Marriott ship situation: Marriott International is facing heavy winds after stories of a rescue ship that picked up guests – but left other stranded passengers – on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas between Hurricanes Irma and Jose. Corporate callousness or frustrating government mismanagement? The Washington Post and Forbes magazines tell different sides of the story.
IntercityHotel/Intercity: Frankfurt-based IntercityHotel entered a partnership with Intercity Hotels, which operates 34 properties in Brazil and Uruguay. The two hotel brands had no formal business ties (the German founder of Intercity named the company after the German railway system). The partnership will allow booking each other’s hotels on each website, coordinated marketing and sales, and “an exchange of operational know-how.”
New CEO at 21c: 21c Museum Hotels gave Craig Greenberg the additional title of CEO of the Louisville-Kentucky-based company, which operates seven boutique hotels and eight restaurants. He will succeed company founder Steve Wilson, who will continue as board chairman. Greenberg has been president since 2012.
Booking.com’s Swiss dispute: Switzerland’s federal price watchdog has initiatied proceedings against travel aggregator Booking.com, saying there are signs of what it called price abuse in the commissions that Swiss hoteliers pay on the site.
Mandarin Oriental in Beijing: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will manage a luxury hotel project in Beijing, in a hutong quarter near Tiananmen Square. The Mandarin Oriental Qianmen is expected to open in 2018. It is being developed by Beijing Tianjie Group.
Westward ho(tels): Atlanta-based Peachtree Hotel Group acquired three hotels: the 123-room Element Denver Park Meadows in Colorado; the 135-room Hampton Inn Green Bay Downtown in Wisconsin; and the 136-room Aloft Tempe in Arizona. Sellers’ names and purchase prices were not available.
AJCapital in Connecticut: Chicago-based AJCapital Partners acquired the Hotel Duncan in New Haven, Connecticut. In spring 2018, the hotel will close for a comprehensive renovation and reopen in early 2019 as the 72-room Graduate New Haven.
LatAm pipeline stalled: According to Lodging Econometrics, the total construction pipeline in Latin America is 878 projects/146,312 rooms, the exact same number of projects as last year. There are 418 projects/72,690 rooms under construction, up 4% by projects year over year. Rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 211 projects/33,542 rooms, up 22%, while those in early planning are at 249 projects/40,080 rooms, down 18%. AccorHotels has 150 projects; Marriott International has 94; and Hilton Worldwide has 75.
New NOBU: Nobu Hotels and Selenta Group of Spain will open a Nobu in Barcelona by the end of 2018. It will be part of a refurbishment of the Gran Hotel Torre Catalunya property. The two companies will share management.
Union adds hotel management: Dubai-based Union Properties is opening two fully owned subsidiary companies: Union Malls and Al Etihad Hotel Management. The hotel management company is expected to provide services and management for approximately 3,000 serviced apartments and 3,500 hotel rooms throughout Dubai’s Motor City development, including the Vertex Hotel, Central Hotel and a third unnamed project.