As we enter year two of our challenging hospitality industry environment, creative hotel management teams are leveraging skill and experience to deploy effective new business strategies. Innovative management strategies, tech tools, and Business Intelligence (BI) are helping hotel companies save money, operate more efficiently, and increase profitability in the current economy.
Molinaro Koger announced today the firm arranged the sale of The Raleigh Hotel South Beach Miami. One of the most high-profile boutique properties in South Beach, the 104-room Raleigh Hotel was purchased by a group of high net worth investors based in South America for an undisclosed price. “A South Beach landmark and rendezvous for celebrities and the socially prominent, the luxurious Raleigh attracted immediate investor interest. We were pleased to foster a bidding environment that returned highly competitive pricing for this one of a kind asset,” commented Ali Baheri, Vice President of MK, who marketed the hotel and structured the transaction.
Full service hotel brokerage and advisory firm Paramount Lodging Advisors has merged with hospitality real estate services firm Hardisty Baxter to open PARAMOUNT™'s new Southern California office.
Under the current economic climate, it is becoming more necessary to achieve further efficiencies in the way hospitality groups, investors and real estate developers plan, design and deliver hotel and resort projects worldwide. The sudden decrease in hotel occupancy, together with the difficulties in financing ongoing hotel and resort construction projects has lead to the re-evaluation of how the different players in the hotel industry develop hotel assets today. In addition, the hospitality and real estate industries have traditionally relied on extensive face-to-face interaction between developers, investors and hotel companies and in an intimate local knowledge of each geographical market. As a result, the development process of leisure real estate projects and city hotels has historically been expensive and time intensive.
Ron Burgett, a 21 year veteran of hotel real estate investment and development, has opened a brokerage and hospitality consulting firm, Hospitality Sales Group (HSG), headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company's core business is commercial real estate brokerage, with expanded services in site selection, hotel evaluation, and franchise negotiation. HSG has also affiliated with established firms offering property management services and FF&E procurement. The company has immediate plans to open HSG offices in four cities across the country, working with other brokers, franchise executives, and real estate professionals nationwide.
SPOKANE, WA -- Magnuson Hotels, the world’s largest independent hotel group, announced today the launch of Smith Travel Research (STR)-based hotel performance services. The industry-first free service upgrade by Magnuson will help hotels perform better than their local and national STR competitive set without the burden of franchise costs.
IDeaS Revenue Optimization, the leading provider of revenue management and optimization solutions and services, announced today they are committing extra resources to the European market as a result of the continuing economic instability.
DALLAS, TX -- Larkin Hospitality Finance, a national hotel investment firm specializing in financing hotel properties, announced today that it recently closed four separate loans totaling $16.6 million for their clients.
Easy (Ez) Revenue Management Solutions, a world-wide provider of state-of-the-art Solutions & Services in the area of Hospitality Revenue & Yield Management, is hosting a series of seminars on Pricing and Revenue Management concepts and principles. The first three of these seminars will be hosted in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in March 2009.
HomeAway, Inc., the world's leading online vacation rental marketplace, today announced its acquisition of Paris-based Homelidays SAS. Homelidays operates Homelidays.com, the largest pan-European for-rent-by-owner vacation rental or "self-catering" site, featuring more than 40,000 listings. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a strategic move to provide the most comprehensive database of potential new customers to the Denver hotel industry, The Knowland Group, the nation’s leading provider of market research to the group meetings market, has purchased locally owned and operated E-Z Reader. The move is part of a continuing effort by Knowland to acquire smaller, more localized companies, such as E-Z Reader. This acquisition merges the high quality data garnered by E-Z Reader from 1998 through today with the innovative technology and services offerings provided by Knowland.
Joe Epstein, President of First American Realty Associates, nationwide specialist in hotel financing, is pleased to announce that he has secured construction and permanent loan funding in the amount of $4,550,000 on the proposed Conference Center at the Brookstown Inn located at 126 Brookstown Avenue just south of the Central Business District near the Old Salem historic area in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Grand Heritage Management Company is pleased to announce a twelve-year management contract with Grove Isle Resort & Spa located on Grove Isle in Miami, Florida. With extension, the term could run for 22 years. The four-diamond hotel offers: 49 elegant oversized guestrooms (each with private terraces and views of Biscayne Bay), 8,000 square feet of meeting space, the full-service SpaTerre, a 12 state-of-the-art, championship-court tennis center, and a Club component with on-and-off island memberships. The hotel, ranked #2 of “Top Performers” by Lodging Hospitality, October, 2008, is also home to Baleen Miami, one of the top restaurants in Miami.
Starman Hotels, a hotel investment joint venture between affiliates of Lehman Brothers and Starwood Capital Group, has assigned Molinaro Koger to sell the five star Le Méridien hotel on Piccadilly, in central London. The historic Grade II listed 267-room property will be sold subject to a management agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts and will continue to operate as a Le Méridien hotel.
PARSIPPANY, N.J. (Oct. 29, 2008) -- Wyndham Hotel Group today announced the promotion of Don Li to regional vice president of development in China and Japan, responsible for the growth and development of the Wyndham®, Ramada®, Days Inn®, Super 8® and Howard Johnson® brands.
Molinaro Koger announced today that the company has arranged the financing for the purchase of the freehold of the Hotel Prince de Galles in Paris, on behalf of the Musallam family. The Saudi-based family has owned the leasehold on the property for 16 years. Ali Baheri, Managing Director of MK’s Middle East operations and Ed Blum, Managing Director of MK’s Capital Markets Group, both worked on the transaction.
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) today released the findings of a comprehensive study of car rental, hotel and meal taxes in the top 50 U.S. travel destination cities (by number of air travelers), funded in part by the association's research and education foundation, the NBTA Foundation.
R.D. Olson Development has sold two of its Southern California hotels--one inspired by Hollywood, the other by Southland beach culture—to Apple REIT 8 for $80 million. Irvine-based R.D. Olson last year completed development of both hotels, the Marriott Residence Inn, Burbank at 321 S. First St. and Marriott Residence Inn, Oceanside at 3603 Ocean Ranch Blvd.
Molinaro Koger (MK) announced today they facilitated the marketing and sale of two former Fairfield Inns on behalf of an undisclosed seller. The two assets included the 130-room Fairfield Inn Buffalo-Williamsville, New York; and the 129-room Fairfield Inn Cleveland-Willoughby, Ohio. The two well-located assets were acquired by Accor North America for an undisclosed sum and immediately converted to their rapidly expanding Motel 6 brand.
Mr. Alex Sogno, founder and Managing Director of Global Asset Solution is proud to announce the opening of the Singapore Office. Global Asset Solution is the Leading Hotel Asset Management Company serving Asia Pacific and Middle East. The first Global Asset Solution office in Bali, Indonesia will mainly concentrate on the national Hotel market as well as assisting hotel owners with brand new projects on the fast developing island of Bali. The Singapore office will be responsible for the development of the Hotel Asset Management throughout Asia Pacific as well as the Middle East which should soon see the opening of its regional office in Dubai.