Latest HITs: Ryman buys from Blackstone; Park exiting SF; Wyndham in Singapore

Ryman’s big buy in San Antonio. Ryman Hospitality Properties will acquire from Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust for $800 million the 1,002-room JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa (“JW Marriott Hill Country”) in San Antonio, Texas. The acquisition price represents a Trailing Twelve Months (through March 31, 2023) Adjusted EBITDAre multiple of approximately 12.6x. The property will complement Ryman’s Gaylord Hotels portfolio and offers significant opportunities to serve the group and leisure sides of its business. For Blackstone, the sale generates approximately $275 million in profit over a five-year hold period through COVID. Ryman plans to continue to run the resort as a JW Marriott.

Park walking away from SF. Hotels & Resorts announced that, starting in June, it ceased making payments toward the $725 million non-recourse CMBS loan which is scheduled to mature in November 2023, and is secured by two of its San Francisco hotels—the 1,921-room Hilton San Francisco Union Square and the 1,024-room Parc 55 San Francisco. The company stated it intends to work in good faith with the loan’s servicers to determine the most effective path forward, which is expected to result in ultimate removal of these hotels from its portfolio. “After much thought and consideration, we believe it is in the best interest for Park’s stockholders to materially reduce our current exposure to the San Francisco market,” commented Park Chairman and CEO Thomas Baltimore. “Now more than ever, we believe San Francisco’s path to recovery remains clouded and elongated by major challenges – both old and new: record high office vacancy; concerns over street conditions; lower return to office than peer cities; and a weaker than expected citywide convention calendar through 2027 that will negatively impact business and leisure demand and will likely significantly reduce compression in the city for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the continued burden on our operating results and balance sheet is too significant to warrant continuing to subsidize and own these assets.”

New CEO at Belmond. Luxury operator Belmond has promoted Dan Ruff to CEO. Ruff, who was chief operating officer for the company since 2018, succeeds Roeland Vos, who will retain his role as chairman of the board of Belmond.

First Wyndham-branded hotel in Singapore. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts has announced the signing of its first Wyndham hotel in Singapore. The hotel is set to debut as the 591-room Peninsula Excelsior Singapore, a Wyndham Hotel during its soft opening in July 2023. Following the completion of a multi-million-dollar refurbishment, the hotel will be officially launched as the Wyndham Singapore at its grand opening in 2024.

Aloft to Singapore. Marriott International has signed an agreement with Hiap Hoe Ltd., through HH Properties Pte. Ltd., to bring the Aloft Hotels brand to Singapore. Following a strategic conversion, the signing of the 785-room Aloft Singapore Novena expects to open in Q3 2023, marking the largest Aloft hotel in the world. The hotel will be comprised of two towers located in Zhongshan Park, a mixed-use development in the cultural district of Balestier.

Summit sells four. Summit Hotel Properties has sold four institutionally branded assets in Chicago and Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Minnesota-based Marquee Hospitality and Endeavor Hotels Inc. of Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, for an undisclosed amount. Hunter Hotel Advisors facilitated the transaction on behalf of the seller. The properties include the Hilton Garden Inn Eden Prairie (Minnesota), the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Minneapolis Minnetonka, the Hyatt Place Chicago Lombard Oak Brook (Illinois) and the Hyatt Place Chicago Hoffman Estates.

Hyatt’s Caption to Australia. Hyatt Hotels Corp. has entered into management and related agreements with LFG Property Pty Ltd. for a Caption by Hyatt hotel in Sydney, Australia. Slated to be completed in early 2025, this development will mark the debut of the brand in the country. The hotel will be centrally located in Haymarket at the southern end of the Sydney Central Business District. Construction has begun on a purpose-built 174-guestroom hotel building design developed by GCCV.

First Vivid property for Hyatt. Hyatt Hotels Corp. has entered into a management agreement with Grupo Murano for Hyatt Vivid Grand Island, an adults-only resort and Dreams Grand Island, a family-friendly 616-room luxury resort. Both properties are expected to open in Cancun, Mexico in early 2024 within the Inclusive Collection. It will mark the first Hyatt Vivid property in the Inclusive Collection portfolio. Hyatt Vivid Grand Island will feature 400 guest rooms and the resort is being designed by architects HOK.

Steigenberger in Dresden sold. Commerz Real has acquire the 185-room Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe in Dresden for its open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest. The hotel is being leased long term to Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, which is part of Deutsche Hospitality. Constructed in 2006, the property was extensively refurbished in 2019.

New leadership at Aimbridge. Aimbridge Hospitality has appointed Aly El-Bassuni as divisional president, Enhanced Select Service. El-Bassuni was previously chief operating officer-Americas for Radisson Hotel Group and vice president of Brand Operations at Wyndham Worldwide. Most recently, El-Bassuni led an experiential and digital transformation within the student housing space, launching and scaling a new, high-growth student housing brand and operator called Yugo as its Global Chief Executive Officer.

New 2023 forecast. STR and Tourism Economics upgraded the 2023 U.S. hotel forecast stating that while top-line performance advances, growing operating expenses are projected to limit profit growth over the remainder of the year. The occupancy projection for this year was lowered 0.2% from the previous forecast, but projections for ADR and RevPAR were lifted 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively. For 2024, a 1.4% downgrade in occupancy coupled with a 0.7% lift in ADR meant a RevPAR downgrade of 0.6%. RevPAR was fully recovered in 2022 on a nominal basis but will not achieve that status when adjusted for inflation (real) until 2025. Gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) was also recovered in 2022 with limited growth forecasted for 2023 and more sizable gains projected in 2024. The GOPPAR projection for this year was lowered 2.7% from the previous forecast and downgraded 4% for 2024. “Despite the upgrade, economic uncertainty underlines our forecast for the remainder of this year and into 2024,” said Amanda Hite, STR president.