The DJIA fell another 46 points while Nasdaq was down another 182 and the S&P 500 fell 29 more points. The 10-year treasury yield finally went down, dropping .07 today to 4.59%. Lodging stocks were lower. SVC and SOHO both traded down to new 52 week lows.
Barclays gave their 1Q24 earnings preview for the Lodging REITs, saying March may have been a bit softer than expected but the year was expected to be back half weighted anyway so they generally expect FY guidance reiterations. Barclays believes Park Hotels offers the biggest opportunity to beat and raise given its Oahu and NYC exposure. RevPAR may be a bit soft for the REITs in 1Q but Barclays believes the solid group and ancillary spend in January will keep EBITDA around expectations. They believe the companies will emphasize expected revenue growth acceleration throughout the year.
According to CoStar’s March 2024 data, the volume of U.S. hotel rooms under construction grew year over year for the first time since June 2023. U.S. Hotel Pipeline March 2024 (percentage change from March 2023): In construction: 156,525 rooms (+1.5%) Final planning: 263,316 rooms (+9.8%) Planning: 324,522 rooms (+39.5%). Upper midscale and upscale projects continue to dominate the pipeline, accounting for more than half of the in-construction room count. Chain Scale Segments (% of existing supply, in-construction room count): Luxury (4.3%, 6,466 rooms) Upper Upscale (2.8%, 19,766 rooms) Upscale (4.0%, 35,912 rooms) Upper Midscale (3.6%, 42,605 rooms) and Economy (1.2%, 7,946 rooms).
STR gave a US hotel update for the week ended April 13th. US hotel RevPAR was up 5.8%, with occupancy and RevPAR gains split. Group RevPAR was up 40.2%, still helped by the Easter shift.
The NY Post reported on the preliminary first quarter data from STR/CoStarwhich said more than half the rooms at budget hotels nationwide were vacant during the first three months of 2024. Hotels like Econo Lodge, Days Inn, Super 8 and SureStay posted occupancy rates of 48.7% in 1Q, down -5% from a year ago. RevPAR was down -6.5% from 1Q23, the largest decline among all hotel segments, according to CoStar. Midscale hotels’ RevPAR was down -4.5% while upper-midscale hotels were down -2%. Upper upscale and upscale were up 3% and 0.4% respectively and luxury hotels’ RevPAR was down -0.3%. CoStar said they believe the actual revenue decline in the economy sector is likely greater because the number of rooms have decreased by -2% as some of the hotels have simply closed or were converted to residential properties over the past year.
If you have Lifelock or another credit monitoring service, you probably received an email yesterday or today alerting you to the Omni Hotels cyber attack. Omni Hotels & Resorts confirmed that cyber criminals stole personal information of their customers including names, email addresses, postal addresses and guest loyalty program info. Omni said the stolen data did not include financial information of Social Security numbers. Omni shut down its systems on March 29th when they discovered the breach and restored its systems on April 8th.
General Hotels Corporation in partnership with Weathervane Capital Partners, Chris Schulhof Investment Group and Sangha Investments LLC, announced the “topping off” of its new Homewood Suites hotel in Viera, FL. The new 131-room Homewood Suites Viera is managed by General Hotels Corporation and will feature brand amenities including a business center and fitness center.
Tharaldson Hospitality Management announced the grand opening of Monrovia TownePlace Suites. Conveniently located in the heart of Monrovia, California, the new hotel features modern amenities including a fitness center and a relaxing outdoor patio area with grills and a fireplace.
Market Farms Hospitality is planning a new four-story, 124-room StudioRes by Marriott hotel in Memphis, Tennessee area, the first one in the U.S.
The $90 million restoration project at Hotel Cleveland is almost complete with a grand opening slated for early June. The hotel, in Downtown Cleveland, has 491 guestrooms, 30 meeting spaces and the largest Marriott ballroom in the state of Ohio. It will also include two restaurants. Hotel Cleveland is part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott.
Remington Hospitality unveiled the rebranding and full renovation of the Holiday Inn Corpus Christi Airport & Conference Center, as the company assumes management of the property. This venture signifies Remington’s inaugural partnership with Domus Holdings, LLC and its debut in the Corpus Christi locale. The hotel boasts 236 guestrooms, 6,800 square feet of versatile meeting space and an onsite bar and restaurant.
IHG Hotels & Resorts celebrated the opening of a new Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. Owned by Jai Laxmi Vishnu, LLC and managed by Athena Hospitality Group, Holiday Inn Express & Suites Dry Ridge offers 97 guestrooms, 1,321 square feet of meeting space, an indoor heated pool, fitness center and business center.
The Raleigh City Council is expected to make a $500,000 investment toward an anchor hotel for the yet-to-be-renovated and expanded Raleigh Convention center. Visit Raleigh confirmed to ABC11 that the city will select Omni Hotels Management Corporation to be the convention center hotel. This will be the third Omni property in the state of North Carolina and the first for Raleigh. The Omni Raleigh Hotel is anticipated to include 550 guestrooms, 55,000 square feet of meeting space, several food and beverage outlets, a rooftop pool, fitness center, and a signature Mokara spa. The hotel is expected to open in 2027.
