First Hospitality

Kimpton’s first-ever resort in the Western Caribbean is officially opening this summer, with the debut of the new Kimpton Grand Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras . According to The Wall Street Journal,  Goldman Sachs  is investing between 150 million and 200 million euros in  three seaside resorts  in the northern region of  Halkidiki . Key International  completed the purchase of  The Perry Hotel  on the waterfront in  Key West, FL  as part of an ambitious expansion of its $2 billion portfolio.

Despite the jitters and dire predictions we have been hearing for getting close to a year, lodging demand remains consistent with any concern of deterioration stemming from headline economic risk not yet manifesting in fundamentals. Baird reported on something we touched on recently, insider buying at lodging companies . A majority of the U.S. corporate travel buyers expect their company’s business travel to ramp up and return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023

In an amazing recovery from over 700 points down, the DJIA ended the day down only 280 points while Nasdaq rallied to end up 6. Vacasa’s stock price plunged well into penny stock category, joining Sonder, before recovering somewhat, ending the day down -25%. Braemar Hotels & Resorts and Ashford Hospitality Trust both issued press releases, clarifying that their cash holdings are safe . STR reported US lodging data for the week ended 3/11. US hotel RevPAR was up 11.1% year over year.

voco hotels celebrated 100 properties signed and opened globally. The emerging IHG Hotels & Resorts’ brand reached the milestone in just five years after its first-ever hotel opening. Island Hospitality Management announced the company added 14 hotels to its third-party management portfolio during 2022. Moxy Williamsburg debuted today as the brand’s first hotel in Brooklyn, New York.

Lodging stocks were higher. SLNA topped the list with a 10% gain followed by AHT and VCSA, both up 6%. We start today’s newsletter on a sad note as many of you probably heard that Bruce White , the founder and chairman of White Lodging , passed away at the age of 70. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust gave a January operations update and include an update on 4Q preliminary results. Remember they roiled the Lodging REIT stocks when they preannounced weaker than expected 4Q results.

MCG and INN both were up 6% while SVC and SLNA were up 5% each. SOND fell -5% on the day. Xenia Hotels & Resorts announced its board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $100 million of the company’s outstanding common shares. With the additional authorization U.S. lodging REIT management teams did express concerns about cracks in demand forming with technology customers soon after recent layoff announcements.

The DJIA plunged 630 points on Friday while Nasdaq was down 421, the S&P 500fell 105 points and the 10 year treasury yield jumped .06 to 3.88%. Lodging stocks were lower. Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office showed in August, international visitors spent more than $13.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the U.S. Jefferies lowered their price target on  Hersha Hospitality to $12 from $13 and  Sunstone Hotel Investors  to $11 from $12.