U.S. private equity giant Carlyle (CG.O) has mandated Morgan Stanley to look into the sale or the stock market listing of its budget hotel chain B&B Hotel Group in the Autumn, French daily Les Echos reported on Friday. Carlyle controls 80 percent of B&B Hotel Group, an operator of over 300 hotels across Europe, along with Montefiore Investment, which has a 15 percent stake. B&B Hotel Group managers hold the remaining 5 percent.
Renowned Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi, Kempinski Hotels, and a host of culture and design experts are helping a state-owned tourism company give the “Chinese Dream" an ultra-luxury image with NUO, a new Chinese hotelier with big global ambitions. With branding undertaken by German luxury hotelier Kempinski and French consultancy Landor in consultation with Chinese historians and design experts, the Beijing location can be thought of as a modern interpretation of a Ming dynasty scholar's studio—albeit a much more opulent version. “We have moon gate-shaped doors, the furniture is Ming design; the style, the pattern is from Ming design as well," says NUO Beijing General Manager Adrian Rudin.
By Ed Fuller - Earlier this year, I blogged about the excitement in China generated by the news that its Dalian Wanda Group planned to invest $1.09 billion to build and operate a luxury hotel in London. At the time of their announcement (made in the summer of 2013), it was the first luxury hotel venture announced by a Chinese firm outside of China. Since then, Dalian Wanda has added a luxury hotel project in Madrid and, just this past summer, they advised Chicagoans they will open a $900 million skyscraper, the city’s 3rd-tallest building, on Lakeshore Drive East housing a 240-room luxury, 5-star hotel, luxury apartments and retail space in 2018. Additional US markets targeted by Dalian Wanda include New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Dubai-based Emaar Properties, which announced its intention to list Emaar Misr, its Egyptian subsidiary on Wednesday, has confirmed that an IPO for its hospitality unit remains on hold. In a statement, the company said: “The timing of the IPO [for Emaar Hospitality Group] will be dependent on the market conditions. We are watching the markets closely and will take a decision to list at the appropriate time.” Emaar launched an $1.6 billion IPO of its malls and retail subsidiary, EMG, on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in September last year, in what was the GCC’s biggest listing since the financial crisis in 2008.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is selling almost 150 U.S. hotels acquired during the last decade’s property boom to a nontraded real estate investment trust for $1.73 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. Moody National REIT Inc. is buying 149 limited-service hotels from the bank’s Whitehall Street real estate unit, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the transaction is private. The portfolio is composed mostly of properties Whitehall purchased from the family of motel operator Gary Tharaldson for $1.2 billion in 2006, the people said.
After the group's merger with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the Marriott portfolio will necessarily grow exponentially this year. Beyond this operation, new openings were presented to the press by Gitta Brückmann and representatives of several Marriott brands. The good news keeps on coming for Marriott after Starwood Hotels & Resorts' acquisition was confirmed last week, and the sun did not fail to shine for the presentation of its latest hotel openings to the press, organized in the cobbled courtyard of the Paris Marriott Champs Elysees Hotel. Gitta Brückmann, Area Vice- President for Western Europe since the end of last year, was in charge of presenting the operator's new projects and introducing representatives of its different brands - six of which are now operating in the French market.
Sales of US hotels to the Chinese have soared since 2009 as they mop up trophy assets in primary destinations. One of the most recent transactions was China’s Anbang Insurance Group’s purchase last October of the prestigious Waldorf Astoria in New York for £1.31bn, which set a new record for a single hotel deal in the US. It followed a loosening of controls on outbound investment by China’s Ministry of Commerce. Deals above £67.4m now no longer require its approval.
Loews Hotels & Resorts, the 69-year old luxury hotel company with 23 properties in the U.S. and Canada, wants to grow faster and own less. The company's new chief executive, Kirk Kinsell, said Loews--one of the last major hotel operators to own most of the hotels it manages--plans to reduce its future exposure to real estate by seeking partners on deals, rather than owning properties outright.
All good things come to an end. The International Hotel Investment Forum here at the InterContinental Berlin has culminated, but not before one last day of valuable sessions and networking. Discussing traditional versus next-generation business models was the theme of an afternoon panel composed of four young hotel executives: Guido Fredrich, VP of special property finance-hotel properties at Aareal Bank AG; Fred Hines, director and head of acquisitions at Queensgate Investments; Theresa Jaeger, director of of real estate and asset management for Hilton Worldwide; and Jacob Rasin, analyst-business intelligence at Pandox AB.
