Trinity, Certares acquire EAST, Miami: Trinity Real Estate Investments, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Certares Real Estate Management, New York, have reportedly acquired the 352-room EAST Miami hotel in Miami, Florida, from Swire Properties, Hong Kong, for US$174 million. Swire Hotels, a division of Swire Properties, will continue to operate and manage the hotel under the EAST brand. Swire plans to reinvest the capital into future developments. The hotel, which opened in May 2016, was Swire’s first property in the U.S., after the launch of two EAST hotels in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Nobu grows portfolio in Saudi Arabia: Nobu will launch a hotel, restaurant and residences in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia by 2024. The Nobu Hotel, Restaurant and Residences Al Khobar will be situated in the city’s waterfront facing the Arabian Gulf and offer 120 rooms and suites, with a Nobu restaurant in the lobby. The future, mixed-use development will be developed by Al Khobar Sands Real Estate Co. Ltd., which is jointly owned by Retal Urban Development Co., a subsidiary of the Al Fozan Group and Assayel Arabia, a subsidiary of Ali Zaid Al Quarishi and Brothers Co.
Auberge Resorts to manage Goldener Hirsch: Auberge Resorts Collection, Mill Valley, California, has been selected by the Eccles family to manage the Goldener Hirsch in Deer Valley, Utah. The 18-key inn, that has been owned by the family for more than 25 years, has been newly-renovated to include 40 residences set in two new buildings designed by architect Tom Kundig. The residences range from one, two and three-bedroom residences. Auberge Resorts current portfolio comprises 22 hotels and resorts.
LVS looks at NYC for casino resort: Las Vegas Sands Corp., Las Vegas, is reportedly interested in developing a Sands hotel and casino next to the New York Mets baseball team’s Citi Field in Queens, New York. LVS is reportedly in early stage conversations with Mets owner Steve Cohen about the potential opportunity. The state of New York is considering drafting legislation to support casino licenses in the New York City area.
Emerald Collection expands in the Maldives: The Emerald Collection, Rome, has acquired Faarufushi Maldives, an 80-key luxury resort in Maldives’ Raa Atoll, from Universal Enterprises. Rebranded as the Emerald Faarufushi Resort & Spa, the property is expected to open from May 1, 2022. The resort is situated on a seven-hectare private island and is the Emerald Collection’s second property in the Maldives, after their Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa. The resort’s sale was carried out by JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, marking the group’s second deal in the Maldives this year and 18th overall, with a total value of roughly US$1.3 billion.
Ascott Residence Trust acquires in Illinois: Ascott Residence Trust, Singapore, will acquire Seven07, a freehold 548-bed student accommodation asset in Champaign, Illinois, for US$83.25 million. The transaction, slated to be completed by mid-November, will be funded by debt and part of the proceeds from Ascott’s private placement launched in September. Seven07 serves almost 56,000 undergraduate and graduate students of the nearby University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The student accommodation consists of studio, one to four-bedroom apartments across 218 units. The yield-accretive acquisition is expected to increase Ascott’s pro forma FY2020 Distribution per Staples Security by around 1.2%. With this acquisition, which is Ascott’s fourth student accommodation investment in a span of 10 months, the company’s total student accommodation assets will consist of 2,756 beds.
Thailand reopens borders for 60 countries: Thailand has opened its borders to travelers from more than 60 low-risk countries after almost 18 months of COVID-19 restrictions. Fully vaccinated tourists from these 60 countries can enter the county and avoid hotel quarantine. Airports in Phuket and Bangkok will be welcoming travelers from countries including the U.S., the U.K., China, Japan and most of Europe. The Thai government expects revenues to return to the pre-pandemic levels by 2023, although industry experts feel China’s current border closures is likely to impact recovery. Prior to the pandemic, Chinese tourists comprised the largest portion of tourists, with around 12 million travelers arriving from China in 2019.
Israel reopens for travelers: Israel has reopened borders after 18 months to fully vaccinated travelers from the U.S. A pilot reopening program in May initially allowed a select number of tour groups to enter the country. Travelers will be required to a PCR test 72 hours before the flight and another one upon entering Israel. Travelers will also have to quarantine at a hotel until the results return or 24 hours pass, whichever is the lesser among the two.
