U.S. Fed Slows Tightening, Hotel Investors Set to Act

The DJIA rose 7 points but Nasdaq surged 232, the S&P 500 was up 43 points and the 10-year treasury yield plunged .13 to 3.40%. This was all on the Fed giving Wall Street what they wanted with only a .25 interest rate hike and more dovish comments. Lodging stocks were higher. MCG led the group with a 12% rise while VCSA ended the day up 5%.

Citigroup upped their target price on Park Hotels & Resorts to $15 from $13 while maintaining their Neutral rating. They also upped their target price on Pebblebrook Hotel Trust to $16.50 from $15. They also maintained their Neutral rating on PEB.

STR reported US lodging data for the week ended January 28. RevPAR rose 31.9% on a year over year basis. When compared to the same week in 2019, RevPAR was up 13.4%.

Commonwealth Hotels and Homewood Suites by Hilton announced the “topping off” of its new hotel in Newport, Kentucky. The Homewood Suites Newport Cincinnati is projected to be up and running by mid-summer. The 5-story, 133-suite hotel is developed and owned by Corporex. When completed, the new Homewood Suites Newport Cincinnati will provide a rooftop bar and a fitness center.

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of the Holiday Inn Chicago O’Hare Airport. Located in Chicago, Illinois, the 139-room hotel offers 3,623 square feet of meeting space, a business center, a fitness center, and an onsite restaurant. The Holiday Inn Chicago O’Hare Airport is owned by Gateway Rosemont LLC and managed by Hostmark Hospitality Group.

Accor’s private rental brand, onefinestay, has launched monthly stays in New York City with 16 homes available to book and many more being added over the coming months. Offering fully furnished leases with all utilities included, along with onefinestay’s dedicated concierge service and guest support, the new collection will be the first of its kind in the Big Apple. onefinestay’s Home Collection in New York has the flexibility to extend stays and rent the home per day after the initial 30-night booking. 

Hawkins Way Capital, in a joint venture with Värde Partners, has acquired the 35-story, 655-room tower at 525 Lexington Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan. A designated landmark building, the 1924-built property previously operated as a Marriott International branded hotel. 

The Tampa Bay Rays and Hines Development are planning an 86-acre mixed-use project at the Historic Gas Plant District in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The proposed redevelopment will include a new baseball park for the Tampa Bay Rays, 5,700 multifamily units, office and retail space, an entertainment venue, 700 hotel rooms and 600 senior living residences. The team is also planning to build a music hall on the property. The project would begin in late 2024 and be complete by the start of baseball season in 2028.

In a boost to downtown Detroit, Michigan’s convention and tourism business, Huntington Place will be renovated and an attached hotel built under a deal between a developer and the authority that manages the event center. The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority entered into an agreement with Sterling Group for the improvements. The hotel will have 600-800 rooms and be connected to the convention center. Construction may break ground before summer.

In 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana real estate developer Joe Jaeger spent million of dollars renovating 111 luxury apartments in the Jung Hotel. After struggling to lease the properties, he turned to Sonder Holdings Inc. and they agreed that Sonder would take over the units and operate a ‘hotel within a hotel’ on the Jung’s eighth through seventeenth floors. In a lawsuit filed last week, Jaeger asserts that Sonder has damaged the Jung’s reputation and value, costing him untold million of dollars in lost revenue by failing to address critiques on the Sonder website describing dirty guest rooms, soiled linens, stained furniture and public safety issues, including gun battles on the property. Separately, Jaeger and Sonder are battling in federal court over a failed 2021 business deal that would have turned Jaeger’s local portfolio of boutique hotels over to Sonder.

A 200-room, three-story hotel is coming to American Canyon, California. The hotel is part of the 309-acre Watson Ranch project. It will fit in amid the planned 1,200 homes and the Ruins and Gardens, which is to transform century-old cement factory ruins into a town center. The hotel will have two pools, a spa, 18 flats and 12 town homes. The $200 million Watson Ranch project has two owners, American Canyon I LLC and the Newell family.

Kila Tahoe LLC is planning to start construction of the 118-unit Tahoe City Lodge in Tahoe City, California. Construction is set to start spring of 2023 and be completed by early 2025. The Tahoe City Lodge would have 65 hotel rooms, marketed as condominiums and the remainder as standard hotel rooms; a restaurant & rooftop bar; fitness center; gear shop; and concierge service are planned for the $50 million project. 

A mixed-use hotel and apartment development in Imperial Beach, California, the site of the former El Camino Motel once stood, has been stalled for years, but new property owners plan to bring the project to fruition. Addison Technology Properties purchased the vacant lot for an estimated $4 million and recently obtained a City Council-approved extension to start building the project’s foundation. Dubbed Blue Wave, builders plan to transform the property into a mixed-use, Z-shaped complex with 47 hotel rooms, 51 residential units, more than 100 parking spaces and nearly 7,000 square feet of commercial space.

An iconic 297-room Macon, Georgia hotel left vacant for nearly a decade may go up for auction in April, according to court documents from the hotel owner’s bankruptcy case. Sangha Hospitality, the Ramada Plaza’s current owner, has until early April to sell the First Street 16-story hotel to help pay their debts after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy about a year ago. 

Lotus Hospitality Group announced the completion of a $20 million renovation to the former Comfort Inn & Suites Kansas City Downtown in Missouri. The remodel included work on the rooms, commons pace, event center, restaurant and bar. The hotel has been rebranded as Holiday Inn Kansas City Downtown.

Personnel Moves

The Villas Group Beach Resorts & Spas announced the appointment of John Paul Kirwan to Vice President of Operations. In his new role, Kirwan hopes to leverage his extensive experience and expertise in collaboration with his new team to create innovative initiatives and strategies that will significantly increase the value of The Villa Group brand. In his last two positions, Kirwan was the Director of Resort Operations, where he managed a 16-hotel brand, and later held the position of Project Manager.

Mission Hill Hospitality announced Catherine Hance has joined the firm as General Counsel. In this newly created role, Catherine will oversee and manage Mission Hill’s legal matters and play an active role in portfolio development and management. Catherine joins Mission Hill from Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP where she was a partner in the firm’s real estate group for over 20 years.

EasyHotel has added to its international team with five new hires across three business areas as it looks to reach 100 hotels by 2026. Jacques Bonafé joined as head of construction. Within his new position at EasyHotel, Jacques will be a main driver for the group to deliver on its decarbonization strategy, including the implementation of a new low-carbon room. Thomas Robet has joined as head of development France and Belgium. Robet’s role is to help grow and manage the portfolio. EasyHotel also hired Guilain Madelpuech as development analyst; Marylène Chevallier at IT project manager; and Daniel Thompson as marketing director.

Hotelbeds announced Mark Antipof joined the company in the newly-created position of Business Development Director, tasked with developing new products, segments and business models to accelerate growth across the business. 

Hospitality industry technologist Neil Schubert joined Hotel Communication Network as Chief Product Officer. With 20 years spent spearheading the technology initiatives for Marriott International, Schubert brings to HCN a wealth of knowledge in application development, product management, systems integration and more. His goal is to strategically transform HCN into a global hospitality communications brand.

Teague Hunter, President and CEO of Hunter Hotel Advisors, was named the 2022 Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor of the Year at the ALIS show. Teague has overseen a full spectrum of hotel transactions closing more than $15 billion in transactions during his 25 years at Hunter. Teague led the company to its most successful year to date in 2022 with nearly $2.5 billion in sales.