Latest news: Big credit fund for Europe; Choice, Radisson integrated; Accor debuts in Iceland

Credit fund for Europe. With an ongoing tight credit market, Mubadala Investment Co., Ares Management Corp. and Aldar Properties announced a $1 billion private credit fund to invest in real estate across the UK and Europe. Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala will hold the majority 50% stake, with Abu Dhabi-based Aldar taking 30% and Los Angeles-based Ares, who will originate and manage deals, has the remaining 20%. Aldar also plans to invest $100 million into an Mubadala-Ares platform established in 2021 to focus on senior secured debt with a first lien on physical real estate assets, including office, multifamily residential, industrial, retail, and hospitality. Including anticipated leverage, the total available capital for the strategy is expected exceed $5 billion.

Goodtime Hotel moves to Marriott. The Goodtime Hotel in Miami, formerly a 266-key independent boutique hotel, is being added to Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio. The hotel opened in April 2021 and was the first collaborative lifestyle brand from David Grutman of Groot Hospitality and entertainer Pharrell Williams. It is located in South Beach, managed by Highgate and has over 100,00 sq. ft. of public space and 45,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail.

Accor debuts in Iceland. Paris-based Accor will rebrand the 57-key Hótel Múli to ibis Styles Reykjavik, marking the company’s first hotel in Iceland. The hotel will undergo a renovation before opening in the second quarter of 2024 and become Accor’s second in the Nordic region after the opening of the ibis Styles Copenhagen Ørestad in spring 2023.

Choice completes Radisson integration. North Bethesda, Maryland-based Choice Hotels has completed the integration of nearly 600 hotels from the Radisson Hotels Americas business into the Choice system. Choice acquired Radisson Hotels Americas in August 2022. Choice said it had migrated all Radisson Americas brands into its central reservation systems in July. Choice said the legacy Radisson Americas brands have seen a 26% year-over-year increase in digital bookings and a 21% increase in digital booked revenue. And year to date through November, the brands have seen a RevPAR increase of 2.3% and an ADR increase of 6.5% YOY.

Ace Hotel in LA closes. The 182-room Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles will close at the end of January. The hotel, which opened in 2014 in the former California Petroleum Building, was purchased by Maryland-based REIT Chesapeake Lodging Trust for $103 million in 2015. It was purchased again in 2019, this time to an unnamed investment firm. In November, Sortis Holdings walked away from a planned $85 million cash acquisition of Ace Group International and its management firm Atelier Ace. The Ace Hotel in Chicago closed over a year ago. 

IHG adding in India. Denham, U.K.-based IHG Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement with A.R. Resorts & hotels Pvt Ltd to develop a new hotel in Amritsar, India. The 139-key voco Amritsar Airport is scheduled to open in December 2024 and will be the fifth voco hotel in India and the first in the state of Punjab.

PM to manage in Houston. Chevy Chase, Maryland-based PM Hotel Group will manage the Aloft Katy Mills, which is located in the Katy Boardwalk District outside of Houston. This latest move expands the company’s expansion in the Texas market as PM has added to its portfolio in the Austin, Dallas and Houston markets over the past year.

Dalata adding 800-plus rooms. Ireland-based Dalata Hotel Group is planning to add 834 more rooms and four new hotels by expanding its portfolio in the United Kingdom. The four new hotels, all scheduled to be opened in mid-2024, will be in Brighton, Liverpool, Manchester and London. Ireland’s biggest hotel group said its hotel revenue is expected to exceed €600 million in 2023 (up from €516 in 2022).

Miiro brand launching in Europe. Miiro, a new lifestyle hotel brand launched by an India-based company, will launch new hotels in Europe next summer. India-based InterGlobe Enterprises said it is launching the 123-key Le Grand Hôtel Cayré, Paris in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the 92-key Borneta, Barcelona next summer. The 156-key Templeton Garden, London, is scheduled to open in early 2025 with a hotel in Vienna to follow.

Waverly Castle Hotel sells. UK-based Leisureplex Hotels, a branch of Alfa Leisureplex Group, has acquired the 77-room Waverly Castle Hotel in Melrose, Scotland, bringing its portfolio to 23 hotels. Alfa Leisureplex Group acquired the Waverly Castle from Coast & Country Collection, which put 18 of its properties up for sale earlier this year.

New Radisson in Paris. Brussels-based Radisson Hotel Group, in collaboration with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) and AXA IM Alts, is adding a 128-key Radisson Blu hotel in the Triangle project in Paris. The six-story building is scheduled to open in 2026 and is being designed by architects Basel, Switzerland-based Herzog & de Meuron. This will be Radisson’s 23rd hotel in France.

Jumeirah Group to double portfolio. Dubai-based luxury hospitality company Jumeirah Group plans to double its portfolio by 2030 by growing in Europe, Asia and the U.S. In 2024, the Jumeirah Group is already planning openings of both Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab in Dubai and Jumeirah The Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, as well as Le Richemond in Geneva, which was acquired in 2023 and is currently closed for renovations.

CoStar: U.S. hotel performance up. Hotel performance from December 3-9 in the U.S. increased from the previous week, according to CoStar. ADR was up 4.5% year-over-year ($153.36), RevPAR was up 3.3% ($89.98) and occupancy was down 1.1% (58.7%). Among the top 25 markets, Boston saw the largest YOY occupancy gain (14.1% increase to 72.7%) and because of events like Miami Art Week and Art Basel, Miami saw the largest ADR gain (48.8% increase to $314.55). The steepest RevPAR declines were in New Orleans (26.8% decrease to $97.72) and Philadelphia (20.3% decrease to $84.24).

Big month for São Paulo. São Paulo’s hotel industry in November reported its highest monthly ADR and RevPAR on record, helped by several notable events, according to CoStar data. Occupancy was 71.9% (+5% YOY) and above 70% for just the second time since November 2019. ADR was BRL749.67 (+20.7% YOY) and RevPAR was BRL539.37 (+26.8% YOY). Two big soccer matches, UFC Fight Night, the Brazilian Grand Prix and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour boosted business.

Dubai to hit 200k rooms by 2030. Dubai is set to reach the 200,000 hotel room milestone by 2030 and surpass Las Vegas for most rooms in the next two to three years, according to Dubai Tourism. At the end of December 2022, the city’s hotel inventory had 146,496 rooms at 804 hotels, which was 6% higher than the previous year.

New chief legal officer for Remington. Dallas-based Remington Hospitality has named Shazmah Hakim as its chief legal officer. Hakim has over two decades of experience in hospitality, operations and law and will oversee everything in the legal department.

Fountainebleau opens in Vegas. Sixteen years after its groundbreaking the Fountainebleau Las Vegas will finally opened on Wednesday. The 67-story, $3.7-billion luxury resort and casino is named after its sister hotel in Miami and will be the tallest occupiable building in Las Vegas. Aventura, Florida-based Fountainebleau Development secured its final financing last December — a $2.2 billion loan from Dallas-based Koch Real Estate Investments — to complete construction. Both companies entered into a joint venture in 2021 to purchase the property.