South Korea's Mirae Asset Financial Group is emerging as the leading bidder for a portfolio of 15 U.S. luxury hotels being sold by troubled Chinese insurer Anbang Insurance Group Co., people with knowledge of the matter said.
Marriott International is faring better than its industry rivals in the increasingly important Chinese market, thanks to its Alibaba partnership and expanding market portfolio in the country.
It's a significant show of strength from the founder and gives him a bit more control over the company's future direction. It also makes the company almost as valuable as hotel giants like IHG ($12.5 billion) and Accor ($11.7 billion), a pretty remarkable state of affairs given it was founded in 2013.
Thailand's U City will invest three billion baht (US$93.7 million) to transform the Old Customs House on Bangkok's riverfront into a luxury hotel.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the project appears to be in part a shift to other sources of revenue as Airbnb's short-term rental business—the service that fueled its explosive growth—faces major pressure from local governments that accuse it of enabling a sprawling black market in illegal hotels, violating local housing regulations, and driving up rent by taking housing units off the market to cater to tourists and other visitors. In New York, it is illegal in most buildings for apartments to be listed for less than 30 days without a permanent tenant being home at the same time, and city regulators have been increasingly aggressive about cracking down on some of the biggest alleged offenders. The city has also been waging a legal battle to force Airbnb to hand over "user and listing data on approximately 20,000 apartment listings," per HousingWire.
So it's finally confirmed. Airbnb is investing up to $200 million in India's budget hotel chain Oyo, a deal that India Oyo observers say has big upsides for both companies.
InterContinental Hotels Group plans to add another all-suite hotel brand to its portfolio later this year as it looks to take advantage of increasing guest and owner demand for those accommodations.
Shortly after Donald Trump entered the White House, his eldest sons announced ambitious plans to open a line of hotels called Scion that would target young, hip customers mostly in places where their father had proved popular with voters.
Now that we are well into 2019, it is time to look at the year ahead in hotel openings. Cities across the globe can expect an influx of new properties to debut, with options ranging from budget to ultra-luxury. Asia, in particular, will be home to a plethora of new luxury hotels that are sure to top jetsetters' must-visit lists. Here are just a few of the most exciting to check out.
Last month, in my interview with Preferred Hotels Josephine Lim, the hospitality groups MD for Southeast Asia explained what it takes to become a member of the well respected collection of luxury hotels, stating:
With the anticipation of high demand in 2020, particularly during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics scheduled for July and August, Japan's capital has been seeing a boom in new hotels, Shukan Jitsuwa (Dec 6) reports.
A Qatari state-backed company is to buy the Grosvenor House hotel on London's Park Lane, the latest in a string of acquisitions of the capital's trophy assets.
Buoyed by a market upturn, City grandee Rocco Forte plans to double the number of hotels in his portfolio in the next five years. "We should be in Paris; we should be in Madrid; we should be in Moscow," said the founder of eponymous luxury chain Rocco Forte Hotels.
A Boston developer wants to showcase the city's innovative spirit and fight the onslaught of short-term rentals in his upcoming South End hotel. "This is like an Airbnb killer," Mount Vernon Co. founder and Chairman Bruce Percelay said. "You get your Airbnb pricing, but also a social experience." Boston's hospitality industry notoriously has Airbnb in its crosshairs, and Percelay thinks his upcoming Revolution Hotel will take back some market share. Formerly a hostel, the Revolution, at 40 Berkeley St. in the South End, will feature 164 rooms targeted at younger travelers. The hotel rooms are on the smaller side, but the developer said that is why he is going to be able to make his hotel one of Boston's most affordable. The Boston and Cambridge 2017 average daily rate for hotels was $258, according to Pinnacle Advisory Group. Rooms at the Revolution will average around $150 per night, and Percelay said guests should not expect accommodations akin to the property's hostel past, although some will have shared bathrooms. "It's not like you're slumming it," he said. "It's very cool."
Richard Branson comes to San Francisco, Rosewood raises the luxury stakes in Hong Kong, Nobu makes its long-awaited debut in Cabo San Lucas and the Shinola empire continues its brand extension in Detroit. These are among the more intriguing hotel openings scheduled for the end of 2018 and the first half of 2019.
A Marseille commercial court approved U.S. investment group Colony Capital and France's AccorHotels to take over French hotel group Maranatha in receivership since 2017.
Grand Rapids wants to get more young people of color to consider working in the hospitality and tourism industry. So the city's public school system is opening an academy that focuses on this field.
Chicago's Aparium Hotel Group is looking to pick up where Kimpton left off in Old Town Alexandria.
Sofar Grand Hotel in the Lebanese village of Sofar is some 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of the capital, Beirut. Inside the abandoned century-old hotel, paintings of the Arab world's once powerful and famous hang around a worn poker table, testimony to its glamourous past before the civil war.
The Walt Disney Co. has canceled plans to build a 700-room luxury hotel near its Anaheim resort, citing the city's elimination of a tax rebate agreement that would have saved the media giant $267 million over 20 years.