IHG Brings Wonderland Experience to Select Hotels

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The DJIA rose 295 points on Friday while Nasdaq was up 79, the S&P 500 was up 27 points, and the 10-year treasury yield plunged .13 to 4.23%. Lodging stocks had a very good day. VAC traded down to a new low but bounced, ending the day up 6%. RHP and IHG traded up to new highs. SOHO was the big winner with a 12% gain followed by RHP and AHT, up 11% and 10%, respectively. ABNB and HGV were both up 7% and TNL and SHCO both rose 6% on the day.

Park Hotels & Resorts gave the final details on their special top-off dividend. They announced their regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 and a top-off dividend of $0.78. In total, PK will have returned nearly $635 million of capital to shareholders in 2023 by way of dividends and share repurchases. With the top-off dividend, PK’s 2023 dividend yield was 9.3%.

Remington Hospitality announced the rebranding of Crowne Plaza La Concha Hotel in Key West, Florida, to La Concha Key West, Autograph Collection. Remington Hospitality, which previously managed the property, will continue in conjunction with sister company Premier. The project is slated for completion in early 2024. La Concha Key West, Autograph Collection provides 160 guestrooms, a newly renovated pool, a fitness center, and a rooftop lounge. Remington will also be managing the property’s three culinary and beverage experiences.

Two hotels west of the Mississippi State University campus, in Starkville, Mississippi, will receive renovations costing more than $9 million starting next week. The renovations of the Courtyard by Marriott and the Hampton Inn Starkville are part of the Mississippi State University Foundation’s plan to revitalize the west side of campus as well as the purchase of a third hotel, the Comfort Suites. Both hotels will be gutted before the rooms and public spaces are entirely refurbished and will maintain the same number of rooms. Renovations are planned to be finished by next August before the next football season. Using a portion of investment pool funds allocated for private equity and real estate, the MSU Foundation created a company called West Side Funds Inc. to own all three hotels and maintain operations. The Foundation has hired Charlestowne Hotels to manage the three hotels alongside West Side Funds.

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced a first-of-its-kind immersive seasonal experience at its Luxury & Lifestyle brands in the U.S. and Grand Cayman from December 1, 2023, through February 29, 2024. As part of IHG’s larger Travel Like You Mean It campaign, guests and visitors staying at select InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Vignette Collection and Hotel Indigo properties will be transported to a timeless winter wonderland featuring larger-than-life Winter Chalet lobby installations. Each Winter Chalet installation features a lively bar at the heart of its footprint. Guests will also be treated to Beyond The Chalet programming at IHG hotels across the country. The concept of Winter Chalet comes to life in the lobbies of seven hotels across IHG’s Luxury & Lifestyle portfolio: InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, Kimpton EPIC Hotel in Miami, Kimpton Sawyer Hotel Sacramento, Kimpton Everly Hotel Los Angeles, Hotel Indigo Los Angeles Downtown and Hotel Indigo Williamsburg Brooklyn. Elsewhere within the portfolio, chalet-inspired bar pop-ups are ready at InterContinental New York Barclay, Kimpton Seafire Resort & Spa, Kimpton Shorebreak Huntington Beach, Kimpton Armory Hotel Bozeman, Yours Truly DC, Vignette Collection and Hotel Indigo Minneapolis Downtown.

IHG announced the recent opening of a new Holiday Inn Express & Suitesproperty in Mansfield, Ohio. The 99-room property features newly installed electric charging stations along with a heated indoor pool and open lounge. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Mansfield - Ontario is owned by Ontario Hospitality, Inc.

IHG also announced the opening of a newly renovated and converted Holiday Inn hotel in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Holiday Inn Brookfield - Milwaukee boats 128 guestrooms, more than 2,000 square feet of meeting space, a business center, indoor pool and fitness center. The property is owned by Brookfield Ventures LLC and managed by Dhillon Hotels.

