The latest on global development, M&A and industry data.
MCR takes on NYC hot spot. MCR Hotels, New York City, has reportedly acquired a 99-year
ground lease from Solil Management to take over the 185-room Gramercy Park
Hotel in Manhattan. MCR said it will reopen the idle hotel after two years of
renovations. The Wall Street Journal reported that MCR paid $50 million for the
lease, which values the property at $179.8 million, or $971,892/room per room.
London leads Europe pipeline. Europe currently has 1,715 projects/256,578 rooms in its construction
pipeline at the close of the 2Q23, according to Lodging Econometrics. There are
currently 776 projects/118,400 rooms under construction. The United Kingdom’s
pipeline is the biggest with 322 projects/45,181 rooms, Germany with 211
projects/34,981 rooms, France with 132 projects/14,869 rooms, Portugal with 127
projects/15,446 rooms, and Turkey with 107 projects/15,670 rooms. Cities with
the largest pipelines at Q2 are London, with 82 projects/14,767 rooms, and
Istanbul, with record project counts of 42 projects/7,222 rooms.
Canada shines. Canadian
hoteliers reported their highest ADR and RevPAR for any month on record in July
with occupancy at 75.6% (+0.1% YOY), ADR at C$232.13 (+7.7% YOY) and RevPAR of C$175.42
(+7.8% YOY), according to CoStar data. In addition, the occupancy level was its
highest since August 2022. Among the major markets, Vancouver saw the highest
occupancy (87%), which was 2.4% ahead of July 2022. “Although there was
considerable ADR growth across most segments, transient weekend rates keep
growing, demonstrating the willingness and ability of the individual leisure traveler
to pay higher rates,” said Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality
analytics for Canada. “Bankers, consultants, and federal employees are not traveling
to the same extent as they were pre-pandemic, which shows in the lag of
recovery of weekday occupancy in our largest urban markets.”
KWC closes fund. Hotel
and hospitality investment manager KWC Management (KWCM), Memphis, Tennessee,
held its final close for its second hotel- and hospitality-focused fund,
Kemmons Wilson Hospitality Partners (KWHP II), which targets opportunistic and
value-add investments. KWHP II, launched in 2Q22, has already acquired four
assets across the U.S., and has closed with $213 million from family offices,
foundations, and individual investors, tripling the commitments in its
inaugural offering fund. KWCM currently owns and operates 40-plus
hospitality assets.
CEO for Salter Brothers Hospitality. Salter Brothers newly launched hotel management platform, Salter
Brothers Hospitality, has named Tash Tobias as inaugural chief executive officer.
Tash will be reporting to the board and lead the executive committee. In her
new role, Tash will lead the business and oversee the operations of the retreat
hotels, restaurants and bars, and spas and wellness facilities either under
management and/or licensing services. Tash’s remit is to grow the properties branded
to Spicers Retreats, Ardour Hotels and Estates and the Spa Anise with third
party owners. This growth will first be centered on Australasia and then Asia
Pacific more broadly. Tash spent multiple years with IHG in the Asia Pacific
region and more recently spent three years at Virgin Australia,
leading customer experience and product.
New WTTC data. The
World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Travel & Tourism Economic
Impact 2023 Global Trends Report revealed that from 2010 to 2019, investment
grew steadily at 4.3% CAGR, growing from $754.6 billion in 2010 to $1.1
trillion in 2019, or 4.5% of all economy-wide investment. COVID-19 hit hard,
leading to a 24% decline in 2020 and a further 8% in 2021. However, 2022 marked
a turning point when travel and tourism investment surged to $856 billion, up
11.1% from the previous year. Although this was 22.5% short of 2019 levels,
this was still 53% higher in 2022, than it was in 2000. In regions like Asia Pacific
and Africa, 2022 investment was 161% higher than in 2000, while Europe and the
Middle East have shown more restrained growth. The U.S. leads the top ten
markets in terms of absolute investment in the sector in 2022 with $213 billion.
China trails with a $146 billion investment in 2022, with Saudi Arabia rounding
out the top three with total investment of $42 billion in the same year. WTTC
forecasts robust 11.5% growth in investment in 2023, amounting to $955 billion,
with a return to pre-pandemic levels anticipated by 2025. By 2033, WTTC
forecasts a promising 6.1% average annual growth globally, with the strongest
annualized growth rates projected to be in Asia Pacific and the Caribbean.