The DJIA rose 26 points, Nasdaq was down 26, the S&P 500 was down a point, and the 10-year treasury yield was down .06 to 4.25%. It sounds like a typical mid-August Friday in the stock market. Not so for lodging stocks, particularly Selina Hospitality which was read its last rites as it tried to avoid a reverse split to stay listed. SLNA plunged -41% to a new all-time low. They filed a revised prospectus with the SEC, and while it shows how ugly things are, with numerous financings, convertibles, and eventually a lot more shares, we didn’t see anything that wasn’t out there already. If anything, that filing shows that the financing people made as big a mistake as their public shareholders. Outside of SLNA shares getting demolished, the REITs are also taking another hit, with new lows set by CLDT, BHR, INN, and XHR on Friday.
Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Airbnb to $110 from $100. MS maintained their Underweight rating.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association is clearly very pleased with the U.S. General Services Administration’s new Fiscal Year 2024 per diem rates for travel by federal workers. The guidelines announced include a $9 increase to the continental US lodging rate as well as large increases in rates in many non-standard areas. The AHLA said they spent months lobbying the administration on behalf of hoteliers nationwide.
Blackstone sold three Marriott-branded hotels in Broward County, FL, for a combined $64.3 million. The two hotels are next door to one another on Hotel Road in Miramar, while the third is in Plantation. The larger of the two Miramar properties is the Residence Inn by Marriott, with 130 rooms, and the Courtyard features 125 rooms. The two hotels combine for 169,380 square feet. The Plantation property is also a Residence Inn located near the Broward Mall. The 101,194-square-foot property has 138 rooms. The Courtyard hotel and Plantation’s Residence Inn traded for $20.7 million each, while the Residence Inn in Miramar sold for $22.9 million. Blackstone paid a total of $43.2 million for the three hotels. Three Wall Capital purchased the hotels, securing a $47.8 million loan from Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, which will also cover a hotel in Arizona.
A new 132-room hotel may rise at a vacant property near the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport in FL. The Pinellas County Commission approved a zoning request and development agreement from Baywood Hotels to develop the 2.78-acre portion of the property, which is leased to the Pinellas Park-based private Brookline PIE entity. A rendering of the project in the Transient Accommodation Overlay and zoning map amendment application shows it would be a Residence Inn by Marriott flagged hotel. Baywood Hotels is suggesting a five-story, 21,793-square-foot hotel.
Douglas Development Corp has kicked off the $38 million conversion of a Georgetown office building into a Marriott International-flagged hotel. The five-story DC office building will be combined with two adjacent townhouses to create a 106-key hotel called The Canal House of Georgetown that will be part of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio, scheduled for completion in early 2025. Douglas owned the office building since 1997 but lost its anchor tenant, Hickok Cole. They determined that converting it to a hotel made the most sense.
The Victoria Airport Authority has approved the construction of a 129-room hotel at Victoria International Airport in British Columbia. The airport authority said the new hotel would be a TownePlace Suites by Marriott, three stories with a combination of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units. Hotel amenities include a fitness center, swimming pool, 1500 square feet of meeting space, and a restaurant. The hotel will be Greater Victoria’s first extended-stay hotel. Construction is expected to begin this fall, with completion in late spring 2025. The hotel will be developed and operated by the Kothari Group.
The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa Avon, Vail Valley in Avon, CO, has launched an extensive renovation called “The Next Chapter,” which will be completed by Winter 2024. The renovations will include a guestroom refresh, the creation of a new Adventure Center with an activity concierge, and the Vail Valley’s first rooftop bar. The resort is completely revamping all 230 guestrooms, enhancing its grand lobby to create a cozy entrance lounge, and adding another flexible event space called the Talon Suite, along with the rooftop bar that will open in Spring 2024.
The Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Convention Center in Virginia has completed a six-month, multi-million dollar makeover. It redesigned the guest suites and bathrooms, including two presidential suites, while the hotel’s open-air atrium lobby and corridors received a fresh coat of paint. Atrium Hospitality said the Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton is the largest hotel in Hampton, VA, and the only all-suite, full-service hotel in the city. The hotel includes nearly 4,000 square feet of hotel indoor event space. The Hampton Roads Convention Center is also connected to the hotel by a covered walkway and offers 344,000 square feet of meeting space and 35 event spaces.
