Latest news: Hyatt partners in Mexico; Remington to Caribbean; Generator's big refi

Hyatt, Parks Hospitality grow in Mexico. Hyatt Hotels Corp. and Mexico City-based Parks Hospitality Holdings will develop four new Hyatt-branded properties across Mexico, including Mexico City, Los Cabos, and Cancun. The new properties are expected to open starting in 2024 and will include two Grand Hyatt hotels, a new select-service offering near the Cancun International Airport, and the 2025 debut of the Park Hyatt brand in Cancun. The 287-room Grand Hyatt Mexico Santa Fe is slated to open in 2025 and will be the first urban Grand Hyatt property in Mexico and the second Grand Hyatt hotel in the region. The 300-room Grand Hyatt Los Cabos is set to open in 2026 within the OLEADA Pacific Living & Golf private resort community. The 156-room Hyatt Place Cancun Airport will open in late 2026.

Remington to Caribbean. Remington Hospitality is expanding into the Caribbean, partnering to manage the 166-room Croc’s Resort & Casino in Costa Rica. Remington Hospitality will further expand its presence in the Caribbean by signing three additional management agreements, including the Autograph Sarchi in Costa Rica, as well as two properties in Larimar City, the Caribbean’s first smart city and multi-use development. These properties include the Royal Sonesta and James hotels. It also is developing a luxury ecotourism project in Monte Verde, Costa Rica. The company also believes there are additional growth opportunities in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Grand Cayman, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Panama, the Bahamas and South America.

Generator's big refi. U.K.-based Queensgate Investments’ hotel and hostel operator Generator Group has used strong post-COVID performance to enable refinancing of around €750 million of debt with Ares Management, Värde Partners and Waterfall Asset Management. The transaction included a combination of European debt facilities and private bond issuances of circa. €440 million for Generator’s European arm, which was backed by Ares Management, and U.S. debt facilities of approximately $330 million for Generator’s U.S. arm, which was backed by Generator’s existing lenders Waterfall Asset Management and Värde Partners. Under the Generator and Freehand brands, Generator has 21 hotels and hostels offering more than 12,000 beds across 17 cities. The company derives approximately 95% of EBITDA from owned real estate. Generator Group reported 2023 earnings of €225 million and EBITDA of €75 million, an almost 40% increase from 2022.

Big refi in Philly. A joint venture between funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management and Clearview Hotel Capital have earned a new $215 million, five-year, fixed-rate term loan to refinance the 1,408-key Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. Arranged by JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group, Barclays, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan were the lenders. The property underwent a full-scale renovation between 2020 and 2023.

Apple REIT’s strong earnings. Apple Hospitality REIT reported 3Q23 earnings with Adjusted EBITDA of $121.9 million, exceeding Street expectations by nearly 2%. Comparable RevPAR growth was +3% (+8.3% year to date), ADR was +1.1%, and occupancy was +1.8%. RevPAR was up more than 7% relative to the third quarter of 2019, its highest quarterly comparable RevPAR growth relative to 2019 since the onset of the pandemic, with comparable occupancy still below pre-pandemic levels. “Our outperformance since the onset of the pandemic has enabled us to maintain the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet, positioning us to be acquisitive within the current transaction environment,” said CEO Justin Knight. Full-year 2023 RevPAR growth guidance is 5.5%-7.5%. R.W. Baird analyst Michael Bellisario wrote that 4Q23 earnings guidance is below expectations and likely driven by flattish RevPAR growth and incremental operating expense pressures in the quarter. In October 2023, the company acquired three hotels and a parking garage for a combined total purchase price of approximately $147 million. The company currently has three additional hotels under contract for purchase for an anticipated combined gross purchase price of approximately $212 million. As of September 30, 2023, Apple Hospitality owned 220 hotels with an aggregate of 28,929 guest rooms.

Rotana updates growth in Europe. In the United Kingdom, Rotana will launch two properties under its affordable hotel and serviced apartment brand, Centro. Opening in 2024, Centro New Malden and Centro Kingston are the first two properties that form part of a wider agreement to develop up to 1,500 keys over multiple sites across the greater London region, all under the Centro brand. The hospitality group also marked its debut in Georgia with the upcoming Pontus Rotana Resort & Spa, Gonio. Expected to open in 2026, the property with world-class amenities will add 600 keys to Rotana’s diverse global portfolio. Further building its African footprint, Rotana announced its foray into Senegal with a new Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana branded property. The 150-key hotel in Dakar is set to be completed by 2026. Rotana is also expected to make its debut in the Algerian market with the launch of Azure Rotana Resort & Spa in the port city of Oran in 2024. Rotana currently operates 74 hotels in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Türkiye with 19,602 keys.

