Hyatt Hotels Corporation

BofA Securities initiated coverage on Marriott Vacations with a Neutral rating and a $180 price target. The Wall Street Journal published an article on how hotel companies are stepping up efforts to lure competitors’ hotels to their own brands. The article referenced Hilton’s new Spark by Hilton brand. We had heard those concerns about upcoming maturities from Service Properties Trust when we were positive about their resumption of the previous dividend, giving them an 11% yield at the time.

Jefferies said the looming recession and stabilizing credit market could be positive for the prospects of timeshare, but with a harder landing not off the table, they see stocks trading at rich valuations. Truist said with earnings season about to kick into gear for the lodging sector, they continue to see macro over micro. Park Hotels and Resorts Inc. closed on the sale of the 508-room Hilton Miami Airport , located in Miami, Florida , for $118.25 million.

Wells Fargo changed price targets on a bunch of hotel names in their coverage. In November 2022, total non-US resident international visitor volume to the United States increased 61.3% compared to November 2021 According to the Q4 2022 Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report for Canada by Lodging Econometrics, Canada’s total construction pipeline stands at 267 projects/35,758 rooms.

Deutsche Bank said they were a bit surprised at ALIS as they realized their views on 2023 RevPAR and margins were more measured than what they sensed from the companies. New York City’s latest plans to crack down on illegal short-term rentals , possibly removing as many as 10,0000 Airbnb listings later this year, is sparking furious debates about housing, hotels, the tourist market and residents’ rights. Buccini/Pollin Group is bringing the W Hotel brand to Orlando with plans for a 22-story hotel tower next door to Epic Universe.

Lodging stocks were modestly higher. The biggest movers included ABNB and SOHO both rising 5% while SONDwas down -6% on the day. Hotel Asset Value Enhancement gave their findings of the ALIS conference.Attendees believe the frustrating transaction market will change in the second half of this year and that there will be more transactions than foreclosures this year. A class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that four of the main Las Vegas Strip resort operators colluded, via data-sharing software, to artificially inflate the prices of their hotel rooms.

Gordon Haskett downgraded Airbnb to Underperform from Hold. They lowered their price target to $87 from $94. The firm also cut their rating on Booking.com to Hold from Buy. STR reported US lodging data for the week ended 1/21. RevPAR was up 26.2% year over year while up 5.6% versus 2019. The DJIA  rose 9.88 points, or little change. Nasdaq fell 0.2%; S&P 500 was barely changed. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 3.461%.

Macau’s Statistics and Census Service said the SAR saw a total of 5,700,339 visitor arrivals in 2022, down 26% year on year. Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced a Hyatt affiliate entered into a management agreement with a Mori Building affiliate for Hotel Toranomon Hills. The Rydges Melbourne is undergoing a complete transformation and will re-open in Autumn 2023, positioned as a flagship property for the group.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the country has decided to resume outbound group travel to selected countries including Sri Lanka early next month. The Philippines Dept. of Tourism said it is aiming to attract 4.8 million foreign visitors in 2023, almost double the 2.6 million in 2022. The initial goal in 2022 was 1.7 million arrivals. Sri Lanka Tourism is looking at attracting 1.5 million tourist arrivals for 2023. They are optimistic about achieving revenue of US$2.8 billion from tourism for this year.

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.

After 25 consecutive months of year-over-year declines, U.S. hotel construction increased slightly in December. Wells Fargo cut their price target on Airbnb to $130 from $165. They maintained their Overweight rating. STR said US hotel RevPAR the week ended 1/14 was up 33.1%. RevPAR was up 9.4% versus the same week in 2019.