Canada construction declines: Canada’s hotel construction pipeline fell 7% by projects and 5% by rooms (257 projects/34,167 rooms) in Q3 2021 year-over-year. Projects under construction was 70 projects/9,039 rooms, down 20% by projects and 12% by rooms YOY. Projects expected to begin construction within the next 12 months was 85 projects/10,449 rooms, a decline of 17% by projects and 13% by rooms YOY. However, projects in the initial planning stage increased, with 102 projects/14,679 rooms (increasing 17% by projects and 9% rooms YOY). Ontario saw the biggest number of pipeline projects, with 152 projects/18,787 rooms and accounting for 59% of the country’s total pipeline projects, followed by British Columbia with 32 projects/5,050 rooms and Alberta with 23 projects/3,691 rooms. All three provinces accounted for 81% of the rooms in Canada’s hotel pipeline. The top franchise companies were Marriott International, with a record project count of 68 projects/8,460 rooms, followed by Hilton Worldwide with a record of 66 projects/7,660 rooms and InterContinental Hotel Group with 43 projects/4,357 rooms. The three companies accounted for 69% of projects in Canada’s construction pipeline.
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella on flexible workplaces: Adi Ignatius, editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review, interviewed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in episode 1 of the HBR series “The New World of Work” to discuss the rapid evolution of team collaboration, especially in a hybrid world, the next generation of workplace technology, whether and when our future workplace will resemble the “metaverse” fantasies of science fiction and new essentials of leadership. Stating that while physical space is the best productivity tool which has no substitute, Microsoft is redesigning some of their campus spaces to use it as a “more malleable resource,” using some of their digital technologies. “A combination of space and this remote digital fabric that we have established through the pandemic will come together to give us the tools for flexibility,” Nadella said.
Qatar Tourism launches new campaign: Ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar in 2022, Qatar Tourism launched a new global campaign under the tagline “Experience a World Beyond” as part of the country’s goals to welcome more than six million tourists per year by 2030. The campaign consists of nine key chain characters to introduce travelers to the destination and will roll out across 17 global core markets. Qatar has so far welcomed more than 200,000 travelers since the country’s borders reopened in July. A newly launched website by Qatar Tourism, www.visitqatar.qa, is available in five languages. Qatar Tourism has appointed travel representative agencies in eight key source markets in the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy, DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), Russia, India and China, along with the addition of in-market sales managers in Turkey and Australia.
New dining trends: Dining will become different in 2021, with limited menus, no table cloths, no sharing platters and reduced service, according to the Baum+Whitman’s 2021 trends report. According to the report, restaurants will be bypassing waiters and relying more on digital menus to save printing costs and increasing accuracy of orders reaching the kitchen. With many restaurants closing down during the pandemic, most chefs have taken to opening popup restaurants in vacant spaces, home kitchens and friends’ kitchens. Many restaurants have also turned to selling pantry items, sweets, spice mixes, etc. to win back customers lost to supermarkets and utilizing the high number of people ordering online. In line with the new food trends, home cooks are expected to adapt to newer, undiscovered food items from across the globe and seek a more balanced, sustainable diet by combining more vegetables with non-veg meals.
ARTOTEL expands portfolio: ARTOTEL Group, Jakarta, will operate the 102-room Vue Palace Hotel — Bandung. The hotel is owned by PT Planet Properindo Jaya Tbk. ARTOTEL will be transforming the hotel into a mid-scale boutique hotel, which will follow the group’s ecosystem, and will be rebranded as ARTOTEL Vue Palace — Bandung in 2022. The hotel will be open and functional under the name Vue Palace, ARTOTEL Curated while it will be undergoing renovations. PT Planet Properindo’s two other hotels in Jakarta and Bali are operated by ARTOTEL’s brands.
Sonesta hotel opens in Minneapolis: Sonesta International Hotels Corp., Newton, Massachusetts, announced the opening of the 360-key Royal Sonesta Minneapolis Downtown, the brand’s latest property in Minnesota. This grows Royal Sonesta footprint to 17 cities in the U.S. The hotel, which transitioned to Sonesta’s management earlier in the day, will be operated by Royal Sonesta, the company’s upper-upscale brand. Sonesta currently has 1,200 properties with 100,000 rooms across 15 brands in eight nations and almost 900 franchises properties across the U.S. and Canada.