Latest news: Palm Springs redux; $527M Florida construction loan; great July for extended-stay

Palm Springs hotel back to Riviera. Four years after rebranding as a Margaritaville property, a historic Palm Springs, California, hotel is reportedly converting back to its original name. The 400-key Riviera Hotel, which became the Margaritaville Hotel and Resort in 2020, is expected to revert to its original name following a sale. The hotel opened in 1959 and the move is reportedly happening following an ownership change between Davidson Hospitality Group and IHG Hotels & Resorts, according to a story in the Palm Springs Post. The property faced financial difficulties in the 1970s and 1980s and closed in 2006. Following a renovation, it was reopened in 2008 and was later part of Starwood’s Tribute Portfolio. It briefly closed in March 2020 and reopened in November of that year as the first Margaritaville property on the West Coast.

Related, Integra close $527M loan. A pair of Miami-based companies, Related Group and Integra Investments, have closed on $527 million in construction financing for a branded residential tower, St. Regis Residences, Miami. The loan was provided by New York City-based TYKO Capital and is one of the largest residential construction loans in Florida to date, following the $668 million loan for Miami’s Waldorf Astoria Residences in June and a $600 million loan for Brickell’s Cipriani Residences in February. The 50-story tower will have 152 residences and is scheduled to open in 2027.

Extended-stay hotels up in July. Extended-stay hotels bettered the overall hotel industry across all performance metrics in July, according to The Highland Group. Supply, demand, room revenues and ADR increased comparatively and occupancy and RevPAR gained compared to the overall industry, which recorded small declines. “July was an exceptionally good month for extended-stay hotels, which outperformed the overall industry, and the economy segment reported a monthly RevPAR gain for the first time in more than one year,” said Mark Skinner, partner at The Highland Group.

New Shinola in Indianapolis. On Wednesday, the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission approved a hotel and entertainment development that will include an upscale Shinola hotel and a 4,000-seat entertainment venue. Indianapolis-based Boxcar Development, an investment group led by Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon and his family, will develop a 13-story hotel and the entertainment venue on the site of the vacant CSX building in downtown Indianapolis.

PPHE refinances debt. Amsterdam-based PPHE Hotel Group, the owners of Park Plaza Hotel and Holmes Hotel, has refinanced more than £150 million in debt, according to a report in City A.M. The debt is for all six of its Dutch hotels and the Holmes Hotel in London and comes from an existing loan with Aareal Bank. The original loan with Aareal is from 2016, with a maturity date of June 2026, which has now been pushed back to June 2031. The new debt will have two tranches — one for €160 million (£134.8 million) and another for £16 million.

CitizenM adds in Boston. Netherlands-based citizenM is opening its largest U.S. property with the 399-key citizenM Boston Back Bay. The 15-story tower is citizenM’s second property in Boston and the 36th worldwide, including 16 in the U.S.

Wyndham debuts Registry in US. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is debuting its Registry Collection in the U.S. with the 128-key The Mining Exchange, a Registry Collection Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The newly renovated hotel is now part of Wyndham’s Registry Collection, which has more than 20 hotels with nearly 10 in its pipeline.

Record amount of travel for GDP. The U.S. is the world’s biggest travel and tourism market, contributing a record-breaking $2.36 trillion to the U.S.’s GDP in 2023, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Even though U.S. inbound travel hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, the contribution of travel and tourism to the U.S. GDP was 82% higher than its nearest rival, China, according to WTTC’s 2024 Economic Impact Trends Report. China, one of the last countries to reopen its borders after the pandemic shutdown, recorded a travel and tourism contribution of $1.3 trillion in 2023, a 136% surge from the year before.

Hilton adds in Germany. Hilton has signed the 225-key Hilton Frankfurt Gravenbruch as part of a management agreement. The property will undergo a conversion scheduled for October 2024. The hotel, which has elements dating back over 400 years, will undergo an extensive renovation while it remains open. Hilton has more than 60 hotels operating or in its pipeline in Germany.

Marriott converts 6 in India. Marriott International has converted six properties in India that are owned by Gurugram, India-based SAMHI Hotels from franchises to managed entities. The transition of Fairfield by Marriott Mahindra World City, Four Points by Sheraton Chennai OMR, Four Points by Sheraton Jaipur, Four Points by Sheraton Pune, Fairfield by Marriott Hyderabad, and Fairfield by Marriott Ahmedabad to Marriott's managed portfolio is scheduled to be completed by October.