De Vere relaunch: Britain’s De Vere brand is being relaunched after an investment of more than £100 million (US$132.6 million) from Starwood Capital Group that included a renovation of 22 properties and their grounds, an updated meeting resource, and refreshed F&B.
Hyatt Place in Pasadena: Construction is underway on a 186-room Hyatt Place in The Paseo in Pasadena, California. Ensemble Real Estate Investments is building; completion is scheduled for the end of 2018.
Incremental profits in a good view: Hotels offering preferences for particular hotel room attributes – and charging for them – can help maximize profits, according to A new study by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The study, over a few months at a Hong Kong hotel, found that customers are willing to pay much more than currently charged for features such as a harbor view, but place relatively little value on other features such as free cancellation. Hotels would benefit from segmenting their markets to reflect these discrepancies, the researchers suggest.
Hurricane hits to RevPAR: “It is important to note that large and damaging weather events such as Harvey and Irma have historically been net positives for hotel demand,” writes Patrick Scholes, managing director of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, who notes significant impact from both. Houston RevPAR was up 105.9% for the week, and up triple digits for most nights of the week, compared with up 29.8% last week. New Orleans was down 17.3% for the week, compared with down 22.5% in the previous week (the city was impacted by Harvey a few days after Houston). “We expect high occupancy in Houston and Texas in general for the next several months due to Harvey,” Scholes wrote.
Archipelago’s third in Malaysia: Indonesia-based Archipelago International will open a 5-star villa resort in Port Dickson, Malaysia as the Royal Kamuela Villa Port Dickson, with 68 one- and two-bedroom villas with private pools.
Mama Shelter in Belgrade: Mama Shelter is entering Serbia with a Belgrade property to be located along the pedestrian promenade of Ulica Knez Mihailova, or Prince Michael Street. The 125-room hotel expected to open in early 2018.
Cook-Expedia partnership: British tour operator Thomas Cook has made online travel company Expedia its preferred provider of hotels for certain city breaks and hotel-only sales.
Somewhere to decompress: Real estate and property developer Kleindienst Group will build the world’s first underwater luxury vessel resort – at least one of its decks, at least – 4 km off the coast of Dubai. The US$680 million project could house up to 3,000 guests. Canals and imported gondolas will add to the Venetian vibe.