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1. Dajia considers Waldorf Astoria New York sale
The Chinese government-backed owner of the Waldorf Astoria New York is preparing to put the luxury hotel up for sale, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources. The hotel reopened last year after an extensive, multibillion-dollar renovation.
Anbang Insurance Group bought the hotel in 2014 for $1.95 billion, but after the company's CEO was arrested by the Chinese government on fraud charges, state-run Dajia Insurance Group assumed control of the property.
In the following years, the property underwent a major renovation project that took the 1,400-key count to 375 hotel rooms along with 372 condominium units, which are separate from the sale.
2. Four Seasons Resort Orlando to sell for $750 million
Though an affiliate, merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners will acquire for $750 million the 444-key Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort, reports CoStar News' Mark Heschmeyer. The current owner is hotel real estate investment trust Host Hotels & Resorts.
Strong luxury hotel performance in a K-shaped economy has attracted many investors.
“The economy continues to favor households exposed to the stock market, and those households are spending on experiences,” said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics for CoStar. “This deal is one more indicator of high-net-worth individuals, through their family office, betting on the continued outperformance of luxury class hotels. We expect more trades at the high end as the year unfolds.”
3. Execs say hotels will weather current challenges
The overall economic environment hasn't been entirely kind to the U.S. hotel industry, but executives said hotels continue to show their resiliency, reports CoStar News Hotels' Natalie Harms from the Industry Real Estate Financing Advisory Council panel at the 2026 Americas Lodging Investment Summit.
"I think that when people look at the hospitality industry today, there's certainly a lot of concerns about cash flow, margins, durability. And you sort of think, just given a tone of conversations over the last six to eight months, that the hospitality industry is this melting ice cube, and it's absolutely not," said Larry Kwon, managing director at Moelis & Company.
4. Chinese travelers head overseas for Lunar New Year
A record 9.5 billion Chinese citizens are expected to travel for the Lunar New Year next week, with many heading to international destinations, Reuters reports. Among the most popular countries for travel are Russia, Australia, Thailand and South Korea.
"Thailand has returned to being the top outbound destination thanks to its weather, when most parts of China remain cold," said Zhou Weihong, of Shanghai‑based Spring Tour, the travel unit of budget carrier Spring Airlines.
5. Revisions paint worse US labor market picture
The January jobs numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also included two significant downward revisions to 2024 and 2025 job creation data, the Wall Street Journal reports. The U.S. added 1.5 million jobs in 2024, down from the previously estimated 2 million, and 2025 saw 181,000 jobs created, not 584,000.
The February employment report will also likely include revisions to population figures in the data that were delayed by last year's government shutdown.
"The revisions, when they come out, should have little effect on the unemployment rate," the newspaper reports. "But they will likely show a large, downward revision to the size of the American workforce as a result of far lower levels of immigration than is embedded in current estimates."