Group items tagged

MOST ECONOMY AND MID-PRICE extended-stay hotels' performance in September was down compared to August, according to a report from hotel investment advisors The Highland Group. However, the bottom-up recovery and room supply distribution geographically are hindering the upscale segment's recovery. Relative to other classes of hotels, mid-price extended-stay hotels recorded the largest gain in September, the U.S. Extended-Stay Hotels Bulletin: September 2021 report said. Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR indices for upscale extended-stay hotels were about the same in September as in August but the decline in absolute ADR resulted in the segment's revenue recovery falling below 95 percent. Economy and mid-price segments both reported about a three-point gain in ADR recovery index in September compared to the month before. The upscale segment's ADR remained unchanged, the report said. "The mid-price extended-stay segment's gains in both ADR and occupancy pushed it slightly ahead of the upscale segment in terms of RevPAR growth. Because the overall hotel industry lost far more RevPAR than extended-stay hotels, its RevPAR growth in September 2021 compared to last year was 85 percent more than extended-stay hotels," the report added.

TWO HOTELS HAVE converted to the AmeriVu brand founded in 2015 by Wisconsin hotelier Nick Rai. Rai said the company's continued expansion despite the current economic downturn is because of its affordable business model. The hotels are both in Wisconsin. They are a 50-room former Super 8 in Shawano, about 40 miles northwest of Green Bay, and a 47-room former independent in Saint Croix, about 55 miles northeast of Minneapolis-St. Paul. "In today's financial environment, owners are drawn to our unlimited free online reservations and our modest $20 per room per month royalty / marketing charge," said Rai, who now is CEO of Vishav Hotels. "Also popular is our yearly exit opportunity and that we have few mandated amenities." Amerivu is now part of Atlanta-based Hospitality Lodging Systems after Rai signed a long-term exclusive licensing agreement with HLS in 2016. HLS also licenses the Budgetel and Haven Hotel brands. "After a year of economic pain in 2020, hotel owners are ready for the return to more stable, more profitable results that our three brands deliver," said Doug Collins, HLS chairman and CEO.

Occupancy was 62 percent for the week ending April 16, down from 66.4 percent the week before and down 5.6 percent from 2019. ADR was $147.25 for the week, down from $150.45 the week before and up 14.4 percent from 2019. RevPAR reached $91.25 during the week, down from $99.93 the week before and up 8 percent from three years ago. Among STR's top 25 markets, Tampa saw the highest occupancy increase over 2019, up 3.2 percent to 76.6 percent. Phoenix posted the largest ADR increase in the week, up 33.8 percent to $189.16, over 2019.

ON MONDAY, THE Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor authorized an additional 20,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year 2022. Travel and hospitality industry associations say the authorization will help ease the ongoing labor crisis. The new visas, which permit employers to temporarily hire noncitizens to perform certain labor in the U.S., are part of the first supplemental cap the DHS and DOL have allowed for the H-2B visa program in the first half of a fiscal year, according to a press release. The visas will be set aside for U.S. employers seeking to employ additional workers on or before March 31. The supplemental H-2B visa allocation includes 13,500 visas for returning workers who received an H-2B visa, or were otherwise granted H-2B status, during one of the last three fiscal years. The remaining 6,500 visas are exempt from the returning worker requirement and are reserved for nationals of Haiti and the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS brand from IHG Hotels & Resorts has reached a milestone of more than 3,000 hotels across the globe, a statement said. The brand accounts for more than a third of IHG's global pipeline, and nearly 650 properties are expected to open in the coming years. According to the statement, Holiday Inn Express opened 100 new hotels every year and now offers 300,000 rooms in 2100 cities. Columbus, Georgia-based RAM Hotels, owns four Holiday Inn Express properties and Mitesh "Matt" Patel, executive vice president, described it as a power brand. "Holiday Inn express is and has always been a power brand. It performs very well in the markets we own them in," he said. "We always set Hampton as a benchmark for our Holiday Inn Express and tend to drive comparable RevPAR to Hampton Inn brand. Our Holiday Inn Express did very well during the pandemic and recovered within two to three months post pandemic."

