Latest HITs: Nobu to Egypt; Australia performance; Choice exec moves

Nobu to Egypt. Egyptian developer Sodic and Nobu Hospitality will grow the Nobu brand in Egypt with the development of luxury hotels, branded residences and Nobu restaurants at developments in Cairo’s New Zayed area and on the country’s North Coast. The Nobu Hotel and Residences Cairo will form a part of "The Estates Residences." Spanning 440-acres of beachfront terrain, the Nobu Hotel and Residences in the North Coast development will be situated in the Ras El Hikma area and operate seasonally from May through October. No opening dates have been announced.

Australia normalizing. Australia’s recent hotel performance represents normalization as leisure demand has peaked and given way to strengthening in corporate business, according to CoStar and STR. Australia’s occupancy through the first seven months of the year was 68.2%, which was up 9.8% from last year but down 6% from 2019. ADR of A$234.46 was 7.4% higher than last year and 22.4% better than 2019. Driven by gains in ADR, RevPAR has been indexing at 120 (20 percentage higher) or better than 2019 since April 2022. Brisbane shows the highest occupancy index peaks recently, reaching as high as 114 in early July. Perth has remained above 2019 levels for much of the year and peaked as high as 125 in late-April. Sydney trended below 2019 for much of this year but eclipsed that threshold for two straight weeks in late July. Melbourne, while absorbing a higher volume of supply, has remained below 2019 comparables all year.

Green loan for Villa Copenhagen. Aareal Bank has closed a €103 million loan under its Green Finance Framework for the390-room Villa Copenhagen Hotel in Denmark. The luxury hotel opened in 202 and is run by the Strawberry Group, formerly known as Nordic Choice and is controlled by Petter Stordalen. The hotel is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (“UN SDG”), rooms are made from recycled or sustainable materials and ecological aspects were also given priority within the planning process of operations, for example, surplus heat from the kitchen is used to warm up the pool on the roof.

China inbound update. China will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test result for incoming travelers, China in January ended quarantine requirements for its own citizens traveling from abroad, and over the past few months has gradually expanded the list of countries that Chinese people can travel to and increased the number of international flights.

Choice promotions. Choice Hotels International has announced that Dominic Dragisich, who joined the company as CFO in 2017, will be promoted to executive vice president, Operations and chief global brand Officer, overseeing all of Choice’s brand segments, brand development, segment services, and corporate development. Scott Oaksmith will be promoted to CFO from senior vice president and deputy chief financial officer, leading Choice’s overall financial strategy and corporate growth initiatives to drive ongoing expansion across major markets and maximize shareholder value. Raul Ramirez will be promoted to chief segment and international operations officer from chief strategy and international operations officer, responsible for Choice’s upscale, extended-stay and core midscale and economy brands as well as the International Division. Anna Scozzafava will be promoted to Brands to chief strategy officer and senior vice president, Technology from senior vice president and general manager, Extended Stay, overseeing corporate strategy, business analytics and technology functions.

Global pipeline up 3%. The global construction pipeline stood at 14,572 projects/2,310,238 at the end of 2Q23, up 3% year-over-year (YOY) by projects and 1% YOY by rooms, according to Lodging Econometrics. There were 6,154 projects/1,108,498 rooms under construction, 3,679 projects/506,760 rooms scheduled to start within the next 12 months, and 4,739 projects/694,980 rooms in the early planning stage. Luxury, upper upscale, and the upper midscale chains dominate the pipeline, reaching record project counts at Q2 and accounting for 47% of the projects in the total pipeline. Of that 47%, upper midscale hotel projects comprise 29% of the projects in the total global pipeline with a record 4,236 projects and 558,159 rooms. The markets with the largest pipeline counts worldwide at Q2 are Dallas with 184 projects/21,501 rooms, Atlanta with 141 projects/17,993 rooms, and Chengdu with 140 projects/27,890 rooms. Of the 11 markets having over 100 projects in their total pipelines, seven are in the U.S., three are in China, and one is in Saudi Arabia. Hilton has 2,808 projects/398,742 rooms, Marriott International has 2,679 projects/429,925 rooms, and IHG Hotels & Resorts has 1,764 projects/259,668 rooms. Accor follows with 930 projects/160,951 rooms and Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has 417 projects/77,238 rooms.

Remington, OpWest deal. Remington Hospitality has agreed to manage the Senna House Hotel, Scottsdale, Arizona, it fourth hotel in the state. This is Remington’s second partnership with hotel owner OpWest Partners. The 169-room hotel is part of Curio Collection by Hilton.

Ovolo Brisbane trades. Jakarta’s Karim family’s Singapore-based Invictus Developments has recently acquired the 50-key Inchcolm by Ovolo in Brisbane for A$25 million and the vacant former Bank of China building in Sydney near Wynward Station for a discounted A$52.5 million. Invictus plans to repurpose the latter into a luxury hotel, spending A$30 million on renovations and a targeted 2025 reopening.

S Hotels acquires in Scotland. S Hotels & Resorts, Bangkok, has acquired the freehold of the 91-room Mercure Glasgow City Hotel in Scotland for £7.5 million. The acquisition enables S Hotels & Resorts, currently operating the hotel, to take ownership of the site and have the flexibility to undertake a substantial refurbishment of the property.