Breaking news on development, M&A, key data and more.
Omni adds Raleigh. Raleigh, North Carolina, has enter into negotiations with
Omni Hotels & Resorts, in partnership with Preston Hollow Community Capital
and Provident Resources Group, to develop a convention hotel in the core of
downtown Raleigh. Expected to open in 2027, the Omni Raleigh Hotel will be the
third Omni property in the state and the first for the capital city. The Omni
Raleigh Hotel is anticipated to include 550 guest rooms and 55,000 square feet
of meeting space, which will allow for larger events to take place downtown and
support the growth of the Raleigh Convention Center expansion. This hotel is a
key piece to Raleigh’s economic development plan.
Two Hiltons for Rotterdam. Hilton has signed a franchise agreement with Annexum to
develop two hotels totaling 480 rooms in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The
215-room Mainport Hotel Rotterdam, Curio Collection by Hilton, and the 265-room
DoubleTree by Hilton Rotterdam Centre are due to open in 2024 following
renovations, during which both hotels will remain operational and will be
trading as Hilton affiliate hotels. Investment manager Annexum recently
acquired the two hotels, which will become the first properties under the Curio
Collection by Hilton and DoubleTree by Hilton brands in Rotterdam.
KKR taking Japan's Unizo. Bankrupt Japanese hotel chain Unizo Holdings has reportedly
selected U.S. investment fund KKR as its restructuring sponsor. KKR will likely
take over Unizo’s Japan office building and hotel business after Unizo filed
for bankruptcy protection in April with debt of $849.40 million. The company
initially chose Japanese private equity firm Nippon Sangyo Suishin Kiko as its
restructuring sponsor, but later restarted the bidding process, citing requests
from creditors.
Airbnb finding more fakes. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has announced the company built a
new system to verify listings, which will be denoted by an icon on the platform’s
maps starting in February. He said verified listings would begin first in the
United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and France, with 30 more
countries added next fall. A company statement said the effort complements
ongoing work to “prevent fraud, remove bad actors and increase trust in our
community.” Airbnb said it blocked 157,000 fake listings from joining the
platform this year and removed an additional 59,000 on a site with more than 7
million listings.
Development leader for Coast. Coast Hotels Ltd., Vancouver, a fully owned subsidiary of
APA Hotel Canada, appointed Dale Prout as director, Development, located in
California. Prout will focus on growing Coast Hotels’ portfolio of franchised
and managed hotels in North America, specifically targeting key locations
throughout the West Coast of the U.S. to support the company’s exponential
growth and expansion strategy. Most recently, he served as director of
Franchise Development for Radisson Hotel Group.
JLL report on alt-lodging. JLL has posted it Alternative Accommodations Report with
top themes that include the normalization of demand following post-Covid boom; increased
professionalization and institutionalization of the sector; blurring of lines
between “alternative” accommodations and traditional hotels; and institutional
capital being dependent on demonstrating the model’s return.