WAYSIDE INVESTMENT GROUP of Houston, Texas, will manage the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Katy, Texas, in collaboration with Southwest Hospitality Management. The hotel will undergo a complete Formula Blue multimillion-dollar renovation. Wayside, led by Miraj Patel as president, has added three hotels this year to its purchasing, development and management services. The 98-room Holiday Inn is near the Golf Club at Cinco Ranch, TopGolf Houston, Katy Mills Mall and CityCentre. "The addition of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Katy demonstrates our focused growth in our local Houston-area market and provides us the opportunity to launch our collaboration with Southwest Hospitality Management, which will provide our companies the resources to grow our footprint," Patel said.

THE BAIRD/STR Hotel Stock Index rose in March, continuing a trend from the previous month. Still, continued growth remains at risk by factors such as inflation and political unrest. The index increased 2.2 percent in March after rising 4.1 percent in February. It rose 2.4 percent year to date through the first three months of 2022. However, Baird/STR fell behind both the S&P 500, up 3.6 percent in March, and the MSCI US REIT Index, which rose 5.9 percent. The hotel brand sub-index rose 1.4 percent from February, while the Hotel REIT sub-index jumped 5.1 percent. "Hotel stocks increased in March but underperformed their benchmarks as stock market volatility eased and geopolitical concerns did not worsen," said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. "Underlying hotel fundamentals continued to improve in March, and the outlook appears more favorable today than just one month ago despite all of the background noise in the stock market and with interest rates on the rise. Higher gas prices and heightened concerns about a slower growth backdrop have been topical with investors lately, but broader travel momentum and pent-up demand should keep the lodging recovery going over the near term, in our opinion."

IT'S TIME FOR AAHOA'S 2022 Convention and Trade Show in Baltimore, Maryland. More than 5,200 members are expected attend the show Tuesday to Friday at the Baltimore Conference Center This year's AAHOACON22 marks a return to the conference's regular April schedule after last year's conference was held in August. More than 450 companies will be exhibiting at the show, which will feature 10 education sessions and three networking events. "AAHOA's staff and convention committee have been working around the clock to make this year the best one yet. Whether for education, inspiration, deal-making, networking, or simply having fun, we have an incredible lineup for this year's event," said Vinay Patel, AAHOA's current chairman. "To everyone who has already registered to attend and are headed to Baltimore, it means so much to us that you've made the necessary sacrifices to be here. We hope you find AAHOACON22 to be immeasurably enriching and rewarding, and a valuable experience. We can't wait to see our old friends, make new ones, and celebrate the hard work we've all put in over the past few months."

U.S. hotel performance improved in the fourth week of April from the week before, according to STR. The top 25 markets saw improvement as well. Occupancy was 65.8 percent for the week ending April 23, up from 62 percent the week before and down 4.2 percent from 2019. ADR was $148.35 for the week, increased from $147.25 the week before and up 15.4 percent from three years ago. RevPAR reached $97.66 during the week, up from $91.25 the week before and rose 10.5 percent from 2019. Among STR's top 25 markets, Tampa saw the highest occupancy, up 3.4 percent to 78.1 percent and ADR, increased 38.5 percent to $203.40, over 2019. Minneapolis experienced the largest occupancy decrease, dipped 21.1 percent to 53.8 percent, from 2019.

THE HOTEL PROPERTY types most associated with business travel, upper upscale hotels, are well represented in the U.S. hotel construction pipeline. The volume of projects in the segment points to confidence in the future of business travel, according to STR. "Upper upscale saw the slowest recovery, but a steady climb in performance and the business travel indicators have supported developer confidence in the segment," said Isaac Collazo, STR's vice president for analytics. "The more than 23,000 upper upscale rooms in construction right now represent 3.4 percent of the segment's existing supply. That is well above the long-term growth average, up 2 percent in the U.S." According to STR, a total 154,284 rooms were under construction in March, down 0.5 percent compared to the same period last year. As many as 239,995 rooms are in the final planning state, an increase of 34.6 percent over last year. STR pipeline data showed that 232,517 rooms are under planning, a decline of 21.6 percent compared to March 2022. After three consecutive month-over-month increases, the overall number of U.S. rooms in construction fell slightly in March, which aligns with patterns in previous years. Among the chain scale segments, luxury shows the highest number of rooms as a percentage of existing supply. Luxury segment reports the highest increase in hotel construction in March, up 5.2 percent containing 7,136 rooms, followed by upscale, up 4.1 percent with 36,089 rooms and upper midscale, increased 3.7 percent containing 43,470 rooms.