Mortenson Company said they plan to build a 256-guest-room Motto by Hilton hotel at a downtown Nashville, TN, property which currently houses a one-story structure. The Metro Development and Housing Agency design review committee has approved a modified plan for the hotel. The project is currently in its final planning phase and is projected to open in the fall of 2025.
GL Investments Hospitality Division has acquired and completed an extensive renovation and rebranding of the former Best Western Seville Plaza Hotel. GLI purchased the property in August 2019, but the pandemic delayed renovations and rebranding. The Kansas City, MO, hotel is now a Wyndham Trademark Collection Hotel. In addition to the guestroom improvements, the lobby was completely updated with new seating, lighting, artwork, flooring, and front doors. The breakfast area was also reworked, and the parking lot was resurfaced.
Five years after opening, Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, CO, will renovate three restaurants and the Grand Lodge. Phase two of their multi-year investment plan will include a reconceptualization of three existing restaurants and a new event pavilion added. Embers Lodge Bar will replace Pinyons and feature a 360-degree wraparound bar and 248-person seating area. The new English pub, the Fortunate Prospector, will seat 134 guests and feature a 12-draft beer tower. The Garden and Grain will focus on healthy eating, while Copper Table will feature authentic Colorado cuisine. All the projects are expected to be finished in 2024.
Site preparations are underway at 711 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, the site of the future 400-room voco branded hotel. A joint venture between Flintlock Construction and Atlas Hospitality is developing the 32-story hotel in Times Square. They chose the IHG brand for the 343-foot-tall structure. The project is being financed with the help of a $120 million construction loan which Beach Point Capital Management brokered. The hotel is anticipated to be completed in the third quarter of 2025.
The Sandpiper Gulf Resort and HideAway Village Motel are the latest two properties in Fort Myers Beach, FL, to be sold. The 63-unit Sandpiper was operated by Boykin Management Co, who could not give any information on what the future holds. The 30-cottage-style HideAway was reported to have sold for $3.2 million to a Canadian outfit.
Allegiant Travel Co. disclosed that their Sunseeker Resort in Charlotte County, FL, will be delayed again. The latest was looking to October for an opening, but now it is pushed back to sometime in the 4th quarter. Allegiant said the project had encountered unavoidable delays due to Hurricane Ian. From what we see and hear in these parts, they also are having a hard time getting help, both for construction and filling the positions they will need to open eventually.
Construction is planned to start on an expansion and renovation of the Scottsdale Plaza Resort as soon as possible. The new construction and renovation of the Paradise Valley, AZ, resort will add three restaurants, a new spa and café building, and 64 new hotel rooms. The existing rooms will also be updated, which include some of Paradise Valley’s largest resort suites. A partnership between Highgate and Rockpoint bought the resort in 2021 for $90.75 million. About 36 of the new rooms will be built on what is now a parking lot, and 24 will be around a pool. The new spa building will have six “spa suite” guest rooms, and plans call for eight new villas. In the renovation, 10 rooms will be removed, for a total addition of 64, bringing the total guest rooms at the hotel to 468.
Hotel development, management, and investment company Raines has opened the newly renovated Waynesville Inn & Golf Club in western North Carolina. Raines acquired the property in April 2021. The 165-acre property now has 72 newly refurbished guestrooms, an 18-hole golf course and practice facilities, 6,000 square feet of event space, an event lawn, and several dining options. Onsite facilities have been upgraded and diversified to include a fitness center, an outdoor swimming pool, a business center, and pet-friendly guestrooms.
The 110-room Hotel La Jolla will undergo an $8 million renovation that will include the latest reincarnation of its ocean-view penthouse dining space. The planned overhaul of the 11th-floor space, now occupied by Cusp Dining & Drinks, will require months-long closure to redesign and reopen as what will be known as Sea & Sky. Cusp is expected to close after Labor Day, and Sea & Sky will open in early December. The hotel last changed hands two years ago, acquired by Kawa Capital Management and CL Hotels for $43 million. They said then upgrades to the California property, a member of Hilton’s Curio Collection, would include an upgrade of the pool, lobby, restaurants, and guest rooms.
Personnel Move
White Lodging announced that David Meisner had rejoined the company as its newest Regional VP. Meisner worked for While Lodging from 2014 to 2022. His last role was as the opening GM of the Austin Marriott Downtown.
