Latest news: multiple IHG deals; LatAm construction starts; Accor aparthotel to China

IHG adds in Hungary, Sweden, New Zealand. IHG Hotels & Resorts has new signings in Sweden, Hungary and New Zealand. IHG in late 2026 will open its first Holiday Inn & Suites in Europe with the 170-key Holiday Inn & Suites Budapest Centrale in Hungary.IHG is also re-entering the Sweden with the 201-room voco Stockholm Kista expected to open in the second half of this year. IHG is also opening its first InterContinental hotel in Auckland, New Zealand, with the 139-key InterContinental Auckland scheduled to open in June.

Nearly 50% of LatA pipeline under construction. Nearly 50% of the hotel construction pipeline in Latin America is now under construction, according to Lodging Econometrics. The pipeline’s projects and room counts increased 11% year-over-year, with 594 projects and 97,679 rooms to close the year. Projects under construction stand at 238 projects (up 7% YOY) with 42,644 rooms (up 6% YOY). Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 172 (up 9% YOY) with 27,625 rooms (up 16% YOY). New projects announced in Q4 were up 43% by projects and 33% by rooms YOY. Luxury, upper upscale, and upscale projects dominate the region’s pipeline, accounting for 58% of the projects and 64% of the rooms. Mexico leads by country with 226 projects and 35,670 rooms, followed by Brazil (86 projects/13,516 rooms) and the Dominican Republic (48 projects/12,911 rooms). Latin America opened 62 new hotels and 10,690 rooms in 2023. LE analysts forecast those totals to increase in 2024 to 114 new hotels and 19,464 rooms and 109 new hotels and 18,502 rooms in 2025. 

Tropicana will close in April for baseball complex. The Tropicana Las Vegas will cease operations on April 2, and the hotel will be demolished to make way for a 30,000-seat baseball stadium where the former Oakland Athletics will play. Bally's Corp. acquired the Tropicana for $308 million in 2021 and reached an agreement last year to build a hotel-casino on the 35-acre site, with the proposed stadium taking up nine of those acres. The integrated resort and stadium complex will reportedly cost $1.5 billion. The Athletics said they hope the facility will be ready for the 2028 season.

KSL closes $3B Alterra vehicle. Denver-based KSL Capital Partners has closed the single-asset continuation vehicle for Alterra Mountain Company, with total commitments of over $3 billion. It was established through a joint venture with a Henry Crown & Company affiliate in July 2017 with the combination of Intrawest Resorts, Mammoth Resorts, Palisades Tahoe and Deer Valley Resort.

Hilton names VP of luxury brands for Asia Pacific. Hilton has named Candice D’Cruz as vice president of luxury brands for Asia Pacific. D’Cruz, based in Singapore, is responsible for leading Hilton’s luxury brands — Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts — across the region.

Lafrance names president, hotels. Westport, Massachusetts-based Lafrance Hospitality has promoted Tim Burkhart to president, hotels. He was previously vice president of lodging and development for the company. 

Hyatt adds in Louisville. Dreamteam Hospitality is adding a Hyatt Studios hotel near the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The 100-key hotel is scheduled to open in the spring of 2025. 

Accor bringing Adagio brand to China. Accor is opening its first property under the Adagio aparthotels brand in China. The 168-key Adagio Chengdu Jianyang is scheduled to open in late 2025. Accor has nearly 130 Adagio properties, with the majority in Europe.

Bob W adding two in Helsinki. Helsinki-based service apartment brand Bob W is opening two more properties in Finland. The Bob W Kaarti is scheduled to open this summer in Finland, and the Bob W Kamppi will open in 2025. Both properties will add over 100 sustainable hotel rooms to the company’s portfolio.  

Select Hotels expands to Indonesia. Japan-based Select Hotel Groups is adding its first hotel outside of its home country with the management takeover the of the 192-Enso Hotel by Celectron in Cikarang, West Java, Indonesia. The company has also signed management agreements for hotels in Jakarta and Bali.

Peachtree to manage Iowa property. Peachtree Group’s hospitality management group will operate the 122-key Merrill Hotel, Muscatine, in Muscatine, Iowa. The hotel has nearly 13,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space.