U.S. Group Bookings Increase While Biz Travel Lags

The DJIA rose 323 points while Nasdaq jumped 208, the S&P 500 rose 59 points, and the 10-year Treasury yield took a breather, down .08 to 3.03%. Lodging stocks were higher. The biggest movers of the day included AHT with a 9% rise, VCSA was up 6% and SOHO resumed its rally, up 5%.

Inflation, energy prices, supply chain challenges, labor shortages, and regional developments are pushing the forecast for full recovery into 2026, instead of the previously forecasted 2024, according to the 2022 GBTA Business Travel Index. Highlights from the latest BTI Outlook include: total spending on global business travel reached $697 billion in 2021, 5.5% above the pandemic-era low of 2020. The industry gained back roughly $36 billion of the $770 billion lost in 2020. Recovery was short-circuited by the Omicron variant and spike in global Covid cases in late 2021 and early 2022. Global business travel spending in 2022 is expected to advance 35% over 2021 levels to $933 billion, recovering to 65% of pre-pandemic levels. Recovery in 2022 was dependent upon and has been largely driven by improvement in the four factors of global business travel recovery. 

According to the latest monthly data from STR and CoStar, the number of groups booking U.S. hotel rooms continued to increase in June, although individual business travel continued to lag. CoStar thinks we are living a new trend in real-time, which is the decrease in one-to-one trips and the increase in teams choosing an industry conference as a reason to get together after two years of remote connection. CoStar also relayed updated forecasts for the U.S. hotel industry from STR, in partnership with Tourism Economics, which raised expectations for rate growth.

Canada’s monthly hotel occupancy came in higher than the 2019 comparablefor the first time in the pandemic era, according to STR’s July 2022 data. July 2022 (percentage change from July 2019) includes: Occupancy: 75.5% (+0.3%); ADR: CAD214.77 (+16.1%); and RevPAR: CAD162.11 (+16.4%). Among the provinces and territories, Prince Edward Island recorded the highest July occupancy level at 91.9%. Among the major markets, Vancouver saw the highest occupancy at 84.7%. The lowest occupancy among provinces was reported in Saskatchewan at 64.2%. At the market-level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Edmonton at 60.7%. Full-year occupancy is currently forecasted to reach 60% in 2022, while ADR is expected to reach $179 and full-year RevPAR is now expected to be in line with pre-pandemic results this year. However, adjusting for inflation extends the full recovery position by a few years.

PBA Group of Companies announced the opening of Calgary’s newest luxury hotel. The $110-million Marriott property, The Dorian, features more than 300 luxury rooms and three restaurants in a 27-story tower.

DS2 Real Estate Holdings LLC purchased the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel, in Dayton, OH, from Cloverleaf Investments Inc for $9.4 million.

Valor Hospitality Partners announced the expansion of its portfolio with two appointments spanning international properties. With these portfolio additions, Valor Hospitality will lend third-party hotel management expertise to the Taaibosch Wine Estate in Cape Winelands, South Africa and The Mining Exchange Hotels, A Wyndham Grand Hotel and Spa in Colorado Springs, CO. The Taaibosch Wine Estate recently launched three luxury lodging offerings, including a two-bedroom Garden Villa; a four-bedroom Farsight Villas and a 5-bedroom all en-suite Manor House. The Mining Exchange Hotel, A Wyndham Grand Hotel and Spa features 117-rooms, the MX Spa, a restaurant, two on-site bars and more than 15,000 square feet of meeting space. 

Aparium Hotel Group announced the development of three new hotels. The first-time partnership between Aparium, May Reigler Properties, and Potomac Investments, Hotel Heron, in Alexandria, VA, will include 134 rooms, meeting space, ground floor flagship restaurant and a rooftop bar. Project construction is underway and the hotel is slated for completion by late 2023. Hotel Westland will be the Group’s first hotel in Seattle, WA. A partnership with Urban Villages, the adaptive reuse of the historic Westland Building is expected to open in late 2023 with 120 rooms and suites, a signature indoor and outdoor restaurant as well as a rooftop bar. Slated to open in Civic Center Park, in Denver, CO, Populus Hotel will be a 13-story, 265-room property featuring a café and restaurant, meeting spaces, and a rooftop bar and restaurant. Construction started in April and is slated to be complete in early 2024.

Trestle Studio, in partnership with former Chattanooga Mayor Jon Kinsey, has acquired the iconic Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel located in the heart of Chattanooga, TN. Trestle assumed management of the property in July 2022 and will undertake a comprehensive renovation of the property. Upon completion in the summer of 2023, the property will offer 127 guestrooms, inclusive of 25 Pullman train car guest rooms, a lobby café, a ballroom with dedicated courtyard space, new outdoor alpine pool and open-air lounge with a converted trolly car and fire pits. 

Pod architecture + design, together with real estate developer Gill Holland, revealed plans for “The Devonian” a post-pandemic, community hotel in Louisville, KY. Along with the 25 small guest rooms, the Devonian will offer a heated courtyard pool and a rooftop deck. According to Holland, when financing is secured, construction should begin next spring.

Hall Structured Finance generated a new $38.7 million first lien construction loan to fund the construction of the ROOST Apartment Hotel in Charleston, SC. The extended-stay boutique apartment hotel will be run by Method Co. Slated to debut in early 2024, the five-story, luxury boutique property will offer 50 apartment hotel rooms and a rooftop lounge. CBRE sourced the financing for the project.

Noble Investment Group announced promotions and new leadership appointments across its asset management, capital markets, communications, investment, and investor relations teams. Dan Konzelmann has been promoted to Senior Director, Renee Millett has been promoted to Senior Project Director. Emily Feeney has been promoted to Director; Scarlett Reveron has been promoted to Director. Sydney Payne has been promoted to Manager, and Bo Zhang has been promoted to Associate. Jody Ward joins Noble as a Senior Director. Ryan Maher joins Noble as a Senior Director. Michael Hall joins the Company as a Director. Nicolas Weatherford joins Noble as a Director. Dillon Potter joins Noble as an Analyst.