The DJIA rebounded 254 points, Nasdaq bounced 169, the S&P 500 rose 43 points and the 10-year Treasury yield ticked up .01 to 4.62%. Lodging stocks were higher. VCSA and SOHO traded down to new lows but SOHO bounced 5% on the day. BHR was up 7% and SOND was up 6%.
Goldman Sachs cut their target price on Vacasa to $9.50 from $11. They maintained their Neutral rating.
Baird gave their views on the upcoming 1Q results for Lodging REITs. They believe 1Q24 RevPAR trends were weaker than expected across the board due to all the factors we have discussed. They lowered 1Q24 estimates and put full-year expectations now well below guidance midpoints. Baird believes management teams could/should reduce at least the high end of their FY guidance ranges. They believe 1Q24 should be the toughest comp quarter of the year.
Selina Hospitality said they received a staff determination letter from the Nasdaq Stock Market, notifying them of their intention to commence the process to delist SLNA’s securities due to the closing bid price being below $0.10 for 10 consecutive days. SLNA plans to appeal the decision with the hearing request staying the decision. SLNA said they will most likely implement a 1 for 30 reverse stock split to get back into compliance. That was approved by shareholders at their annual meeting. The problem is the stock has dropped so much that a 1 for 30 only gets them to $1.80 and with a very small float, it could be a few trades and the stock is back below $1, hypothetically.
The Peninsula New York is undergoing a major renovation. The hotel’s operator, HSH, will be souping up the tech in its 217 rooms to install control-all touch screen tablets, as well as radically improving the aesthetics. The overhaul also includes the lobby and its restaurants, with the rooftop Salon de Ning reborn Pen Top.
The owner of the Kimpton Alton Hotel in San Francisco has surrendered the property to its lender. The development follows the failure of the hotel’s owner, an affiliate of DiNapoli Capital Partners to repay an $85 million loan on the property. Subsequently, ownership of the 248-room Kimpton Alton has been handed over to an affiliate of AB CarVal. Concurrently, Crestline Hotels and Resorts is now the operator of the hotel.
IHG Hotels & Resorts, in collaboration with TC Bay Resort, LCC and NJA Management Group announced the opening of a new avid hotel in Traverse City, Michigan. The new-build property boasts 92 guestrooms, a gym, and an indoor pool.
The Wildwood Inn in Estes Park, Colorado has entered into a partnership with Life House. The hotel’s transition to Life House management took place in March 2024. The 28-key property is located on seven acres of natural landscape, making it a true Colorado mountain retreat. The previous owners of the Wildwood Inn recently retired, passing the reins to new owners Jamie Suttonand Micah Kohls of Sayge Capital. In partnership with Life House, the new owners introduce modern touches to the property including improved reservation software, upgraded TVs with streaming platforms, and a self-check-in process. Sayge Capital and Life House are also focused on expanding the hotel amenities to make the property even more family-friendly. New amenities include a guest laundry facility and a recreation room featuring a pool table, video games, and vending machines.
JET Hospitality is poised for growth in 2024. The company has acquired two Wyoming classics – The Historic Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow and the Park Motel in Powell. The Park Motel, and a second lodging property included in the Virginian sale, are currently under renovation to be reopened as the first two locations under the company’s new boutique brand, JET MOTOR INN, coming Summer 2024. In addition to these new acquisitions and brand launch, JET Hospitality announced its sponsorship of JET Growth Fund LLC, a $5MM REG D Capital Raise. This fund will be the catalyst to their expansion plans, investing in existing JET locations and planting new JET MOTOR INN flags.
The former Artmore Hotel, in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, is set to reopen this summer as a 120-room independent hotel, following an extensive renovation. It will now be called the Hotel Granada. Scarp Ridge Capital Partners and Monomoy Property Ventures developed the hotel. Aparium Hotel Group will manage Hotel Granada. It will have a restaurant in its courtyard and a lobby bar.
