Global pipeline up 7%. According to Lodging Econometrics, the total global construction pipeline stands at 12,714 projects/2,139,002 rooms, up 7% by projects year-over-year. There are 5,952 projects/1,115,288 rooms under construction, up 8% by projects YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, at 3,988 projects/584,433 rooms, are up 6% while projects in early planning at 2,774 projects/439,281 rooms are up 5% YOY. The leading five franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project count are: Marriott International with 2,381 projects/398,238 rooms, Hilton with 2,180 projects/322,857 rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 1,600 projects/234,807 rooms, AccorHotels with 781 projects/140,396 rooms, and Choice Hotels with 629 projects/153,992 rooms. The leading brands for each of these companies are: Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 357 projects/38,826 rooms, Hilton’s Hampton Inn & Suites with 599 projects/75,642 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 709 projects/86,836 rooms, Accor’s Ibis with 156 projects/22,361 rooms, and Choice’s Comfort Suites with 126 projects/10,983 rooms.
Margaritaville acquisition. Penn National Gaming partnered with VICI Properties in an agreement to purchase the Margaritaville Resort Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana, for US$115 million in cash. The deal is expected to close sometime this year. The seller was not named.
Rotana adds two. Rotana signed two new hotel management agreements: one in Dubai, at residential high-rise Cayan Tower, and Bosmal Arjaan by Rotana in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pullman in Singapore. AccorHotels and EL Development Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based property developer, will open a new-build, 342-room Pullman in Singapore, the first in that country, in 2022.
Planet Hollywood in Papagayo. Planet Hollywood will open its first all-inclusive resort, Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Costa Rica, in October 2018, on Costa Rica’s Peninsula Papagayo.
Carloft in Germany. A new hotel chain, B’mine, will open a location in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2019. Twenty-six of the 202 rooms will have car lifts that allow guests to drive a car straight to the guest room door; each of those rooms will have dedicated parking and a charging facility for electric cars. A second b’mine hotel is scheduled to open in Frankfurt am Main’s new Gateway Gardens district in late 2020. The development company is CarLoft Development GmbH; funding is institutional, and the company plans to open 10 hotels over the next eight years.
Indigoing in Washington. IHG will develop three Hotel Indigo hotels in Washington state – the Hotel Indigo Vancouver Downtown, owned by Kirkland Development LLC; the Hotel Indigo Everett, owned by Omar and Christine Lee; and Hotel Indigo Spokane, owned by Hos and Boz LLC. All three properties are expected to open before the second quarter of 2020.