Alan Woinski

Singapore has urged Chinese authorities to restore flight capacity between the two nations to pre-Covid levels as soon as possible in a bid to improve business and tourism ties. South Korea will increase the number of flights into the country from China to 80 from 62 per week by the end of this month. European Union countries have agreed to phase out pre-departure Covid testing for travelers from China by the end of the month.

Lodging stocks were lower: There was only one mover of note, SLNA with a -6% drop getting near an all-time low today, but there was a sea of red on the screen today. DiamondRock Hospitality reported a solid 4Q. DRH had given preliminary results in January but still beat expectations even with comparable RevPAR below consensus as margins made up the difference. IHG reported a good quarter but the highlight was the announcement of a $750 million share buyback for 2023

The World Travel & Tourism Council reported positive signs of recovery for the Asian travel and tourism sector with five major metropolises seeing a significant economic rebound . Macau visitor arrivals in January doubled year on year, reaching nearly 1.4 million, but a hospitality and tourism management professional has warned Macau will only see half of the yearly pre-pandemic visitors this year . Accor announced plans to open a Mercure property in Tokyo, Japan. Mercure Tokyo Hibiya will be housed within the existing Uchisaiwaicho Heiwa Building, close to JR Shimbashi and Uchisaiwaicho stations .

The Philippines Hotel Sales and Marketing Association said hotels in the country remain optimistic of the industry’s performance this year as the average occupancy has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Marriott International is planning 14 new luxury properties opening in the Asia Pacific region this year. IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the signing of voco Bangkok Surawong with Tawanna Property Company Limited, a real estate investor and developer in Thailand .

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was up 16.4% in January from December. The Hotel Brand sub-index was up 16.2% and the Hotel REIT sub-index rose 17.1%. Hilton, Easton’s Group of Hotels and the Gupta Group announced the opening of Canopy by Hilton Toronto Yorkville, marking the brand’s Canadian debut. The DJIA rose 130 points on Friday while Nasdaq was down 69, the S&P 500 was down 11 points and the 10 year treasury yield took a breather, down -0.4 to 3.83%. Lodging stocks were lower.

Earnings rolled out at a rapid pace with  Hyatt, Wyndham, Host and Hersha reporting results. Hyatt reported above expectations and sounded very confident on the conference call. The lodging stock star of the day was definitely  Service Properties Trust . SVC owns nearly 8% of Travel Centers of America and RMR has 1.67%. Travel Center agreed to be bought by BP for $1.3 billion. CBRE is raising its forecast for hotel performance on the heels of industry gains in Q4 2022 and the expectation of slightly positive GDP growth in 2023.

When going up against the same week in 2019, pre-pandemic, China’s RevPAR last week was up 1.3% despite tough Chinese New Year comps due to the timing of the holiday. The average occupancy rate of hotels in Taiwan was 48.06% last year, the fourth lowest in history, but the average room price per night rose to NT$4,195 (US$138), which is a record high. After four years of London being on top as the five-star hotel capital of the world, they have lost that title to Macau, China .

Airbnb definitely got a better response from investors on their 4Q earnings report than traditional lodging analysts. Choice Hotels continued the parade with 4Q revenue and EBITDA comfortably above estimates with the Radisson acquisition helping with that. STR reported U.S. lodging data for the week ended 2/11. RevPAR was up 18.9% year over year.

Singapore signaled an end to the Covid-19 era restrictions , removing nearly all remaining mask rules as well as all border restrictions for arrivals who are not fully vaccinated. All travel restrictions for residents of Hong Kong and Macau wishing to go to Taiwan will be lifted on February 20, three years after they were imposed. STR said Australia’s hotel performance turned a massive corner during the first half of 2022 as the Omicron wave subsided and governments relaxed travel restrictions around the country.

Marriott International followed up Hilton’s solid 4Q earnings report with one of their own, easily beating estimates on solid 4.6% RevPAR growth. 21c Museum Hotels will open its tenth hotel this spring, a 10-story lodging in St. Louis, Missouri.  Marriott was up $6.90 a share, Hyatt was up $4.73, Hilton was up $2.38 and Airbnb is currently surging double digits in after hours trading on their earnings report