Accor adds in Brazil. Accor, in collaboration with real estate developers Pedra do Reino Investimentos and Dotz Empreendimentos, has signed a deal for its first hotel in Sorriso, Brazil, under its ibis Styles brand, which is set to open in 2027. Falcon will manage the 120-apartment ibis Styles Sorriso alongside other properties in the chain, including ibis Cuiabá.

RSG's luxe brand. Red Sea Global (RSG) will operate its own luxury hotel brand, Shebara, at The Red Sea destination in Saudi Arabia. The first resort to be owned and operated by RSG will open in summer 2024; it is located on Sheybarah Island in Al Wajh Lagoon. The resort will include stainless steel orbs (villas). The resort contains 73 lodgings, including overwater and beach villas.  Shebara will be powered by sunlight, day and night with its own dedicated solar farm that includes more than 11,000 PV panels. In total, RSG has constructed five solar farms to power the first phase of the destination, with more than 760,000 PV panels installed. The Shebara reveal follows an announcement last month that RSG is also developing Thuwal Private Retreat, an island destination that will also be wholly owned and operated by RSG.

Extended-stay performance. Excluding 2020, despite reporting its lowest third quarter occupancy since 2010, extended-stay hotels achieved record high Q3 demand and revenues in 2023 and occupancy remained 11 points above the overall hotel industry. “While ADR growth remains low compared to the last two years, a rebound in occupancy is forecast and more new performance records from extended-stay hotels are expected during the near term,” said The Highland Group's Mark Skinner.

WeWork bankruptcy. Once considered a threat to the hotel industry and valued at $47 billion in 2019, office-sharing company WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey federal court. Leadership stated the company has entered into agreements with most of its secured note holders and that it intends to trim “non-operational” leases. The company reported liabilities ranging from $10 billion to $50 billion, according to a bankruptcy filing. WeWork debuted through a SPAC in 2021 but reportedly has lost about 98% of its value. The company leases millions of square feet of office space in 777 locations around the world, according to its regulatory filings.

Embassy Suites development. DD Partners, Birmingham, Alabama, and Marietta, Georgia, Peachtree Group, Atlanta, and Woodbine Development Corp., Dallas, are developing the 257-suite Embassy Suites Gulf Shores, Alabama, scheduled to open in the summer of 2025. DD Partners and Woodbine are leading development and asset management efforts, and Peachtree will manage operations. The architect of record for the project is PFVS and the contractor is Robins & Morton.

Tru by Hilton milestone. Midscale brand Tru by Hilton has pushed past 250 hotels open in seven years since its inception with five new properties in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. It also has announced its first New York City property with the Tru by Hilton Brooklyn slated to debut at the end of 2023 in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood.

Mulvanny joins McNeill Investment. Germantown, Tennessee-based McNeill Investment Group named Annie Mulvanny as its new vice president, Investments and Asset Management, to contribute to the current expansion of the firm’s investment management platform. Mulvanny most recently served as vice president at RobertDouglas, a national real estate investment banking firm.

Growth at Resorts World Sentosa. A subsidiary of Genting Singapore has received provisional permission to develop 700 new hotel rooms and retail space at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). The approval is slated to expand the hotel capacity at the casino resort by more than 40%.  As of now, RWS has six hotels totaling 1,840 rooms and three of the current six hotels with some 1,200 rooms are undergoing refurbishment to refresh non-gaming attractions.

Marina Bay Sands expands suites. As part of a $1 billion renovation program will see the Marina Bay Sands suite inventory increase from 200 to 770. The company is also investing a further US$750 million on Tower 3, to be completed in stages through 2025. The first phase has seen 1,300 hotel rooms refurbished including the expansion of its suite product from 200 to 390 while the Tower 3 investment will take that tally to 1,850 redesigned rooms including 770 suites.

CLAS divests in Sydney. Singapore’s CapitaLand Ascott Trust (CLAS) is divesting two mature hotels in Sydney – the Courtyard by Marriott Sydney-North Ryde and Novotel Sydney Paramatta – to an unrelated third party for A$109 million. CLAS said the two properties will be divested at about 5% above book value and net proceeds of the divestment is expected to be A$98 million. The exit yield is 4.4% and CLAS will recognize a net gain of A$14.2 million. The divestment of these two properties outside of central Sydney is part of our active portfolio reconstitution strategy. CLAS said it remains focused on assets that offer better yields and will further uplift the value for its portfolio.