Spies in the house? New York newspaper the Daily News is reporting that Airbnb wants an explanation from the city for cooperating with “intelligence gathering” by a hotel-industry-funded group on the home-sharing site’s users, triggered by an earlier story by Bloomberg.
Changing its tune: Becker Ventures, lead partner in the development of the historic building housing the Hard Rock Hotel on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, is replacing it with an independent, as-yet-unnamed hotel to be run by Chicago-based Aparium Hotel Group, the company’s first in the city.
German institutional investment: According to Union Investment and real estate consulting firm Bulwiengesa, the market volume of investable hotels in Germany rose 8.3% €51 billion between 2015 and 2016, due mostly to construction of new hotels and B&Bs that resulted in a net increase in beds of around 0.7% in Germany. At the same time, performance improved.
Hyatt and Booking.com: Hyatt Hotels declined to comment on a published report that it signed a new distribution agreement with Booking.com as a hedge against a contract with Expedia expiring. “Hyatt is in constant dialogue with all our OTA partners around the world, including Booking.com and Expedia, but we will not get in to the details of those discussions. Our focus remains on growing the value proposition for booking directly with Hyatt so we can build strong relationships with our guests, as well as working with third-party distributers in line with our efforts to improve hotel profitability,” a spokeswoman said.
Avani in Mauritius: KPMM is developing the first Avani Hotels & Resorts brand in Mauritius. The 150-room Avani Bel-Ombre Mauritius Resort & Spa will open in 2021.
Leonardo in Granada: Leonardo Hotels acquired the Vincci Granada in Spain and has reopened it as the 176-room Leonardo Hotel Granada, its sixth hotel in Spain.