Airbnb Has Its First Profitable Year

The DJIA rose 39 points, Nasdaq was up 110, the S&P 500 rose 11 points and the 10-year treasury yield continued the march to 4%, up another .05 to 3.81%. Lodging stocks were somewhat mixed, but the gainers got all the attention. They were paced by a 13% rise for Airbnb and 9% gains for Vacasa and Sonder. Membership Collective (Soho House) was the only loser of note, down -5% on the day. 

Airbnb definitely got a better response from investors on their 4Q earnings report than traditional lodging analysts. The main takeaway everyone agreed on is that ABNB’s results, along with Marriott and Hilton’s, showed the demand has not slowed down like so many warned it would halfway through 2022. The debate is whether ABNB has its own niche and that crowd is growing or this is a reaction to some revolting against higher ADRs in the hotel space. The main thing was that 4Q EBITDA was way higher than expected and the knock against ABNB had been bringing profits from the growing top line.

Choice Hotels continued the parade with 4Q revenue and EBITDA comfortably above estimates with the Radisson acquisition helping with that. CHH repurchased $188.2 million worth of stock in 4Q and only has 4.7 million shares left in their authorization.

STR reported US lodging data for the week ended 2/11. RevPAR was up 18.9% year over year. Against the same week in 2019, RevPAR was up 3.6%.

Manatee County’s largest hotel has an opening date and a brand. The eight-story, 252-room Marriott hotel, which will be connected to the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto, Florida, will include a rooftop-restaurant and swimming pool. Tony DeRusso, a minority owner and managing director of Improvement Network Development Partners, LLC and The Marriott Palmetto Resort, says the property should be open this time next year. The county is also planning a renovation and 20,000 square foot expansion of the convention center. A timeline is not yet available for start or completion of the convention center project. 

Marriott International’s Element Hotels and Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts, together with The Ritchie Group and Garn Development, announced the opening of Le Méridien Salt Lake City Downtown and Element Salt Lake City Downtown. The dual-branded property commemorates Element’s milestone hundredth global opening and its first in Salt Lake City. The property also marks the first Le Méridien in Utah and the first hotel with an expansive rooftop bar in the market. This first-ever combination of the two distinctly unique brands is managed by Azul Hospitality Group. The property is located in The West Quarter, a new mixed-use development offering a plethora of shopping, dining and entertainment experiences in the heart of Salt Lake City’s Warehouse District. The property offers a combined 270 guest rooms, rooftop pool, fitness center, approximately 8,355 square feet of meeting space, a signature restaurant, and an on-property farmstand.

Nella Invest paid a record price of $67.8 million for the AC Hotel Biltmore by Marriott, in Phoenix, Arizona. Nella purchased the 160-room hotel from Holualoa Companies and LaPour Partners. The five-story hotel includes over 5,000 square feet of meeting space, a business center, fitness center, pool, retail shop, and laundry room.

Bethany Beach Ocean Suites Residence Inn by Marriott will unveil a multimillion dollar makeover in May 2023, encompassing newly designed guest suites and public spaces, meeting rooms and grand event hall, a new hybrid indoor-outdoor pool and a new signature restaurant. Bethany Beach Ocean Suites is located in Bethany Beach, Delaware and is owned and operated by EOS Hospitality.

Housed in the late nineteenth-century Merchants-Laclede National Bank, a newly renovated property developed by Rockbridge, The Pennywell St. Louis Downtown, a Hilton hotel opened in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri. The Pennywell offers 195 guest rooms, 5,113 square feet of impressive event space, a fitness center, co-working spaces, a lobby lounge, and The Pennydrop Bar + Kitchen. 

5 Senses Hospitality announced their substantial investment in The Waters Hotel, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, located in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 5 Senses Hospitality has been actively managing the property since early 2022. Nestled in Hot Springs National Park, the 62-room boutique hotel offers a full-service restaurant, lounge and rooftop bar.

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the debut of Vignette Collection in the Americas with the opening of Yours Truly DC. Nestled within Washington, D.C.’s eclectic Dupont Circle (but actually the West End neighborhood by 21st and M St NW), Yours Truly is a bohemian-inspired haven offering 355 guest rooms, multiple food and beverage venues, a modern barber shop, a gym and 15,000 square feet of meeting and event spaces.

Selina Hospitality PLC completed the 4-month renovations on its historical boutique hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana in time for Mardi Gras celebrations. The hotel also added 8 additional keys for a total of 51 guest rooms. Located in the Warehouse District, Selina Catahoula boasts a rooftop terrace, outdoor courtyard, convenience store, and an onsite restaurant.

MGallery Hotel Collection announced the launch of Stories that Stay, a brand campaign celebrating the fascinating and singular stories of some of its properties. In addition to the new campaign, the brand has kicked off 2023 with a portfolio of more than 170 hotels either open or in varying stages of development and plans to add at least a dozen new hotels this year. MGallery continues to grow its worldwide collection with several new hotels including Hotel Ändra Seattle - MGallery in the United States. Two destinations have recently opened in Hong Kong, The Silveri Hong Kong - MGallery and AKI Hong Kong - MGallery. Among the dozen or so new hotels set to open this year, one of the most anticipated is Domaine De La Reine Margot - MGallery in Paris. Also up and coming this year are: Elkonin Tel Aviv - MGallery in Israel; Palazzo Tirso Cagliari - MGallery in Sardinia, Italy; and Gigiri Gem Forest Hotel Nairobi - MGallery. 

Developer Sam Patel of Union Station LLC is planning a mixed-use development at the site of the old Memphis Police Department in Memphis, Tennessee. The proposed mixed-use development would include a hotel and residential space on the property which is owned by EP3 Developers LLC.

Cobblestone Hotel Development LLC has proposed a 60-room Cobblestone Hotel and restaurant for the former Associated Bank branch site in Waukesha. The Waukesha hotel would be its eighth in the state of Wisconsin with a connected Wissota Chophouse, a steak and seafood restaurant brand under common ownership with the hotel. The four-story hotel would also have an indoor pool. Cobblestone Hotel plans to buy and demolish the former Associated Bank brand. Pending city approvals, the new hotel could open in the second half of 2024. Discussions are also underway to sell the city-owned parking lot next to the former bank branch to Cobblestone. BriMark Builders would construct the hotel and Slate Hospitality Group would manage it. Both have shared ownership with Cobblestone Hotel Development. 

Developer Joe DeSimone has started construction of Water Street’s first hotel, a six-story Atwell Suites-branded hotel at The Pass, a casino he owns in downtown Henderson, Nevada. The 90-room project is slated to be finished in about 15 months. DeSimone expects to invest $20 million, or more, into the project. 

The Portland, Maine Planning Board approved plans for a twelve-story, 179-room hotel as part of a major redevelopment of the block on Congress Street. The site plan, which constitutes Phase 1 of the Herald Square project, includes nine condominiums on the upper floors of the hotel and 75 parking garage spaces. Fathom Companies is building the hotel. Developer Reger Dasco Properties will develop the second phase of the project which will include 297 condo units in two buildings and retail space. 

Hotel Blue, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has sat vacant since the pandemic, rising costs and changes in contractors cause major delays. Ezra Callahan says construction on the old Hotel Blue will be starting in a couple of weeks. It will become Arrive Albuquerque, a boutique hotel with a new pool, bar and restaurant. The project should be done by the end of 2024. 

HREC Investment Advisors arranged the sale of the 111-guestroom Hampton Inn Cadillac located in Cadillac, Michigan. HREC Investment Advisors exclusively represented Kushman Hotels Group on this transaction.