Indies Capital acquires Swiss-Belhotel: Singapore-based venture capital firm Indies Capital Partners has acquired PT Swiss-Belhotel International Indonesia and PT Zest Hotels International Indonesia from Jakarta, Indonesia-based Ciputra Group. Indies has acquired a 60% stake in both companies, as the company doubles its investments in the hospitality industry. Last year, Indies led the Series B funding of Artotel Group. Though it did not mention the size and terms of the deal, Indies said the Hong Kong-based Swiss-Belhotel International Holdings Ltd. will continue its 40% stake in both companies. The Swiss-Belhotel International Group offers serviced residences and property management services and manages 125 properties under 16 brands across 16 countries.
NH Hotel’s Asian debut: Minor Hotels has signed a management agreement with Phuket Boat Lagoon Co. Ltd. to rebrand the existing Boat Lagoon Resort in Phuket, Thailand, to NH Boat Lagoon Phuket Resort. This will be the first NH Hotel property in Thailand and the brand’s debut in Asia. The 271-key hotel will include a mix of rooms and serviced apartments and a 1,000-square-meter marquee for events. The rebranding will be completed in the first quarter of 2023. The rebranding follows the announcement made earlier this year of NH Collection Chiang Mai Ping River, which will open in mid-2023 and will be the first NH Collection-branded hotel in Thailand.
Union Investment, Staycity partner in Amsterdam: Union Investment is expanding its partnership with Irish aparthotel operator Staycity and will create long-stay residential units in the YVIE mixed-use development in Amsterdam. The project is currently being constructed by Union Investment. From May 2024, Staycity will operate 120 rooms in the 31-story tower, on floors three to 10 and a total area of roughly 7,000 square meters. The project will also mark Staycity’s debut in the Dutch market. Staycity will also offer concierge services, a coffee bar, gym and roof terrace for the future residential and office tenants of the building. The other floors of the building will feature 176 rental apartments, which will be marketed directly by Union Investment. Staycity’s lease has a term of 25 years. Currently, Staycity has around 6,000 apartments across 33 properties and plans to add more in Portugal, London, Paris and Munich.
Splendid adds to portfolio: The U.K.-based Splendid Hospitality has added the new Mercure Dumfries Cargenholm House in Dumfries, the U.K., to its portfolio. Set to open on December 5, the hotel consists of two properties — an early to mid-19th-century domestic house and a mid to late-20th-century extension. The hotel features 61 rooms and a flexible event space which can accommodate up to 60 persons. This addition brings Splendid’s portfolio to 23 hotels totaling more than 2,500 rooms.
Plans for mixed-use tower in Australia: Australia-based MAAS Property has filed plans to build a 14-story mixed-use tower in Dubbo, Australia. The Bank Hotel, an existing property on the proposed site of the project, will be refurbished as part of the plan. Expected to be called The Liberal, the plan also includes a 162-key hotel and 41 apartments along with retail spaces. The project will be designed by architects Stu.ff Studio. Construction costs are projected at AU$65.2 million (US$43.49 million). The ground floor will feature parking space and eight retail and commercial tenancies, while the first floor will comprise parking spaces and hotel areas. Hotel areas will also span floors three to eight, with the ninth to 15th floors featuring the residences. The building will also consist of a meeting room that can accommodate 200 persons, eight accessible hotel rooms and nine adaptable apartments.
New Castle adds 9: New Castle Hotels & Resorts, Ridgefield, Connecticut, has been selected to manage nine hotels owned by Syracuse, New York-based Widewaters. The portfolio spanning five states includes four full-service and five select-service properties totaling over 1,200 rooms. Widewaters will continue to own the hotels, with current COO Bob Spoto transitioning to head of asset management and working along with the New Castle team. This latest addition will help grow New Castle’s third-party management portfolio to 28 hotels totaling over 4,000 rooms across 11 states and two Canadian provinces. New Castle and Widewaters first partnered in the late 1990s and, have since, developed 13 additional hotels in the Northeastern U.S. and Atlantic Canada.
Europe construction update: Hotel conversions in Europe touched an all-time high at the end of the third quarter to 324 hotels/46,977 rooms, a 51% and 61% YOY increase respectively, according to Lodging Econometrics. Hotel renovations in Europe also increased, with 150 hotels/22,594 rooms. The total hotel construction pipeline stands at 1,660 projects/258,476 rooms. While projects under construction stand at 790 projects/126,899 rooms, projects expected to start construction in the next 12 months were at 408 projects/60,085 rooms. A total of 94 hotels/13,637 rooms opened in the region by the end of Q3, bringing the total openings year-to-date in 2022 to 293 new hotels accounting for 43,332 rooms.
Top 5 countries with most projects in the construction pipeline:
The U.K. – 298 projects/45,173 rooms
Germany – 250 projects/43,523 rooms
France – 148 projects/16,611 rooms
Portugal – 126 projects/15,185 rooms
Turkey – 86 projects/13,532 rooms
Top 5 cities with most projects in the construction pipeline:
London, the U.K. – 79 projects/14,139 rooms
Dusseldorf, Germany – 44 projects/7,959 rooms
Istanbul, Turkey – 40 projects/7,548 rooms
Paris, France – 34 projects/5,379 rooms
Lisbon, Portugal – 34 projects/3,923 rooms
Top 4 companies with most projects in the construction pipeline:
Accor – 249 projects/33,941 rooms
Marriott International – 197 projects/30,698 rooms
Hilton Worldwide – 177 projects/26,634 rooms
IHG – 148 projects/20,071 rooms
US hospitality trend report: The U.S. hotel industry surpassed the pre-pandemic RevPAR levels by 6.4% through the third quarter, as per STR, and recovery continues to be based on room rates, revealed a latest study by PwC. Although occupancy in the third quarter was 3.8 points below the same period in 2019, ADR saw an increase of 12.8%. As per the study, the Fed’s continued increases in their policy rate have resulted in uncertainty in public markets, impacting lodging demand in the fourth quarter. Annual occupancy is expected to see a slight increase to 62.8%. Since July 2021, ADR bypassed the 2019 comparable in every month (except January 2022). RevPAR has also surpassed 2019 levels since March 2022. ADR is projected to surge 19.3% for the year, with resultant RevPAR up 30.3%, 108% of pre-2019 levels on a nominal dollar basis. Major risks to this outlook include the magnitude and of changes in the macro-economic environment, the likelihood of more threatening variants of COVID-19 over winter and the ongoing war in Ukraine.