Airbnb as media owner: Brian Chesky, founder and CEO of Airbnb, said at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity that he wants the room-sharing platform to be seen as a media channel like Facebook. The channel could be worth US$25 billion if it works. To that end, Airbnb launched a new website featuring early case studies.
Aloft in Saudi Arabia: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s Aloft brand will launch its first hotels in Saudi Arabia, including the 281-room Aloft Riyadh and 262-room Aloft Dhahran. Both will use keyless entry, a first in the country.
AEG out of L.A. Live: Anschutz Entertainment Group is abandoning plans to build a 755-room hotel next to its Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott tower at downtown’s L.A. Live. The company claims that a planned 1,000-room hotel to be developed by the city across the street infringes on its property rights.
The Los Angeles Business Journal has the story
Prescott to keep Biltmore: The 275-room Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, will stay in the hands of longtime President Gene Prescott. He is buying out 50% share of his partner, Robert Kay. A separate court case between the two has been settled.
Now it’s DXB: Dubai Parks & Resorts is changing its name to DXB Entertainments. At a general assembly meeting late last week, the Dubai-listed company adopted the resolution for the name change and appointed Shraven Shroff as an additional board member. The company is building three linked theme parks in Jebel Ali in Dubai.
More in Dubai: Nepal’s CG Hotels & Resorts began construction of a 200-key Vivanta by Taj hotel in Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai. The company, the hospitality arm of Chaudhary Group, plans to expand in the Middle East and Africa and more than double the number of its hotels to 200 by 2020.
EU approves Marwood: Marriott International secured European Union antitrust approval today for its cash and share purchase of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
Hotwire.com insights: Nearly half of Hotwire’s hotel transactions take place from a mobile device, and more bookings are done closer to departure—three quarters of bookings since January 2015 have been within two days, the OTA says. More than a third of mobile bookings occur on the same day. The company also updated its app with functionality to reserve hotel rooms after midnight, and select a bed type when making reservations.
M&C to expand: Millennium & Copthorne plans to open 12 hotels in the next year in the Middle East, including in the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia and is aiming for 100 hotels in the region by 2020. It is also opening its first property in Georgia.
Read more about it in Travel Daily News
Choice in South Carolina: Choice Hotels International Inc. signed an agreement with franchise partner SpringBridge Development LLC and management partner Raines Hospitality to develop a 124-room Cambria Hotel & Suites in North Charleston, South Carolina. It will open in late 2017.
AC Hotels acquired: Pacific Hospitality Group’s PHG Hotel Fund I LLC purchased the AC Hotel Phoenix Tempe/Downtown in Arizona and the AC Hotel Irvine in California from Woodbine Development Corp. and USAA. Purchase prices were not disclosed. Irvine-based PHG owns 12 hotels in the U.S.