Manchester icon sold. Pandox, Copenhagen, has entered into an agreement to acquire Manchester, England’s Midland hotel from real estate investment company Aprirose for £115 million (US$151 million). Fattal Holdings, Tel Aviv, will contribute £14 million (US$18.4 million) to the purchase and take a 35-year lease to operate the hotel under its Leonardo Hotels brand while retaining the 312-room hotel’s iconic name. The two companies will also reportedly invest £11 million (US$14.5 million) in upgrading the hotel, including construction of new rooms. Aprirose bought the hotel in September 2017 as part of its acquisition of the 26-strong QHotels portfolio from Bain Capital Credit and Canyon Partners for £525 million (US$690 million).
Best Western extends reach in Thailand. Best Western Hotels & Resorts has signed a deal with developer Rhom Bho Property to introduce its BW Premier Collection by Best Western soft brand to Phuket, Thailand. The 122-room Title V Rawai Phuket, BW Premier Collection by Best Western, on Phuket’s central coast is expected to launch in 2020. Best Western has identified Thailand as one of its key target markets. At present, the company operates nine hotels and resorts across the Kingdom. Approximately 15 more Best Western-branded properties are scheduled to open in destinations across Thailand.
Concord grows near home. Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co. plans to open the first Homewood Suites by Hilton in Charlotte, North Carolina’s Center City through a joint venture with Charlotte-based Levine Properties. Slated to open in mid-2020, The 13-story upscale, extended-stay hotel will feature 209 suites and be located Uptown in the First Ward at the corner of East 8th and North College Streets.
No end to Hawaii strike. Multiple reports suggest officials are worried a strike involving about 2,700 Marriott hotel workers in Hawaii could continue into next year. The strike, which calls for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions, began last Monday and continued through the end of the week, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. Negotiations between Unite Here Local 5 and Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Marriott-managed Sheraton Waikiki, The Royal Hawaiian, Westin Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani and Sheraton Maui, reached an impasse last week. The union has contracts expiring this year at 20 hotels but no bargaining will begin at other properties until workers get a contract from the largest hotel employer, Local 5 spokeswoman Paola Rodelas said. Workers at the Sheraton Kauai Resort and the Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa, which are operated by Marriott, not Kyo-ya, also have voted to authorize a strike. The 640-plus union workers at these properties “could walk out at any time,” Rodelas said.
Read Honolulu Star-Advertiser report
Leondakis out at Equinox. Not widely reported when it happened in July, Equinox Fitness Clubs’ Chief Executive Officer Niki Leondakis departed the company after less than a year and a half in the role. An external spokeswoman for Equinox confirmed that Leondakis’s last day was July 6. She joined the company as CEO in April 2017 from Two Roads Hospitality, where she’d previously served as CEO of hotels and resorts.
Legal mess at NYC Ace. GFI Hospitality, the owning company of the Ace Hotel in New York, filed a suit last week claiming restaurateur Ken Friedman cooked the books at Michelin-starred the Breslin and John Dory Oyster Bar to avoid being kicked out of the hotel restaurants that he ran with chef April Bloomfield. GFI is seeking at least US$5 million in damages, claiming that Friedman misrepresented profits. The hotel owner further alleges that mismanagement led to a slew of other financial missteps that left the restaurants with nearly US$2 million in back-owed rent. Chef Bloomfield now runs the Breslin and John Dory Oyster Bar without Friedman, who she split with earlier this year following the sexual misconduct allegations against the famed restaurateur.