Hyatt, Parks Hospitality grow in Mexico. Hyatt Hotels
Corp. and Mexico City-based Parks Hospitality Holdings will develop four new
Hyatt-branded properties across Mexico, including Mexico City, Los Cabos, and
Cancun. The new properties are expected to open starting in 2024 and will
include two Grand Hyatt hotels, a new select-service offering near the Cancun
International Airport, and the 2025 debut of the Park Hyatt brand in Cancun.
The 287-room Grand Hyatt Mexico Santa Fe is slated to open in 2025 and will be
the first urban Grand Hyatt property in Mexico and the second Grand Hyatt hotel
in the region. The 300-room Grand Hyatt Los Cabos is set to open in 2026 within
the OLEADA Pacific Living & Golf private resort community. The 156-room
Hyatt Place Cancun Airport will open in late 2026.
Remington to Caribbean. Remington Hospitality is
expanding into the Caribbean, partnering to manage the 166-room Croc’s Resort
& Casino in Costa Rica. Remington Hospitality will further expand its
presence in the Caribbean by signing three additional management agreements,
including the Autograph Sarchi in Costa Rica, as well as two properties in
Larimar City, the Caribbean’s first smart city and multi-use development. These
properties include the Royal Sonesta and James hotels. It also is developing a
luxury ecotourism project in Monte Verde, Costa Rica. The company also
believes there are additional growth opportunities in Mexico, Puerto Rico,
Grand Cayman, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Panama, the Bahamas and South America.
Generator’s big refi. U.K.-based Queensgate Investments’
hotel and hostel operator Generator Group has used strong post-COVID
performance to enable refinancing of around €750 million of debt with
Ares Management, Värde Partners and Waterfall Asset
Management. The transaction included a combination of European debt facilities
and private bond issuances of circa. €440 million for Generator’s European arm,
which was backed by Ares Management, and U.S. debt facilities of approximately
$330 million for Generator’s U.S. arm, which was backed by Generator’s existing
lenders Waterfall Asset Management and Värde Partners. Under the Generator and
Freehand brands, Generator has 21 hotels and hostels offering more than 12,000
beds across 17 cities. The company derives approximately 95% of EBITDA from
owned real estate. Generator Group reported 2023 earnings of €225 million and
EBITDA of €75 million, an almost 40% increase from 2022.
Big refi in Philly. A joint venture between funds
managed by Oaktree Capital Management and Clearview Hotel Capital have earned a
new $215 million, five-year, fixed-rate term loan to refinance the 1,408-key
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. Arranged by JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality
Group, Barclays, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan were the lenders. The property
underwent a full-scale renovation between 2020 and 2023.
Apple REIT’s strong earnings. Apple Hospitality REIT
reported 3Q23 earnings with Adjusted EBITDA of $121.9 million, exceeding Street
expectations by nearly 2%. Comparable RevPAR growth was +3% (+8.3% year to
date), ADR was +1.1%, and occupancy was +1.8%. RevPAR was up more than 7%
relative to the third quarter of 2019, its highest quarterly comparable RevPAR
growth relative to 2019 since the onset of the pandemic, with comparable
occupancy still below pre-pandemic levels. “Our outperformance since the onset
of the pandemic has enabled us to maintain the strength and flexibility of our
balance sheet, positioning us to be acquisitive within the current transaction
environment,” said CEO Justin Knight. Full-year 2023 RevPAR growth guidance is
5.5%-7.5%. R.W. Baird analyst Michael Bellisario wrote that 4Q23 earnings
guidance is below expectations and likely driven by flattish RevPAR growth and
incremental operating expense pressures in the quarter. In October 2023, the
company acquired three hotels and a parking garage for a combined total
purchase price of approximately $147 million. The company currently has three
additional hotels under contract for purchase for an anticipated combined gross
purchase price of approximately $212 million. As of September 30, 2023, Apple
Hospitality owned 220 hotels with an aggregate of 28,929 guest rooms.
Rotana updates growth in Europe. In the United
Kingdom, Rotana will launch two properties under its affordable hotel and
serviced apartment brand, Centro. Opening in 2024, Centro New Malden and Centro
Kingston are the first two properties that form part of a wider agreement to
develop up to 1,500 keys over multiple sites across the greater London
region, all under the Centro brand. The hospitality group also marked
its debut in Georgia with the upcoming Pontus Rotana Resort &
Spa, Gonio. Expected to open in 2026, the property with world-class amenities
will add 600 keys to Rotana’s diverse global portfolio. Further building
its African footprint, Rotana announced its foray into Senegal with a
new Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana branded property. The 150-key hotel in Dakar
is set to be completed by 2026. Rotana is also expected to make its debut
in the Algerian market with the launch of Azure Rotana Resort & Spa in
the port city of Oran in 2024. Rotana currently operates 74 hotels in the
Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Türkiye with 19,602 keys.
