A new American Express Global Business Travel report suggests hotel rates worldwide will increase again in 2023 thanks to pent up demand for in-person meetings. They expect the rate of increase to be lower than in 2022 due to the economic climate. The report highlights rising hotel rates due to inflation and the challenge of increased corporate and leisure demand. The report also flags hotel efforts to recoup income losses from the pandemic exacerbated by rising labor costs, the combination of which will be challenging to corporate hotel program managers, some already struggling to secure accommodations and discounted rates.
E&M Strategic Developments plans to build a 141 room Homewood Suites by Hilton Hotel and Conference Center on the former Sanford Brown College site in Skokie, Illinois. The hotel is one component of a $400 million downtown redevelopment plan. The Hilton hotel will replace the Sanford Brown College office building which has been vacant since 2014.
HN Capital Partners announced the acquisition of the historic Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, an iconic century old former private estate transformed in the early 1980s into a premier hospitality destination in Dallas. This is the first property in the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts collection. The hotel was most recently updated in 2020, in time for its 40th anniversary, unveiling 142 modernized yet historically-inspired guest rooms and a refreshed lobby area. The amenities include the Mansion Restaurant, intimate Mansion Bar, a resort style outdoor pool and the city’s most prestigious meeting and event spaces. Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek will continue to operate as a Rosewood Hotels & Resorts managed hotel under the ownership of HN Capital Partners.
Choice Hotels International announced the opening of the first Everhome Suites hotel, debuting in Corona, California. The hotel was developed by Paladin Equity Capital. The midscale extended stay hotel features 98 apartment style rooms.
LIV Sotheby’s International Realty announced the construction of Kindred Resort in Colorado, the newest luxury, ski-in/ski-out mixed use development is underway. The groundbreaking will take place on October 3rd. Located at the base of the Keystone ski mountain, the development includes three buildings – two five-story towers of residences and a premier RockResorts branded hotel. The lower levels provide retail, dining, open spaces, a pool, ski school, a 250 person indoor event venue, 100 person outdoor event venue and a private ski club. There are 95 residences.
Hotel Barriere Fouquet New York from Caspi Development opened its doors on September 29. The Parisian hotel now has a NY address on 456 Greenwich Street in Tribeca. The eight-story building includes 97 guest rooms, including 29 with terraces. It includes the Spa Diane Barriere, three food and beverage concepts, a gym with an indoor pool and a Cannes Film Festival-inspired screening room and event spaces.
Hardin County, Kentucky’s nearly century old courthouse downtown will become a bourbon-themed boutique hotel. That is if Weyland Ventures LLC has its way. They are trying to buy the property at the center of Elizabethtown’s downtown square for $669,000. The boutique hotel will include a restaurant on the top floor. Plans also include the possibility of a bar in the center of the first floor of the building to bring people in.
The city of Warren Redevelopment Authority has given a $250,000 loan to DewBoi Properties for a new downtown hotel proposal on Liberty Street. Construction on the Warren, PA development is expected to begin Mid-April next year. Completion is targeted for September 2024.
Z Life Co., developer of the English Hotel in Las Vegas’ Arts District, is looking to build another project nearby. Z Life filed plans with the city to build a hotel and residential building.
The Electra America Hospitality Group has filed an application to open a new café with outdoor seating at Hotel AKA, an Old Town North Holiday Inn replacement in Alexandria, VA. The amendment to allow a café is bundled in with an official change of ownership special use permit headed through the city review process. The new hotel will have 180 guest rooms with various amenities, including the new café if the permit is granted. The hotel will also include a lounge area and bar on the ground floor near the lobby.
Ted Turner’s personal home, Hacienda at Reminders (formerly known as Armendaris House) is the latest dwelling to join the Ted Turner Reserves’ brand for guest stays. The recently renovated Hacienda is located on the 360,000 acres Armendaris property in Southern New Mexico in the crimson Chihuahua desert, a short drive from sister properties Ladder and Sierra Grande. Also recently renovated is Turner’s main Ladder house, now known as the Country House at Ladder, also available for guest stays. In addition to Armendaris, Ladder and Sierra Grande, Ted Turner Reserves owns and operates Vermejo, located in northern New Mexico.
Madison Newbond, the institutional lending platform of Madison Realty Capital and Newbond Holdings, announced it has provided a $20 million loan to FullG Capital’s equity sponsorship group for the acquisition of the Balfour Hotel Miami Beach, an independent boutique hotel in Miami Beach, FL. The Balfour contains 82 guestrooms across two towers, an upscale restaurant and bar, outdoor plunge pool, beach services and 1,300 square feet of rooftop terrace space. The hotel is managed by Driftwood Hospitality Management.
Europe Highlights
IHG announced it is partnering with Living Tomorrow on the 93-key voco Brussels City North. The hotel is due to open in the fall of 2023 and will be operated by Prem Group. The hotel will feature a restaurant and conference center and will adjoin the Innovation Centre, which is already on the site, to create a hub for hospitality innovation. The striking 50 meter tower is located to the north of the city. IHG said their voco brand is now present in more than 15 countries with 40 openings and 34 more property entering the pipeline since the brand was launched in 2018. In Europe alone there are currently 15 open hotels with another 14 in the pipeline.
IHG also announced the signing of Crowne Plaza & Holiday Inn Express Stockholm Arlanda Airport. This will be the company’s first hotels in Sweden after returning to the market. IHG entered a new strategic partnership with owning company Bjornbackens Fastighets AB. The dual-branded property will see a total of 420 rooms, 120 housed in the Crowne Plaza property and 300 at the Holiday Inn Express hotel. It will feature a full service conference center and gym facilities, as well as a bar and restaurant. The dual branded hotel will be strategically located just outside Stockholm, the largest city in the Nordics, near both the country’s busiest airport and the new Scandinavian XPO fairground. The Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express are set to open in 2026 and will be operated by Mogotel Development Holding. IHG currently has eight hotels operating across three brands in the Nordic countries.
The Dorchester in London announced Vespar Bar will launch this December, ahead of the first phase completion of the hotel’s most comprehensive transformation in over 30 years. The space formerly housed The Bar at The Dorchester. In December, the legendary hotel will be ready to reveal its new interiors. The hotel has remained open to guests through the renovation.