After it completes five months of renovations, Hotel Zero Degrees, in Norwalk, Connecticut, is slated to reopen in May as The Watershed. The 96-room hotel, owned by RMS Companies, is a revamped space with luxury offerings including three private conference rooms, a fitness center, covered parking, an onsite market, and restaurant.
After nearly 120 years of operation, Point Pleasant’s landmark Lowe Hotel is on the market for $2.3 million. Ruth Finley and her daughter, Marcia, are selling the West Virginia hotel. The four-story hotel has 40 rooms, a banquet room, fourth-floor ballroom, five storefronts, and more.
The new owners of Lac Le Jeune Resort expect to open the property next month after being shuttered for nearly five years. The resort boasts 21 guestrooms and six rustic cabins on five acres of land in Kamloops, BC, Canada. The year-round resort is owned by Monica Dickinson and Vivek Sharma.
Compass Construction is planning to build a new mixed-use hotel in downtown Kalispell, Montana. Named the Charles Hotel, the $80 million project will include an eight-story, 242-stall public parking garage, 78 multi-family housing units and the five-story hotel with 78 guestrooms and a full-service restaurant.
Hunter Hotel Advisors announced the sale of the 129-key Hampton Inn/Birmingham Mountain Brook, in Birmingham, Alabama. Baron Hospitality acquired the property from an institutional seller represented by Hunter Hotel Advisors.
Europe Highlights
NH Hotel Group, part of Minor Hotels, will now operate as Minor Hotels Europe & Americas following a vote by NH Hotel Group’s shareholders to change the company’s registered name at its Annual General Meeting held last Friday. By adopting the Minor Hotel Europe & Americas name, NH Hotel Group strengthens its integration with Minor Hotels, fostering a single, recognizable corporate identity for stakeholders, accelerating Minor Hotel’s global growth.
Amsterdam has adopted a ban of new hotels. The city wants no more than 20 million hotel stays annually. The measure is one of multiple efforts to control the flow of visitors. In March of last year, the city launched an ad campaign specifically targeted at British men between 18 and 30, urging them to “stay away.” In July, the Dutch capital announced it would bar cruise ships from docking in the city center. Now, the city is banning hotels from being built as they want to make and keep the city livable for residents and visitors. New hotels that had been approved or were in development, 26 in total, would be allowed to proceed for now. Under the new rules, a new hotel can only open if another one closes. It also isn’t allowed to add more rooms than were available.
Barcelo wants to take advantage of the financial oxygen provided by the explosive reactivation of tourism around the world to continue expanding the number of hotels it owns. In the last year and a half, it has reported the disbursement of 226 million in four different operations that included six hotels: two in Morocco, two in Madeira, one in Granada and another in Guadalajara. In 2023, the company paid off all its debt and concluded with a cash balance of 400 million euros to continue with the acquisition process started in November 2022. The company has made public the latest purchased linked to its expansion plans, which has led it to buy two more hotels in Funchal, the capital of Madeira. The company confirms that the investment planned for this year alone, between purchases and refurbishments, amounts to 400 million euros. One of the focal points of growth will be in Cape Verde. In the coming weeks, it will open its first hotel in Praia, the capital of the island of Santiago, which will be joined by other openings on the islands of Sal and Boa Vista. Following recent openings in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, Barcelo Hotel Group plans to continue growing in the countries where it is already present, as well as in new destinations. The chain plans to open a new hotel in Male, the capital of the Maldives, where it opened its first hotel last summer, while it is in the process of evaluating several projects to increase its presence in the country. At the same time, it is starting construction of a new resort on the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania. The hotel company also plans to continue growing in Spain, both in terms of acquisitions and asset refurbishments.
ECE Work + Live has acquired a former office building in Copenhagen Frederiksberg district from TPG Angelo Gordon, with plans to convert it into a hotel. The hotel will comprise 210 rooms. Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2025, with completion by the beginning of 2027. ECE will invest around €65 million in the project. The acquisition was supported and accompanied by Oskar Jensen Development, which will also be involved in the development process as a service developer. A hotel operator has not yet been selected.