in Interstate properties across the U.K. They will also be able to participate in competitions and masterclasses in the Interstate training kitchen.