An Airbnb hit: The Washington D.C. city council unanimously gave preliminary approval Tuesday to curbs on short-term rentals that would put in place some of the nation’s tightest limits on Airbnb and other home-sharing services. The restrictions would ban hundreds of D.C. property owners from renting out second homes on a short-term basis and place limits on thousands more who rent out spare rooms or basements in their primary residences. It would also create new licensing and reporting requirements.
BW bots: Best Western announced new add-ons to its loyalty program at the 2018 Best Western North American Convention and Global Conference: the BWR Chat Bot on Facebook’s Messenger platform; points for dining; and points for cash.
How’s your digital marketing? The latest Wolfgang e-commerce report provides a comprehensive view of the state of digital marketing in retail and travel, allowing digital marketers to benchmark their 2018 performance and plan their 2019 strategy. The study analyzes over 250 million website sessions and more than €500 million (US$577 million) in online revenue. Google Analytics, new Facebook Analytics reports, and online surveys are used to form insights.
Hilton Burlington Vermont sold: RLJ Lodging Trust sold the 309-room DoubleTree by Hilton Burlington Vermont for US$35 million. Based on the trailing twelve months ended August 2018, the sales price represents a 17.3x EBITDA multiple and 4.5% capitalization rate, inclusive of required capital expenditures.
Cambria Austin in works: Choice Hotels International finalized an agreement with Brendan Gilyan of Mopac Hotel Development to develop the Cambria Hotel Austin. The five-story, 135-room upscale hotel is slated to open in 2021.
Sunwing and Rex: Toronto-based Sunwing Travel Group announced today that the group’s hotel division would begin operating six of Rex Resorts’ Caribbean hotels as part of a newly formed strategic alliance, effective December 01. The six resorts will be absorbed within two of the hotel division’s brands: the new luxury boutique hotel collection, Mystique Resorts, and the popular mid-market chain, Starfish Resorts. Mystique Royal St. Lucia will be the second addition to the Mystique Resorts brand, with the first opening later this month in Holbox, Mexico. The Starfish Resorts brand will also see five new additions.
Bon in Ethiopia: South African- based hotel management company Bon Hotels has extended their Ethiopian presence by adding Bon Hotel German Square in Addis Ababa to their East African collection, making it their third property in the capital. Construction of the 115-room hotel commenced three years ago and will include two restaurants, three conference rooms with a capacity to host 400 delegates, a swimming pool, bars and sufficient parking and is expected to be completed in early 2020.
New loyalty for Leading: The Leading Hotels of the World has unveiled its renovated Leaders Club loyalty program. An annual fee of US$175 now also includes one confirmed pre-arrival upgrade annually after a member completes her first paid stay in the program and point accrual of 1 Leaders Club point per US$1 spent.
U.S. TRevPAR falls to annual low: While RevPAR and GOPPAR levels exceeded the previous annual low recorded at hotels in the U.S. back in January, failure to drive non-rooms revenue on the back of high occupancy levels drove TRevPAR down to an annual low, according to data tracking full-service hotels from HotStats. Overall, August was another positive month of performance for hotels in the U.S. with year-on-year growth recorded across all top-line revenues, including rooms (up 2.5%), food & beverage (up 5.3%) and conference and banqueting (up 7.3%) on a per-available-room basis.
PMR, Valor merge: South Africa-based PMR Hospitality Partners, a hospitality management and advisory company, is merging with Atlanta-based Valor Hospitality Partners. Terms of the merger were not disclosed. PMR will operate as Valor Hospitality Partners Africa. The company has five properties under management in Africa, along with asset management and advisory contracts.