Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BEE), the owner of luxury lodgings from New York’s Essex House to the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay in California, is turning into a takeover candidate after its founder’s abrupt exit.
Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. is expected to weigh this week whether to open its doors to a rival chain owned by Tata Group, after the Indian conglomerate offered to buy the London-based company for $1.2 billion. The board of Orient-Express, which rejected overtures from Tata five years ago, plans to meet early this week and discuss the offer from Tata's Indian Hotels Co., according to a person familiar with Orient-Express.
Starwood Capital Group LLC, the real estate investment firm led by Barry Sternlicht, agreed to buy the InTown Suites extended-stay hotel chain from a Kimco Realty Corp. (KIM) venture for $735 million, including debt. The deal with the Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX should be completed in the first half of next year, New Hyde Park, New York-based Kimco said in a statement today. The sale price includes about $617 million of existing debt.
Tata Group offered to pay $1.86 billion for Orient-Express Hotels Ltd., seeking to expand an international luxury-hotel chain that already includes The Pierre in New York. Orient-Express, which gets its name from the legendary London-Venice luxury railroad, owns New York's 21 Club restaurant and the Hotel Cipriani in Venice. Tata's Indian Hotels Co. said Thursday that it had proposed paying $12.63 a share for the Bermuda-based hotelier, a 40% premium to Orient-Express's closing stock price on Wednesday.
Dr. Bjorn Hanson, Divisional Dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies interviewed parties on both sides—corporate travel planners and hotel executives—and found one of the greatest discrepancies in the last two decades between sellers and buyers when it comes to contract rate expectations. Hoteliers, he said, have in mind a 7- to 9-percent increase, while and corporate buyers contend that only a 3- to 5-percent hike is warranted.
Accor SA (AC), Europe’s largest hotel operator, will accelerate an expansion plan after the French company reported first-half profit that beat analysts’ estimates. Earnings before interest and taxes rose to 212 million euros ($266 million) from a restated 204 million euros a year earlier, the Paris-based company said today in a statement. Analysts expected profit of 206.5 million euros, the average of 10 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The year-earlier figure was changed to reflect the sale of Accor’s Motel 6 budget chain to Blackstone Group LP.
The Blackstone Group, already the owner of 5,613 hotels globally, including hotel companies Hilton Worldwide, La Quinta and Extended Stay, is now adding the Motel 6 chain to its growing lodging portfolio. Early this morning, Blackstone agreed to purchase the Motel 6 and Studio 6 chains of 1,102 economy hotels in the U.S. and Canada from Accor for $1.9 billion. The move by Accor is no surprise...
Almost a year after Von Essen Hotels went into administration with debts of nearly £300m, 26 out of 28 of the company's properties which were put on the market have now been sold, with three hotels being disposed of in the past week. Bath's Royal Crescent hotel, Seaham Hall in County Durham and Congham Hall in Norfolk (pictured) all now have new owners.
Marriott International Inc.'s (MAR) fourth-quarter earnings fell 18% as charges related to the spinoff of its timeshare business weighed on bottom-line results, though revenue per available room increased. Marriott, an industry bellwether, has posted increased revenue for two years as demand rebounds in the U.S. and hot markets like China and Brazil allow for higher daily rates. However, revenue has suffered in the Middle East and Africa due to persistent unrest in the region. Marriott operates the Courtyard, Residence Inn and Ritz-Carlton brands in addition to its namesake hotels. The company spun off its costly timeshare business in November. Costs related to the spin off pushed Marriott to a loss in the third quarter.
InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG), the world’s largest hotel group by rooms, reported profit that beat estimates and declared a bigger-than-expected dividend as business travel recovered, led by the U.S. and greater China. Chief Executive Officer Richard Solomons said the hotelier is well placed to benefit from demand in emerging markets such as the greater China region, which accounts for about 12 percent of group revenue. Growth in revenue per available room, or revpar, accelerated in January, the company said.
