Latest news: Motto to Peru; OTAs increase share; extended-stay RevPAR down

Hilton’s Motto brand debuts in South America. Hilton Hotels & Resorts is debuting its Motto brand in South America with the 58-key Motto by Hilton Cusco in Peru. Hilton said more than $5 million was invested in the property.

OTAs increase share in 2023. The battle for direct bookings between online travel agents (OTAs) and hotels has entered a new phase, according to a report from Houston-based SHR Group. The report found that the share of reservations from direct bookings fell from 39% to 38% in 2023 after a recent influx of marketing spend from OTAs. That one percent drop is the equivalent of 7.8 million hotel reservations worldwide. The report said one consequence of this new marketing strategy by OTAs is that indirect bookings attract guests looking for longer stays, meaning that indirect bookings’ share of room nights climbed from 53% to 56% year-over-year, an equivalent to 65.6 million room nights worldwide. The report also said this marketing strategy is causing ‘brand searches’ (ones that identify particular hotels) to increase their cost-per-click with Google Ads by 62.5% from $0.16 to $0.26. Metasearch (aggregator) costs have also increased from $0.21 to $0.48, a 128.6% increase. Click here to download the report.

Extended-stay RevPAR declines. Monthly RevPAR for extended-stay hotels declined for the first time since February 2021, according to The Highland Group. RevPAR in the extended-stay segment fell by 0.8% year-over-year. Despite the RevPAR decline, The Highland Group said December was the ninth consecutive month of extended-stay hotel supply growth.

Refinance for Found Chicago. Chicago-based Hawkins Way Capital has closed a $5.225 million refinancing on its 60-key Found Chicago hotel. The lender was Symetra Life Insurance Co., and Meridian Capital Group brokered the deal. The hotel, originally the historic Olympia Building, was built in the 1910s and purchased by Hawkins Ways in 2016. It has been run by short-term rental company Sonder, but Hawkins Way plans to self-manage the property in the future.

Employment near 2020 high. Employment in the leisure and hospitality industry has reached its highest monthly level since February 2020, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and a CoStar report. Employment levels for the leisure and hospitality industry reached 16.78 million jobs in December 2023, the highest since the 16.945 million reached in February 2020, right before the outbreak of COVID in the U.S.