U.S. HOTEL PERFORMANCE increased from the previous week and showed improved comparisons year-over-year, according to STR. Meanwhile, U.S. occupancy reached the second highest level for any week this year. Occupancy came in at 67.5 percent for the week ending May 20, up from 65.1 percent the week before and down 1.5 percent over the comparable week in 2022. ADR was $158.53, up from $154.90 the previous week, and increased 3.6 percent from 2022. RevPAR stood at $106.98 in the recent week, jumped from $100.81 the week before and increased 2.1 percent against the same period in 2022. Among the top 25 markets, Washington, D.C., saw the highest year-over-year increases in each of the three key performance metrics: occupancy rose 9.3 percent to 83.2 percent, while ADR increased 16.2 percent to $220.58. RevPAR also rose 27 percent to $183.60. Furthermore, the weekly occupancy level was the highest in the market since the start of the pandemic, STR said.

PEACHTREE GROUP'S CREDIT division has closed $556 million in loan originations, accounting for half of the $1.1 billion deployed by the company this year. The remaining $526 million was allocated for the acquisition of five hotels and the initiation of three new hotel development projects. The company also launched five hotels that were under construction as of September, Peachtree Group said in a statement. "Commercial real estate owners who have benefited from an extended period of readily available, low-cost capital over the past 15 years are now confronting a new reality," said Greg Friedman, CEO of Peachtree Group. "Commercial real estate participants are faced with the pressures of higher capital costs and tighter liquidity in sourcing capital for acquisition, recapitalizations and development strategies."

Jessica Kramer is the new CEO of hotel operations and collaboration platform, Lodgistics. Also, Wendy Zapach joined the company as chief revenue officer and Jami Poe is the new vice president for sales. The three new appointments will support the expansion of the operations platform provider, led by Shaunak Patel, the company's co-founder as well as president of North Carolina-based Parks Hospitality Group. Kramer previously served in executive leadership roles at TravelClick, ALICE and SevenRooms, which included running sales, revenue operations, business development, mergers and acquisitions and partnerships, according to the company. "I am thrilled to welcome Jessica as our new CEO. Her deep expertise in hospitality and technology, combined with her history of success scaling SaaS businesses, make her the perfect pick for our company as we embark on our next era of growth." Patel said. "Lodgistics was born inside our hotels and created in direct response to our team members' daily challenges around effectively communicating across teams and efficiently carrying out the wide range of operational tasks that make great hotel experiences possible. That's why it was crucial to find an executive who had deep, hands-on experience with both fast-growing technology companies and hotel operations. It is this unique and critical intersection of Jessica's experience and Lodgistics' DNA that make this the right match."

U.S. HOTEL PERFORMANCE dropped in the first week of November compared to the week before as expected due to the Halloween calendar shift, according to STR. Performance also weakened when compared to 2019. Occupancy was 62.4 for the week ending Nov. 5, down from 65.8 percent the week before and dropped 9.2 percent from 2019. ADR was $147.48 during the week, decreased from $152.94 the week before and up 11.4 percent from three years ago. RevPAR reached $91.99 during the first week of November, down from $100.59 the week before and a slight increase of 1.1 percent from 2019. None of STR's top 25 markets showed an occupancy increase over 2019 during the week after Halloween. Tampa came closest to its pre-pandemic comparable, with an increase of 1 percent to 72.4 percent.