Older properties across the Gulf will undergo major renovations to keep pace with the quality of new supply, with some even closing for complete refurbishment, according to a new report by hospitality business property advisor Christie + Co. International Business Outlook 2012, the annual business intelligence report released by the Dubai-based MENA office of Christie + Co, offers an impartial view of the developments within the hotel industry.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., owner of the luxury St. Regis and W brands, said fourth- quarter profit dropped after a cash payment from a lawsuit settlement boosted year-earlier earnings. Net income fell to $167 million, or 85 cents a share, from $339 million, or $1.78, a year earlier, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said in a statement today. The year- earlier results included $75 million from the settlement. Adjusted earnings, which exclude some items, equaled 71 cents a share, more than the 57-cent average estimate of 22 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
France's Accor said on Wednesday it was no longer in the running to buy the prestige hotels of Groupe du Louvre, a unit of U.S. investment group Starwood Capital. Accor's offer, which it made together with Franco-Dutch property group Unibail-Rodamco, "was not retained", an Accor spokeswoman told Reuters, without giving further details.
Spanish hotel group NH Hoteles said on Thursday it asked creditor banks to back a near-term debt refinancing ahead of a 195 million euro ($249.92 million) payment on a syndicated loan due in a month's time. The group, which operates some 175 hotels at home and more than 225 abroad, said it hoped banks would soon agree to a five-year refinancing of the 650 million euro loan, which was taken out in 2007.
Blackstone Group's acquisition of Hilton Worldwide four years ago and its continuous investments into the firm have contributed to Hilton's tremendous growth, which includes opening 170 hotels in 2011, said Christopher Nassetta, CEO of Hilton Worldwide. "Hilton was a good company that had the potential to be a great company. Blackstone unleashed the ability for us to do that by helping us by investing significantly in the business and being an incredible partner in setting the strategic direction of the business," Nassetta said.
Accor SA, Europe’s biggest hotel company, said sales rose 2.5 percent in 2011 and confirmed its profit forecast, boosted by growth in economy lodgings. Revenue climbed to 6.1 billion euros ($7.8 billion) from 5.95 billion euros in 2010, the Paris-based owner of the Novotel and Ibis brands said in a statement today. The average estimate of 17 analysts in a Bloomberg survey was 6.17 billion euros. Fourth-quarter sales fell 1.1 percent to 1.5 billion euros, affected by Accor’s strategy of selling and leasing back hotels.
Mirvac Group has sold its hotel management business Mirvac Hotels & Resorts and associated investments to a consortium including Accor Asia Pacific and Ascendas for 327 million Australian dollars (US$327 million). The transaction includes 46 hotels across Australia and New Zealand and represents a 15.1% premium to the carrying value of those assets as at 30 June.
Spain's NH Hoteles said on Tuesday China's HNA Group, parent of China's Hainan Airlines, had called off a deal to take a stake in the Spanish hotel group due to financial market uncertainty. NH Hoteles shares fell nearly 13 pct on the news, as analysts raised concerns about the hotel group's ability to refinance its debt without the expected cash injection from the Chinese group.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2987e25c-2567-11e1-9cb0-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1gQ5JDTZg
A gloomy outlook for the UK hotel industry dragged down shares in Whitbread, as like-for-like sales growth slowed at the coffee, hotel and restaurant group.
The FTSE 100 company, which owns the Premier Inn and Costa Coffee chains, said on Tuesday that revenue per room (revpar) growth in the UK hotel market had “virtually disappeared” over the past six weeks as both business and leisure demand dried up.
When Jim Abrahamson takes the helm at Arlington’s Interstate Hotels & Resorts on Dec. 1, he will inherit a company that has fought its way back from the brink of collapse to regain its position as a hospitality powerhouse. The firm, one of the nation’s largest independent hotel managers, has made six major acquisitions in the past 11 months and brought in new blood, leading some industry analysts to wonder whether it is preparing to go public.