New Jersey

Blackstone announced the final close of its Blackstone Real Estate Partners X fund with $30.4 billion of total capital commitments, the largest real estate or private equity drawdown fund ever raised. Truist lowered their target price on Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, saying they have concerns over 2024 San Francisco conventions along with rising hotel-level costs. Celebrating its five-year anniversary, the Hard Rock Hotel Dayton Beach in Florida debuted a multimillion renovation including refreshed guestrooms and youth club and revamped memorabilia.

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.

Raines announced they acquired HP Hotels , a full-service, third party hotel management company. Raines said this will result in operational expansion throughout the Southeast and Southwestern U.S. The Courtyard by Marriott Long Beach Downtown announced the addition of two Topgolf Swing Suites at their 216-room hotel. Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa , in Atlantic City, New Jersey , is embarking on a $55 million redesign and rebranding of The Water Club, in time for the resort’s twentieth anniversary.

Lodging stocks were mostly lower on Friday. PLYA bucked the trend with an 8% gain on stronger-than-expected earnings. SOND was down another -8%, VCSA fell -7% and SLNA traded down to yet another new all-time low. Besides Playa Hotels’ strong results, Ryman Hospitality Properties took part in the winding down of earnings season with results that were better than their December update. HRI Hospitality announced the topping out of its new hotel project, Tempo by Hilton Nashville Downtown .

Marriott Vacations missed expectations with their 4Q report, primarily due to their exchange and rental businesses as their core VOI business outperformed. Chatham Lodging Trust reported an in-line 4Q for EBITDA. They did not give 2023 guidance. Accor reported good results and forecast higher RevPAR for 2023 , very optimistic due to the return of the Chinese traveler.

The DJIA  fell 392 points but Nasdaq was up 16, the S&P 500 rose 8 points and the 10-year treasury yield was up .02 to 3.54%. Lodging stocks were modestly higher with no major movers. Investment firm Sortis agreed to acquire Ace Group International for $85 million . The all-cash deal will give Sortis the boutique Ace Hotels brand and its hotel management company. International visitors spent more than $15.9 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States , an increase of nearly 57% compared to November 2021

The DJIA fell 350 points, Nasdaq was down 154, the S&P 500 fell 45 points and the 10-year treasury yield was up .01 to 3.72%. Mizuho cut their price target on Airbnb to $110 from $125. They maintained their Neutral rating on the stock. STR reported US lodging data for the week ended 12/31. US hotel RevPAR was up 4.2% year over year while up 35.6% versus the same week in 2019.

The DJIA ended the day down 142 points, falling after the Fed press conference after raising rates again. Nasdaq was down 86, the S&P 500 fell 24 points and the 10 year treasury yield was unchanged at 3.50%. Citigroup cut their ratings on Hilton and Marriott to Neutral from Buy. US RevPAR was up 16.7% year over year while RevPAR was up 13.7% versus the same week in 2019.

Truist gave their observations on the latest forward-looking booking and pricing trends for US hotels and checks with contacts. STR’s global “bubble chart” update through November 19, 2022 showed the strongest performance of the year thus far. The U.S. Travel Association’s latest biannual travel forecast shows a downgrade in international inbound travel for the remainder of this year and for 2023.

Lodging stocks were down before the Fed decision to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points and conference call but the selling accelerated after, led by the REITs, not surprisingly. Investors did not take the earnings reports from Airbnb, Ashford Hospitality Trust or Xenia Hotels & Resorts very well. Meanwhile STR reported for the week ended 10/29, US hotel RevPAR was up 33.5% year over year.