There’s no denying a queasiness trickling through Europe at the moment. Ahead of the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin, reports of a devalued euro, potential deflation in the Eurozone, fragility in Greece’s banking sector and continued uncertainty over the long-term prospects of Russia pepper the news landscape. It’s enough to sound the death knell for the continent, only it may prove to be more histrionics than anything else.
By some accounts, the hotel industry is in need of additional supply to absorb growing demand, and investors are stepping up their activity in response. One such investor, The Lightstone Group, is committing $2 billion to developing and investing in lodging properties. Bloomberg reported that Lightstone is targeting select-service properties in proven U.S. markets, and is teaming up with Marriott International to build five Moxy hotels in New York -- four in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. Lightstone plans on spending $1 billion on Moxy-branded hotel development, and $1 billion more towards hotel investments in other areas of the U.S.
In Los Angeles during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit, HOTELS sat down with Accor Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin to find out how he is adjusting to life as a hotelier compared to his previous career in the private equity world. In the 18 months or so since he took over Accor, Bazin has among other things split the company into separate operating and property groups, made big investments in technology, acquired a hip brand in Mama Shelter, aligned with a Chinese lodging company to set up the development of the group’s brands in China, and has delivered good quarterly numbers.
InterContinental Hotels Group reported a fall in revenue in its annual results after selling off some US hotels. The global hotelier, which owns the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands, said that revenue was down 2pc to $1.85bn (£1.2bn), from $1.9bn a year earlier and operating profit was 3pc lower at $651m.
Eager investors are taking notice. Late last month, the Laguna Beach landmark sold for $360 million, a record of more than $1.4 million per room, underscoring the rush to buy hotels, especially in the thriving luxury market serving wealthy business and leisure travelers.
When the Hilton hotel chain decided to place its first hotel outside the continental United States, it built the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1949. Now, 66 years later, the Caribe Hilton — refurbished and upgraded several times — is still on the same impressive peninsula with 17 acres of land, while the Hilton brand has expanded to myriad other locations, currently appearing on 81 hotels throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. “We’re doing very well in the region, thanks to economic strength in the U.S. and Latin America,” said Tom Potter, the Miami-based senior vice president of operations for Hilton Worldwide in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson looked ruefully at the coupe of Moet set in front of him by a cheery young waitress. After a few quiet words with her, he said, “I was so hungover this morning. I just can't say no.”
Last year was the Year of the Lifestyle Hotel, with Marriott, Hilton and InterContinental among the many players introducing new brands or making acquisitions in this hot market segment. After less than a month, 2015 looks on pace to surpass it. Three major hotel operators – Hyatt, Loews and Langham – are preparing to launch new boutique or lifestyle brands, joining a crowded field of hospitality companies offering properties that emphasize high-design and a social bar scene.
US private equity group Lone Star Funds is to pay £680 million (€909mn) to acquire the Jurys Inn chain of 31 hotels from a group of investors. The hotel chain is being sold by the Oman Investment Fund, Mount Kellett Capital Management, Ulster Bank, Westmont Hospitality Group and Avestus Capital Partners. Jurys Inn operates 21 UK provincial hotels, four London hotels, five hotels in Ireland and one in Prague. It employs approximately 2,000 people.
As we enter 2015, US lodging fundamentals are the most robust I can recall during my 35 year career. Rarely has there been a time when the market was generally favorable to buy, sell, and develop hotels in the US. Several new transaction records occurred this past year. The LW Hospitality Advisors 2014 Major US Hotel Sales Survey includes 153 single asset sale transactions over $10 million, none of which are part of a portfolio. These transactions totaled roughly $16 billion, and included approximately 45,000 hotel rooms with an average sale price per room of just over $350,000.
Regional Hotel Chain (RHC), a Russian hotel company owned by Andrew Yakunin, son of Vladimir Yakunin, the head of the country’s railway monopoly RZD, plans to invest up to US$150 million in its further development in 2015. As part of the plan, over the next several years RHC plans to open 30 hotels in Russia under global brand operators. Currently, RHC is working with IHG, Marriott International, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and RIMC CIS.