Biz travel plunge: Multinational companies including Apple and Ford are suspending business trips to China amid concerns about the coronavirus, according to the Wall Street Journal, and many are banning employee travel to and from mainland China and imposing work-from-home quarantine on anyone who had been to the country in recent weeks. As well, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has confirmed the first person-to-person transmission of the virus in the United States, and the U.S. State Department has authorized its personnel to evacuate (that’s one step down from an order to evacuate).
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RLH ‘back to basics’: Denver-based RLH Corp. announced a strategic plan to go “back to basics” in 2020 and beyond with a renewed focus on franchisees and growth opportunities. Over the next months, the company will evaluate and implement what it calls common-sense brand standards focusing on ROI for owners; amplifying marketing spend to increase brand contribution; targeted campaigns with input from franchisees; digital enhancements and expansion; and a commitment to development opportunities in markets that resonate with RLHC brands. It’s increasing the time franchise operations teams will spend in the field and enhancing the franchisee role in the advisory board program.
LVMH’s possible hotel move: Andrea Guerra is set to join France’s LVMH as head of its hospitality and restaurant business, sources said. Earlier this month, Guerra, 54, stepped down from operational responsibilities at Eataly, a high-end food retailer where he became executive chairman after a decade at the helm of Ray-Ban owner Luxottica. One source said Guerra’s role at LVMH would be to tap into growing demand for top-notch travel and food. LVMH in 2018 bought the Belmond group for US$2.6 billion and developed high-end chains under the Bulgari and Cheval Blanc brands.
Top franchisors: Lodging Econometrics’s year-end report for 2019 shows the top franchise companies and their brands in the construction pipeline: The list is topped by Marriott International, at an all-time high with 1,579 projects/207,906 rooms, followed by Hilton Worldwide with 1,370 projects/152,832 rooms, and IHG with 943 projects/96,725 rooms. Sixty-eight percent of the projects in the total pipeline derive from these three franchise companies.
Leading brands by project count: Hilton’s Home2 Suites by Hilton with 408 projects/42,346 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 379 projects/39,644 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 322 projects/31,119 rooms. Combined, the three brands claim 19% of the projects. These brands also had the highest number of new openings in 2019.
The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2020 anticipates that Marriott will open 286 projects/36,767 rooms. Next is Hilton with 284 projects/30,499 rooms followed by InterContinental Hotels Group with 179 projects/17,667 rooms forecast to open by year-end.
Blackstone raises Unizo bid: U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group raised its proposed offer for Japan’s Unizo Holdings by 12% to 191.6 billion yen (US$1.75 billion), topping a rival bid from U.S. buyout fund Lone Star that is backed by the Japanese hotelier. Blackstone said its improved proposal was worth 5,600 yen a share, up from 5,000 yen previously. It comes ahead of a February 4 deadline for the public tender offer at 5,100 yen launched by Lone Star. A Unizo spokeswoman declined to comment on Blackstone’s revised proposal.
Airbnb lawsuit now class-action: A Vancouver, Canada, man succeeded in having his claim against Airbnb certified as a national class action lawsuit. Arthur Lin alleges the accommodation booking company is guilty of “double ticketing,” in which a vendor displays two different prices for a single product and then charges the customer the higher one. Airbnb, which is appealing the certification, says the two prices listed – the actual accommodation price and the price including the listing service – are for two different products.
PPHE in Zagreb: Developer, owner and operator PPHE Hotel Group announced plans to develop a new city center hotel in Zagreb, Croatia, through its subsidiary Arena Hospitality Group d.d. Arena entered into a 45-year lease for the development and operation of a contemporary branded hotel, which would convert a building into a 115-room hotel and is expected to open within 24 months.
Canopy in New Orleans: Dallas-based NewcrestImage and Baywood Hotels, Inc., based in Columbia, Maryland, will begin historic renovation construction in early February of a 176-room, 14-floor Canopy by Hilton in downtown New Orleans. Canopy by Hilton New Orleans Downtown is scheduled to open in summer 2021 in the Central Business District in the former Oil and Gas Building, which originally opened in 1959 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.