Belize

The BT Tower will be transformed into a hotel after the telecom giant inked a £275m deal to sell the London landmark to MCR Hotels.

Choice Hotels has urged Wyndham Hotels to consider a merger, but Wyndham has firmly declined any interest in the proposal. The chairman of Wyndham revealed they almost acquired Choice Hotels 20 years ago. The U.S. construction pipeline shows growth, with over 5,700 projects and 672,000 rooms, driven by a strong upper midscale chain scale presence. Renovation and conversion projects are on the rise, and new hotel openings are expected to increase in the coming years. Several hotel and resort projects are underway, including Westin Washington, DC Downtown, Opry Entertainment Group's renovation in Austin, Four Seasons expanding its Private Retreats collection, and Tommy Bahama's debut resort in California. Additionally, new developments in Florida, Rhode Island, and Indiana are on the horizon.

Stock market indices showed gains on Friday, with DJIA up by 288 points, Nasdaq up by 212 points, and S&P 500 up by 50 points, while the 10-year treasury yield increased to 4.78%. San Francisco saw a significant increase in weekday occupancy, and STR reported a 66.3% occupancy rate for US hotels in September 2023. Several new hotels and renovations were announced, including Aloft Hotel near Fort Lauderdale, Residence Inn in Vail, and the Union Station Nashville Yards.

Aimbridge Hospitality has acquired the management arm of Terrapin Hospitality , with 71 hotels located in 21 states. This aggregates to over 8,100 keys transitioning to Aimbridge management. B.Riley lowered their price target on Ashford Inc. to $14 from $18, they maintained their Neutral rating on the stock. IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of a new Holiday Inn Express & Suites Hotel in Glendale, California .

The DJIA surged 749 points on Friday while Nasdaq was up 245, the S&P 500 rose 87 points and the 10 year treasury yield was down .01 to 4.21%. Lodging stocks were modestly higher. According to September 2022 data from STR , Middle East & Africa was the only world region to show an increase in overall hotel pipeline activity at the end of the third quarter. IHG Hotels & Resorts reported a good 3Q, with RevPAR up 28% year over year and up 2.7% from 3Q19. The problem is they also announced Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson is leaving his CFO position.