LuxUrban Hotels Inc. signed separate 25-year Master Lease Agreements, inclusive of two five-year options, to operate two new boutique hotels in New York City, the 168-room The Royalton Hotel and the 86-room Truss Hotel. These properties will be rebranded as The Royalton by LuxUrban and The Truss Hotel by LuxUrban and are expected to begin welcoming guests early next month. LuxUrban expects both of these properties to be rebranded under the Trademark Collection by Wyndham name over the next few months.

The oldest hotel on the San Antonio River Walk is slated for a contemporary makeover under new ownership. The more than 300-room El Tropicano Hotel will undergo renovations both inside and out subject to the approval of the Historic and Design Review Commission. Documents submitted to the Office of Historic Preservation show the nine-story, shuttered El Tropicano will undergo rehabilitation by Trestle Studios. An agreement has been reached to sell the hotel to new unnamed owners but no closing date has been set yet.

In mid-December, the Gulfstream Hotel and vacant land at 1 Lake Avenue, in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, are expected to finally transfer from CDS International to Restoration St. Louis. The sale will consist of the land and a separate entity awarded rights to restore and expand the hotel. Restoration of the Old Florida landmark could begin immediately after the closing, with completion of the hotel slated to take about 15 months. If the sale takes place as planned, a formal building permit should be filed by year-end, with a groundbreaking expected to take place in early 2024. Restoration St. Louis said an expansion of the hotel would be built on the six parcels west of the hotel and feature an additional 50 hotel rooms, plus 85 apartments and a parking garage in an eight-story building. The annex would also include a restaurant, rooftop pool, banquet rooms, salon and gym. The entire project is expected to cost $135 million, with the historic restoration alone costing $45 million to $50 million.

In Wisconsin, the Ashwaubenon Village Board approved a four-story hotel a couple blocks south of Lambeau Field. The Cambria Suites Hotel will be built along the 2100-block of S. Oneida Street.

A lender run by the billionaire Reuben Brothers has filed to seize the Chatwal luxury hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The property’s mezzanine debt, which the Reuben Brothers’ Motcomb Estates loaned, is scheduled for a January 17 auction, positioning the winner to take control of the 76 room hotel. The hotel is part of Hyatt’s global system and is linked to an entity called Adams Hotels International. A pre-foreclosure lawsuit filed in May lists Dubai businessman Iyer Vaidyanathan Narayan as a guarantor on the loan.

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP announced increased liquidity under its revolving credit facility following the completion of new hotel appraisals obtained in accordance with the terms of AHIP’s previously announced amendment to its RCF completed on November 7, 2023. The total appraised value of the 20 hotel properties is $286.2 million. This results in maximum borrowing availability under the RCF of $193.2 million, 67.5% of the total appraised value of the Borrowing Base Properties. Based on the current balance owing of $183.2 million, the available liquidity under the RCF is currently $10 million.

Personnel News

Capital Vacations LLC, along with its consolidated subsidiaries, announced the promotion of William Gehman to the position of Chief Financial Officer, effective November 1, 2023. The appointment follows the recent promotion of the former CFO, Jerry Rexroad, to Co-President, as part of Capital Vacations’ ongoing leadership restructuring to foster growth and transformation.

International News

Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced the opening of Sunscape Coco Punta Cana, the newest addition to the Inclusive Collection, part of World of Hyatt. The newly remodeled family-friendly resort expands the Inclusive Collection’s portfolio in the Dominican Republic to 15 resorts and marks the opening of the second Sunscape Resort & Spa branded property in the country. Sunscape Coco Punta Cana offers 1,059 guestrooms, a total of 12 culinary offerings, an Explorer’s Club for Kids, water sports, on-site games, and daytime and nighttime entertainment.

The Unicorn School, Abingdon announced it has exchanged contracts to purchase the former Premier Inn and Ock Mill on Marcham Road, Abingdon, U.K. The purchase from Whitbread PLC will allow The Unicorn School to double its pupil numbers from 120 to 240 over the next few years. Whitbread permanently closed the Premier Inn hotel and Ock Mill Beefeater restaurant on September 8, the same day it opened a brand new and much larger hotel a few hundred meters away on Marcham Road.