The Graduate Hotels’ latest property in Princeton is now accepting reservations ahead of its opening in early June 2024. The New Jersey property marks the 34th hotel in the brand’s portfolio and will feature 180 guestrooms and a two-story library lounge.
Sonesta International Hotels Corporation announced the grand opening of the Signature Inn Winnemucca located in Winnemucca, Nevada. The 40-room, upper-economy hotel features an outdoor pool and a lounge.
Castle Peak Holdings announced the brand will open its first property in the country’s Southeast, Trailborn Highlands, in downtown Highlands, North Carolina this July. The property will open as a newly renovated hotel comprised of 63 guestrooms, a lobby lounge with a central fireplace, dedicated partnership pop-up space, as well as a curated onsite retail market. Trailborn Highlands will also offer the Azalea Room serving as a hospitality suite providing meeting space, flexible seating and a patio for private events. The lobby lounge opens to a sprawling deck and backyard functioning as a social gathering space, rentable private space and a venue for featured programming and live music. Additional outdoor spaces include a lily pond, flower gardens, and a Nordic spa. The property’s crowning jewel is a historic lob cabin adjacent to the hotel. The historic structure has been re-imagined as a Southern restaurant. Trailborn Highlands is the brand’s third hotel opening.
After more than four years of development and construction, the Cambria Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York is accepting reservations. The $20 million, seven-story, 120-room hotel is operated by Plati Niagara Inc. and features a restaurant and bar, and three additional buildings housing short-term rental units.
NoMad Las Vegas, the 293-room hotel on the top four floors of Park MGM, will be rebranded in the coming months following an acquisition of the operators of the boutique hotel. It is not known what the hotel will rebrand to and when. Hilton announced this month that it would acquire a majority controlling interest in Sydell Group, the company behind the NoMad brand. Hilton plans to expand the NoMad Hotels brand with as many as 10 properties currently in discussion.
A large-scale expansion at Glenwood Hotel Springs Resort, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, is nearly ready to debut after 13 months of construction. The new Yampah Mineral Baths will open in late May featuring five new swimming pools, a cold plunge and a new shaded lounge area with a hearth. The resort will also reopen its drinking spring. Each of the new pools will operate at different temperatures, though they will all derive from the Yampa Source Spring. This is the third stage of a multi-year plan to update its facilities. The resort plans to announce the project’s fourth stage later this year.
Populus, the country’s first carbon positive hotel, set to open in Denver in summer 2024, is now accepting reservations for September 2024 onwards. Managed by Aparium Hotel Group and developed by Urban Villages, Populuswill feature 265 guestrooms, a ground floor signature restaurant, lounge and coffee bar, flexible event spaces and a rooftop restaurant and bar.
The owner of the long defunct Millennium Hotel, in St. Louis, Missouri, has selected JLL to spearhead efforts to sell the property. JLL will conduct tours with interested buyers and announce an official date for when they can submit bids. The owner will then review offers and select finalists for buyer interviews. The hotel is owned by City Developments Limited and operated by its subsidiary Millennium Hotels & Resorts.
Personnel Moves
CoralTree Residence Collection announced that Kate Grattan and Andy Evershave been hired as area managing directors in Colorado and Hawaii, respectively. Grattan and Evers will be responsible for overseeing operations for the company’s portfolio of residential resorts, vacation rentals and homeowners associations under management in Hawaii and Colorado. Grattan most recently was area general manager for Destination by Hyatt. Evers assumes management of the Hawaii portfolio after leading their operations on Kauai.
FCM Hotels has appointed Michael Heeden as president. A 30-year veteran of the hospitality industry, Heeden spent the past 16 years as president of Winston Hospitality, Inc. Heeden specializes in hotel operations, development and asset management and has experience with a variety of properties nationwide, including urban, mixed-use, lifestyle-branded hotels, as well as casino hotels and resorts.
Europe Highlights
IHG Hotels & Resorts continues the growth of its newest midscale conversion brand Garner hotels, which is now available across IHG’s Europe, Middle East, Asia Africa region. This marks another milestone towards Garner reaching its goal of more than 500 hotels in the next 10 years, and 1,000 hotels over the next 20 years. This follows IHG’s announcement of a long-term agreement with NOVUM Hospitality to bring 56 open and pipeline Garner hotels to Germany. The brand already has three open properties and 14 hotels in its pipeline, including the U.S., where the first Garner property opened less than three months after the brand’s launch, and Japan, where plans were announced for three properties in Osaka, set to open in the second half of this year.
Cycas Hospitality’s growth continues into 2024 following their landmark appointment to manage The Ormond Hotel in Dublin on behalf of the Ormond Group. This will be Cycas’ first property in Ireland and marks another significant step in their pan-European expansion. The re-imagined Ormond Hotel features 120 guestrooms, a bar and restaurant and a private dining space.
