Latest news: Another rough week in US; troubled Baltimore asset sells; Club Med chair ousted

US hotels down last week. The U.S. hotel industry for July 6-12 reported negative year-over-year comparisons, according to CoStar data. Occupancy was 67.2% (-3.2% YOY); ADR was $158.42 (-0.5% YOY) and RevPAR was $106.39 (-3.7% YOY). Among the top 25 markets, St. Louis saw the largest increases in the three key performance metrics: occupancy (+21% to 81.3%), ADR (+8.1% to $145.21) and RevPAR (+30.8% to $118.10) due to the 62nd General Conference Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Houston recorded the steepest declines with occupancy (-20% to 57.7%), ADR (-17.6% to $114.55) and RevPAR (-34.2% to $66.05). The market’s performance was due to a comparison against the effects of Hurricane Beryl in 2024.

Club Med chairman ousted. Henri Giscard d’Estaing, the longtime chairman of Club Med, said he was pushed out by the company’s owners, Shanghai-based Fosun Tourism Group, due to a disagreement over strategy and governance, according to a Bloomberg report. D’Estaing said that Fosun abruptly replaced him in a move that went against a previously agreed-upon procedure. Club Med “should be listed on the stock market and its center for decision making must remain in France,” he told staff in the letter, dated July 16. “Despite everything I’ve done to convince them, Fosun refused and has de facto dismissed me.” Fosun said, in a separate statement, that Club Med began a succession plan last year with the collaboration of d’Estaing and the board, which is “still ongoing.”

Baltimore hotel sells. An undisclosed local investor has acquired the 133-key SpringHill Suites Baltimore BWI Airport in a court-appointed receiver sale on June 24. This is one of the hotels that Dallas-based REIT Ashford Hospitality Trust handed back to lenders in 2024. The hotel was last renovated in 2015. Hunter Hotel Advisors facilitated the transaction.

Sun acquires in Florida. Indianapolis, Indiana-based Sun Development & Management Corp. has acquired a golf resort near what used to be the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida, from Albany, New York-based Atrium Finance for $24.25 million. The 301-key hotel, which opened in 1988 alongside World Golf Village, operates under the Renaissance Hotels brand.

Dreamscape adds in Florida. Dallas-based Dreamscape Hospitality is adding the Ambros Daytona, a boutique hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, to its management portfolio.

IHG adds in Italy. IHG Hotels & Resorts has signed an agreement with Roma, Italy-based Pacini Group to rebrand its Venetian property, The Venice Times, which will officially join the Vignette Collection brand. This is the second collaboration between IHG and Pacini, following the opening of the Garner Hotel Rome Aurelia, and marks the third Vignette Collection signing in Italy in two years. The hotel is expected to rebrand by the end of 2025. IHG has 30 open hotels across seven brands in Italy, with an additional 15 properties in the pipeline.

TFE Hotels expanding into the UK. Ultimo, Australia-based TFE Hotels, is set to open its first U.K. properties this fall. As the first Australian hotel operator to enter the European market 20 years ago, TFE Hotels is making its U.K. debut with two new Adina-branded apartment hotels, The Hobson Cambridge by Adina and The Wellington Glasgow by Adina.