Latest HITs: ECE, Palladium deal in Venice; women leadership update; Choice 1Q

ECE, Palladium deal in Venice. ECE Real Estate Partners, Hamburg, Germany, has signed a 20-year lease contract for the operation of the Bonvecchiati Hotel in Venice with Spain’s The Palladium Hotel Group and its boutique lifestyle brand Only YOU Hotels. The hotel was recently acquired by the ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund in a joint venture with hotel developers Soravia and denkmalneu and is being comprehensively refurbished and repositioned. The renovation will result in connecting the Hotel Bonvecchiati and Palace Bonvecchiati Hotel through a central lobby and enhances the revitalized central courtyard, which will become the exclusive entrance to the future luxury hotel. With 168 rooms it will be the largest lifestyle hotel in San Marco.

Women leaders making progress. The number of women within hospitality leadership continues to increase, according to a new report commissioned by the AHLA Foundation and conducted by Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management. Women now hold one in four of all chief-level positions at hotel companies, although mostly in human resources and sales/marketing roles. At the director level, women now occupy an equal number of positions as men. Women have experienced gains in leadership positions in hospitality investment and development since 2019, going from one woman for every 10 men to one woman for every 7.9 men. Women held 24% of the podium spots at hotel investment conferences, up from 16% in 2017. On the main stage, 37% of prime speaking spots in 2022 went to women – up from 22% just a year earlier in 2021.

Emaar adding 8. Emaar Hospitality Group stated at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai that it will open eight properties across the UAE, Saudi Arabi and Egypt between 2023 and 2024. The new properties include Address Jabal Omar Makkah, Vida Dubai Mall, Vida Creek Beach, Palace Dubai Creek Harbour, Address Marassi Beach Resort in Egypt, Vida Marina Resort & Yacht Club Marassi in Egypt, Vida Aljada, and Vida Residences Cairo Gate. A spokesperson added that in 2022 rates are increasing from the original 60% in 2021 to 65% in 2022 and to 74% this far in 2023.

London hotelier to Mexico. London-based Quartz Inn Hotels has added the Antares Hotel in Queretaro, Mexico, marking the group’s first property outside of Europe. The now renamed, 15-key Casa Antares by Quartz Inn Hotels is located very close to the Queretaro Airport. Quartz Inn Hotels said it plans to continue expanding throughout Latin America, with the goal of having 200 establishments franchises by 2025. As an innovative initiative, the board of directors of the British company decided to include all the hotels joining in 2023 in its shareholding so member hotels can own a part of the brand.

Choice’s 1Q beat. Choice Hotels International reported 1Q23 earnings on Tuesday, slightly beating Street projections with Adjusted EBITDA upside at $106.4 million and guidance of $100-$105 million. Choice increased its 2023 Adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $525-$540 million. RevPAR growth stood at +5.9% and Choice guided domestic RevPAR growth for the year at ~2%. Total rooms, including Radisson, were -0.2% sequentially; Choice's revenue-intense segments grew ~25 bps vs. 4Q22. The global pipeline totaled >96,000 rooms, up from ~94,600 rooms at YE22. For the year, Choice guided net unit growth (domestic; revenue-intense segments): unchanged at ~1%.

PPHE grows art’otel. PPHE Hotel Group, London, is repositioning its Berlin Mitte property into a new generation, 109-room art’otel branded hotel. In line with the group’s strategy to rejuvenate and elevate the art’otel brand positioning, art’otel Berlin Mitte is in advanced stages of a €2.8 million investment program and should be completed by 1Q24. PPHE also recently launched the art’otel Amsterdam and the art’otel London Battersea Power Station (December 2022). The group’s development pipeline for 2023 and 2024 includes a further three exciting new generation art’otel branded properties in Zagreb, Rome and London Hoxton.

GHA growth, 1Q results. The Global Hotel Alliance, Dubai, added 16 hotels to its portfolio and announced robust 1Q23 performance. Repeat-stay room revenue and room nights at GHA’s 800 hotels across 40 brands in 100 countries reached more than $550 million, back to 2019 highs since the start of the year. International stays made by the 24 million loyalty program members also exceeded 2019 figures. Popular leisure destinations in 1Q included Thailand, the UAE, the Maldives, the Caribbean and Singapore.