A quick roundup of global hospitality news.
VIRGIN HOTELS OPENS IN GLASGOW: Virgin Hotels has opened Virgin Hotels Glasgow, marking the group’s second hotel in the U.K. The hotel is located on the banks of the River Clyde. The hotel has worked with Silk Property Group and Twenty-First Architects to reflect the local aesthetics in its design. The 240-key boutique hotel features artwork by local Scottish artists, multiple dining venues and meeting and event spaces. The hotel will open more F&B options, including a coffee shop and a whisky bar, in the upcoming months.
MY PLACE HOTELS TO NAMPA, IDAHO: My Place Hotels of America has announced the opening of My Place Hotel Boise/Nampa, ID-Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho. The 85-key hotel is owned by Rimrock Companies and managed by Johnson Hospitality. The hotel is located in the Boise-Meridian-Nampa metropolitan corridor and is adjacent to the Ford Idaho Center. Each room includes a refrigerator, a two-burner cooktop, a coffee maker and a microwave. Amenities at the pet-friendly hotel include an onsite laundry and a grab-and-go store. There are currently 70 My Place Hotels in 29 states and 120 more in the pipeline.
U.S. PERFORMANCE IN H1: Hotels in the U.S. witnessed general pressure on profit margins in H1 2023, with GOP margin declining by 1 percentage point relative to H1 2022, according to the latest data by HotsStats. Both luxury and midscale and economy segments posted the highest declines in YOY margins. One of the biggest factors influencing this trend was the rise in labor costs. Across the asset classes and throughout the country, total labor costs surpassed total revenue YOY gains on a per-available room basis. Labor costs in the luxury segment outdid TRevPAR growth by 5.3 percentage points, while midscale and economy hotels witnessed a 6.6 percentage point gap. This had a major impact on the achieved GOP per available room, with a 2.1% YOY rise in luxury and a 3.3% dip in midscale and economy.
AON HOSPITALITY ACQUIRES TWO FLORIDA HOTELS: AON Hospitality Group has acquired the 104-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites Jacksonville Southeast Medical Center Area and the 117-room Hampton Inn Jacksonville/Ponte Vedra Beach-Mayo Clinic Area. Both properties are located in Jacksonville, Fla. Hunter and Leo Reilly, who procured the buyer, had the exclusive listing to market the hotel on the seller’s behalf. Both hotels are five-story buildings that were built in the early 2000s.