Lodging Stocks Rise With the Broader Market

The DJIA rose 189 points, the Nasdaq was up 168, the S&P 500 was up 42, and the 10-year treasury yield was up .07 to 4.28%. Lodging stocks were higher, but the big movers went down the road. SVC and AHT traded down to new lows, with AHT down another -5%. BHR was down -7% on the day.

Driftwood Capital announced the grand opening of the Element by Westin Melbourne Oceanfront located in Melbourne, Florida. The 130-key hotel features a fitness center, saline pool deck and an onsite restaurant. Driftwood Hospitality Management will assume management operations and hotel responsibilities. Element by Westin Melbourne Oceanfront sits adjacent to the Crown Plaza Melbourne, also owned by Driftwood Capital. 
 
A partnership between Merritt Development Group and Phoenix Development Partners is looking to build a new $60 million hotel in San Antonio’s urban core. The eight-story, 175-room Residence Inn by Marriott will be operated by Concord Hospitality Group. Construction is expected to finish in the summer of 2026. 
 
Courtyard by Marriott announced the completion of a significant renovation to transform both the interior and exterior of its Courtyard Detroit Downtown in Detroit, Michigan. Owned by Bedrock and operated by Marriott International, the hotel boasts 260 completely renovated guestrooms, an indoor pool, a sauna and completely upgraded fitness amenities. New ergonomic workspaces have been added to the hotel to complement existing spaces, and they have been modernized to offer individual breakout rooms, mid-sized meeting rooms and large conference rooms. Additionally, the exterior of the hotel has undergone significant changes, including enhanced landscaping designs in outdoor spaces that encompass the hotel entryways and the rooftop. A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony is slated for the summer of 2024. 
 
The Thornwood development in Germantown, Tennessee will soon welcome a second hotel. The new 111-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott is expected to open in late June or early July. Onsite amenities include a fitness center, indoor heated pool, 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, surface level and underground parking and an upscale rooftop restaurant and bar concept. 
 
Hospitality Asset Management Company broke ground on a 98-room Tru by Hilton hotel in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. HAMCO is targeting a June 2025 opening for the four-story hotel featuring active lobby spaces and an expanded fitness center. 
 
Pinnacle Hospitality announced the opening of the Cambria Hotel Rehoboth Beach, located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, almost exactly two years after breaking ground. The three-story, 104-room hotel offers indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness center, arcade room, 8,000 square feet of meeting space and a restaurant and bar. The pool area will soon have cabanas and outdoor fireplaces. The Cambria Hotel will be celebrating a grand opening and ribbon cutting on June 26. 
 
IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of a newly built Candlewood Suites hotel in Trois-Rivieres, Canada. The property offers 111 suites, a business center and a fitness center. Candlewood Suites Trois-Rivieres is owned and managed by Hotel M Inc. 
 
Sundance Mountain Resort, in Sundance, Utah, broke ground on the forthcoming Inn at Sundance Resort. The project will open in 2025-2026, and the new 63-room inn will span two buildings and include a comfortable living room lounge, a ski locker mud room, and a wrap-around porch deck. On the horizon, Sundance Mountain Resort will see the addition of six new-build, ski-in/ski-out townhomes nestled in the village trees alongside the creek, as well as a new lift and terrain expansion of its back mountain. 
 
With a multi-million renovation coming, the Clarion Hotel Conference Center on Lake Erie in Dunkirk, New York, will rebrand next year as Steelbound Hotel and Conference Center. The shift follows the 2022 opening of a Steelbound Brewery and Distillery franchise. S&K Hospitality, the hotel’s owner, is exploring opportunities for more unique designs and amenities that aren’t always available under a national flag. Plans at the Clarion call for renovating all 120 guestrooms, with additional work in the conference area, dining room and lobby. Exterior work will include new pickleball courts and space for collaboration. Already, the hotel has installed in-room pour systems in guestrooms as part of its franchise partnership with Steelbound. Pending receipt of state funds, the company expects to begin construction in late fall, with completion expected in mid to late 2025. The property still has another year on its contract with Choice Hotels. Then, they will need to determine whether the hotel company will allow the site to operate as a boutique hotel under Choice or if it will become an independent hotel. 
 
The Six Bells Inn is slated to open in spring 2025 in Rosendale, New York. Audrey Gelman is currently closing on the three-story $1.8 million property. The former 1850 House Inn will have 11 rooms and a restaurant overlooking Rondout Creek. 
 
A project that was built as a 14-apartment complex in Portland, Maine will now become a luxury hotel, joining four other hotels in a half-mile radius of the site in Portland’s historic Old Port neighborhood. The developers behind the housing project handed the complex over to Fathom Companies in May. According to the company, the pivot came in response to trends and demands in the market. 
 
Hunter Hotel Advisors announced the successful sale of Embassy Suites Orlando International Drive ICON Park. Leo Capital acquired the asset. Hunter represented the institutional seller. The Embassy Suites Orlando International Drive ICON Park provides 246 guestrooms, a cocktail lounge, gourmet market, fitness center, business center, and an indoor/outdoor pool. Crestline Hotels & Resorts will continue to manage the property. 
 
JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality group arranged $575 million in financing for the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida. JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Trinity Investments and UBS Asset Management’s Real Estate & Private Markets Multi-Managers business, to secure the five-year, floating-rate loan through mortgage lenders Citi and Deutsche Bank. The interest-only loan also included mezzanine financing provided by Ohana Real Estate Investors and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. The Diplomat Beach Resort is currently managed by Hilton Hotels and Resorts under the Curio Collection by the Hilton brand. The 1,000-room, oceanfront resort boasts over 200,000 square feet of integrated meeting and events space, a spa, six restaurants and bars, plus multiple pools and cascading waterfalls. 
 
Civitas Capital Group closed a $150 million senior loan for the construction of a 210-room Curio Collection by Hilton hotel on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The senior loan is being provided to affiliates of Silverwest Hotels and its institutional equity partners. Situated on approximately 8.5 acres within the master-planned, 450-acre oceanfront luxury resort community, the property will feature a restaurant, a pro shop for its 18-hole golf course, an outdoor pool, 27,000 square feet of interior and outdoor meeting and event space and a fitness center. This will be Hilton’s second branded hotel on the island. 
 
Heafey Group secured a $80 million refinancing of its loan to back the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach condo-hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ocean Bank provided the loan to FLB Hotel and FLB Restaurant, two entities managed by the Canadian real estate firm. The 24-story development includes 290 suites, condos, and condo-hotel units, as well as a spa, gym, pool and restaurants. 

Personnel Moves

Service Properties Trust announced that Jesse Abair has been appointed vice president. Abair is a Vice President of The RMR Group.
 
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation announced Jeanette E. Marbert, President of Exchange and Third-Party Management, will retire on August 31, 2024.