Accor adds in Brazil. Accor, in collaboration with real
estate developers Pedra do Reino Investimentos and Dotz Empreendimentos, has
signed a deal for its first hotel in Sorriso, Brazil, under its ibis Styles
brand, which is set to open in 2027. Falcon will manage the 120-apartment ibis
Styles Sorriso alongside other properties in the chain, including ibis Cuiabá.
RSG’s luxe brand. Red Sea Global (RSG) will operate its
own luxury hotel brand, Shebara, at The Red Sea destination in Saudi Arabia.
The first resort to be owned and operated by RSG will open in summer 2024; it
is located on Sheybarah Island in Al Wajh Lagoon. The resort will include
stainless steel orbs (villas). The resort contains 73 lodgings, including overwater
and beach villas. Shebara will be powered by sunlight, day and night with
its own dedicated solar farm that includes more than 11,000 PV panels. In
total, RSG has constructed five solar farms to power the first phase of the
destination, with more than 760,000 PV panels installed. The Shebara reveal
follows an announcement last month that RSG is also developing Thuwal Private
Retreat, an island destination that will also be wholly owned and operated by
RSG.
Extended-stay performance. Excluding 2020, despite
reporting its lowest third quarter occupancy since 2010, extended-stay hotels
achieved record high Q3 demand and revenues in 2023 and occupancy remained 11
points above the overall hotel industry. “While ADR growth remains low compared
to the last two years, a rebound in occupancy is forecast and more new
performance records from extended-stay hotels are expected during the near
term,” said The Highland Group’s Mark Skinner.
WeWork bankruptcy. Once considered a threat to the
hotel industry and valued at $47 billion in 2019, office-sharing company WeWork
has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey federal court.
Leadership stated the company has entered into agreements with most of its
secured note holders and that it intends to trim “non-operational” leases. The
company reported liabilities ranging from $10 billion to $50 billion, according
to a bankruptcy filing. WeWork debuted through a SPAC in 2021 but reportedly
has lost about 98% of its value. The company leases millions of square feet of
office space in 777 locations around the world, according to its regulatory
filings.
Embassy Suites development. DD Partners, Birmingham,
Alabama, and Marietta, Georgia, Peachtree Group, Atlanta, and Woodbine
Development Corp., Dallas, are developing the 257-suite Embassy Suites Gulf
Shores, Alabama, scheduled to open in the summer of 2025. DD Partners and
Woodbine are leading development and asset management efforts, and Peachtree
will manage operations. The architect of record for the project is PFVS and the
contractor is Robins & Morton.
Tru by Hilton milestone. Midscale brand Tru by Hilton
has pushed past 250 hotels open in seven years since its inception with five
new properties in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. It also
has announced its first New York City property with the Tru by Hilton Brooklyn
slated to debut at the end of 2023 in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood.
Mulvanny joins McNeill Investment. Germantown,
Tennessee-based McNeill Investment Group named Annie Mulvanny as its new vice
president, Investments and Asset Management, to contribute to the current
expansion of the firm’s investment management platform. Mulvanny most recently
served as vice president at RobertDouglas, a national real estate investment
banking firm.
Growth at Resorts World Sentosa. A subsidiary of
Genting Singapore has received provisional permission to develop 700 new hotel
rooms and retail space at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). The approval is slated
to expand the hotel capacity at the casino resort by more than 40%. As of
now, RWS has six hotels totaling 1,840 rooms and three of the current six
hotels with some 1,200 rooms are undergoing refurbishment to refresh non-gaming
attractions.
Marina Bay Sands expands suites. As part of a $1
billion renovation program will see the Marina Bay Sands suite inventory
increase from 200 to 770. The company is also investing a further US$750
million on Tower 3, to be completed in stages through 2025. The first phase has
seen 1,300 hotel rooms refurbished including the expansion of its suite product
from 200 to 390 while the Tower 3 investment will take that tally to 1,850
redesigned rooms including 770 suites.
CLAS divests in Sydney. Singapore’s CapitaLand Ascott
Trust (CLAS) is divesting two mature hotels in Sydney – the Courtyard by
Marriott Sydney-North Ryde and Novotel Sydney Paramatta – to an unrelated third
party for A$109 million. CLAS said the two properties will be divested at about
5% above book value and net proceeds of the divestment is expected to be
A$98 million. The exit yield is 4.4% and CLAS will recognize a net gain of
A$14.2 million. The divestment of these two properties outside of central
Sydney is part of our active portfolio reconstitution strategy. CLAS said it
remains focused on assets that offer better yields and will further uplift the
value for its portfolio.
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