Latest news: Another SF hotel in trouble; Santander, Meliá €225M refi; Braemar extends loan

Portsmouth served notice for San Francisco hotel. Los Angeles-based Portsmouth Square Inc., the owner of the 544-key Hilton San Francisco Financial District hotel, has been served a termination notice by its lender after failing to pay more than $117 million worth of debt at maturity for the second time in two years, according to the San Francisco Business Times. Portsmouth owes more than $106 million on a mortgage and mezzanine loans and was given an extension to January 1 after its first default in January 2024. It was served a termination notice on January 3, but Portsmouth said it will attempt to refinance and retain possession of the hotel, according to the story. It’s the latest San Francisco hotel that is having trouble or unable to pay off pre-COVID financing.

Santander, Meliá €225M refinance. Madrid-based Banco Santander has secured a €225 million refinance loan for a portfolio of luxury hotels owned by a joint venture between Santander and Meliá Hotels International. The portfolio has three luxury hospitality assets in Spain and the U.K., operated by Meliá: Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora resort in Tenerife, Meliá Cala Galdana resort in Menorca and ME London hotel in London. An affiliate of London-based Värde Partners, a global alternative investment firm specializing in credit and credit-related assets, provided the loan.

Braemar extends loan. Dallas-based REIT Braemar Hotels & Resorts has successfully extended its mortgage loan secured by the 170-key Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe in California. The loan had an initial maturity date in January 2025 and continues to have a final maturity date in January 2026. The loan has been extended with a paydown of $10 million, and the spread on the loan is now SOFR + 3.25%.

Hilton adds 4 in France. Hilton has signed four new hotels in Lyon, France, following franchise agreements with Lyon-based Arteloge. These signings mark the launch of the Spark by Hilton premium economy brand in France and Lyon’s second DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, an upscale brand popular with business and leisure travelers. The 102-key Spark by Hilton Lyon Ouest and 100-key Spark by Hilton Lyon Park Saone is set to open in late 2025, with Spark by Hilton Lyon Eurexpo due to join Hilton’s portfolio in the summer of 2026. The DoubleTree by Hilton Lyon Plage will have 118 rooms and 56 extended-stay rooms and is scheduled to open in 2028. In total, the four hotels will have a combined 655 rooms.

Holiday Inn returns to Tokyo. IHG Hotels & Resorts is partnering with Best Hospitality Network Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Tsukada Global Holdings, to bring the Holiday Inn brand back to Tokyo in 2025. The 132-key ANA Holiday Inn Tokyo Bay will rebrand in April after a renovation and join a portfolio of 10 ANA Holiday Inn open and pipeline hotels across Japan.

BWH adds 2 in Manchester. BWH Hotels is adding two new luxury hotels to its WorldHotels soft brand in Manchester, England. Hotel Velvet and Hotel 47, boutique hotels owned by Manchester-based Kro Hospitality, are two of 30 hotels in the U.K. that have signed contracts with BWH.

Rotana expanding in KSA. Abu Dhabi-based Rotana unveiled its regional and international expansion plans at the Saudi Tourism Forum (STF). Rotana is planning to develop 36 new properties in 22 cities in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Turkey, including nine new properties in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The company opened three new properties in KSA in 2024 and has 11 operating properties, with the plan to open five more in 2025.

Aimbridge EMEA adds 6 to the portfolio. Aimbridge EMEA has partnered with Accor to welcome six new properties owned by Copenhagen-based real estate group ProArk to its U.K. portfolio. The hotels, which have 865 guestrooms, are in Bedford, Cardiff, Harlow, Nottingham, Telford and Birmingham. Accor took on the ProArk portfolio in 2019, investing £15 million to carry out extensive refurbishment work, rebranding each property from Park Inn to Accor’s midscale Mercure brand.

CBRE acquires Industrious. CBRE Group has signed an agreement to acquire Industrious National Management Co., a provider of flexible workplace solutions. With the acquisition, CBRE will create a new business segment called Building Operations & Experience (BOE), positioning CBRE to deliver scalable, future-ready solutions for offices, data centers, warehouses and other facilities. The transaction is expected to close later this month. Since late 2020, CBRE has invested in Industrious through an approximately 40% equity interest and a $100 million convertible note. The company will acquire the remaining equity stake for approximately $400 million, reflecting an implied enterprise valuation of approximately $800 million. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to 2025 core EBITDA and free cash flow.

NEWH scholarship winners. The NEWH (Network of Executive Women in Hospitality) has announced Fiona Rath and Aiden Stich as the winners of their inaugural Structures of Hospitality Excellence (SOHE) Scholarships. Recipients will be honored at a ceremony during ALIS DESIGN+ at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles on January 31. Rath was awarded a $10,000 scholarship and Stich was awarded a $5,000 scholarship.