Hilton Garden Inn

Marriott International expands its presence in Seoul while luxury brands like Aman Group, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, and IHG Hotels & Resorts are also entering the South Korean market.

Host Hotels reported solid first-quarter earnings exceeding expectations, while Summit Hotels also outperformed with significant margin expansion.

A new report points to a resurgence in business travel, with group travel boosting hotels and companies increasingly sending employees on trips, challenging earlier predictions that virtual meetings would replace in-person business interactions permanently.

During the hotel group's earnings season, Hilton's report stood out as the most impressive – despite showing slowing RevPAR growth – due to strong performance in Net Unit Growth and EBITDA flow through.

Barclays previewed the first quarter for the lodging sector, suggesting mixed RevPAR results due to the March Easter shift, but maintaining expectations for in-line EBITDA among large caps, while adjusting target prices for major hotel brands including Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Wyndham, and Choice Hotels.

Thailand's Prime Minister proposes a six-nation visa to enhance regional tourism, potentially extending visa validity to 90 days, with a target of 80 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2027.

The Maldivian tourism sector experienced a significant revenue decline last year, with resort revenue dropping by $529 million and total tourism revenue decreasing from $5.4 billion to $5 billion, attributed partly to a shift towards guesthouses over traditional resorts.

WaterWalk, Wyndham’s 25th brandstands out from other hotel brands in that it lets owners sell a mix of rooms, with about 60% marketed as extended-stay hotel rooms and about 40% marketed as short-term rentals.

The owners of the CitizenM hotel chain, valued at 2 billion euros five years ago and now expected to double in sale price, are considering selling the rapidly expanded brand with over 40 global locations.

Choice Hotels commented on their Wyndham hostile takeover implosion and said it was challenged by a ‘difficult’ administration and a regulatory body that Choice said was ignorant of hotel industry pricing structures, among other reasons.