U.S. HOTEL PERFORMANCE was down in the third week of January compared to the week before on account of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, according to STR. Occupancy was 54.2 percent for the week ending Jan. 21, slightly down from 54.8 percent the week before and decreased 6.2 percent from 2019. ADR was $140.16 during the week, dropped from $144.81 the week before and up 11.3 percent from three years ago. RevPAR reached $75.97 in the third week, decreased from $79.38 the week before and up 4.4 percent from January 2019. Among STR's top 25 markets, Tampa reported the highest increase over 2019 in all metrics during the week, with occupancy up 6.8 percent to 78.8 percent, ADR rising 31.9 percent to $174.78 and RevPAR up 41 percent to $137.76.

U.S. HOTEL PERFORMANCE increased in the second week of November compared to the week before, according to STR. All performance metrics improved during the week compared to same period in 2019 as well. Occupancy was 64.6 for the week ending Nov. 12, up from 62.4 the week before and increased 0.9 percent from 2019. ADR was $148.43 during the week, improved from $147.48 the week before and up 17.1 percent from three years ago. RevPAR reached $95.89 during the second week of November, increased from $91.99 the week before and up 18.2 percent from 2019. Among STR's top 25 markets, Norfolk/Virginia Beach reported the largest occupancy increase, up 14.3 percent to 63.6 percent, over November 2019. San Diego posted the largest ADR increase, increased 35.2 percent to $202.86, over 2019.

DALLAS-BASED NEWCRESTIMAGE recently acquired of 45 hotels with around 3,300 rooms in 11 states in the U.S., a statement said. The properties include 35 Marriott, seven Hilton, and three Choice-branded hotels in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas, according to the company. NewcrestImage retained the management companies Aimbridge Hospitality and HHM Hospitality to operate the properties. It announced the deal in September. "Each of these hotels represents a strong opportunity for generating revenue in the short-term, as well as for building long-term asset value," said Mehul Patel, NewcrestImage's managing partner and CEO.

BEST WESTERN HOTELS & Resorts is the most recent large hotel company to meet with AAHOA leaders over the association's 12 Points of Fair Franchising. The two parties discussed their ongoing relationship and the needs of the industry. Members of the Best Western team included Larry Cuculic, president and CEO; John Kelly, board chairman; Danny Lafayette, board vice-chairman; Phil Payne, board secretary-treasurer; and board directors Mike Merchant, Ishwar Naran, Viral "Victor" Patel and Stephen Wahrlich, according to AAHOA. Best Western has a portfolio of 19 brands, and approximately 4,500 hotels across all chain scale segments, and it joins G6 Hospitality, parent company for the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands, in reviewing the 12 points. "Best Western Hotels & Resorts has been a longtime partner of AAHOA - a span of time that includes more than three decades - and we always welcome the opportunity to continue the dialogue for the betterment and prosperity of the entire industry," said Nishant "Neal" Patel, AAHOA chairman. "Our recent meeting underscores how open communication, collaboration, and partnership are key to maintaining a fruitful relationship that benefits both organizations and, ultimately, the industry as a whole."

U.S. HOTELS REPORTED higher performance in October compared to September, according to STR. However, performance during the month weakened when compared to 2019. Occupancy of U.S. hotels were 67.2 percent for October, increased from 66.7 percent from the month before and decreased 2.4 percent from 2019. ADR was $155.63 for the month, up from $154.32 in September and up 16.8 percent from three years ago. RevPAR was $104.59 for the month, improved from $103 the month before and up 14 percent over 2019. STR's top 25 markets showed higher occupancy and ADR than all other markets in October mainly due to continued improvement in business travel and groups.

U.S. HOTEL PERFORMANCE was down in the fourth week of November compared to the week before due to the Thanksgiving holiday, according to STR. However, hotel performance was mixed when compared to same period in 2019. Occupancy was 50.4 percent for the week ending Nov. 26, down from 63 percent the week before and decreased 0.5 percent from 2019. ADR was $135.49 during the week, down from $144.50 the week before and up 20.4 percent from three years ago. RevPAR reached $68.27 during the week, down from $91.02 the week before and up 19.9 percent from 2019. Minneapolis reported the largest occupancy increase among STR's top 25 markets, up 7.6 percent to 42 percent, over 2019.