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1. Japan hotel chain Washington hit by ransomware attack
Japanese hotel chain Washington Hotel, or WHG Hotels, which has 34 hotels in Japan, has been subject to a ransomware attack, according to website Tech Radar, which broke the news on Wednesday.
The Feb. 13 attack was curtailed swiftly, according to the hotel chain, which is part of publicly listed Tokyo-based firm Fujita Kanko and is a sibling of other hotel brands such as Hotel Gracery.
Cyber Security News reported that the cyberattack prompted “the hotel chain to immediately disconnect external network access to contain the breach. … (And) a dedicated task force, along with external cybersecurity experts, has been assembled to determine the root cause and evaluate the extent of the impact.”
2. Scandic sees modest growth, no change in Dalata Hotels integration timeline
Scandic Hotels Group AB in its full-year 2025 earnings results said it has seen modest performance growth across its portfolio, with the exception of that in Finland. It has proposed a dividend to shareholders and said its pipeline is 4,246 rooms across 20 hotels.
Scandic is now the operator the entire hotel portfolio of Irish hotel firm Dalata Hotel Group, following Dalata’s €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) acquisition by peer Scandinavian groups Pandox AB and Eiendomsspar AS in July 2025.
Scandic took over operations across Dalata hotels on Nov. 7, with full integration taking place over upcoming months, said Jens Mathiesen, Scandic’s president and CEO. He added the process will see “the separation of hotel operations and real estate progressing according to plan, with no changes to the communicated timeline.”
3. AJ Capital puts Graduate by Hilton Cambridge up for sale
The 148-room Graduate by Hilton Cambridge, in the English university city, is being put up for sale by its owner, Nashville-based AJ Capital Partners, with a guide price in excess of £60 million ($81.44 million) to £65 million. A brand aimed at university cities, Graduate has 33 hotels in the U.S., and, including the Cambridge hotel, two in the United Kingdom and one in Oxford.
AJ Capital acquired the hotel in 2019 for an undisclosed price, according to CoStar, and it was last renovated with an additional 10 keys in 2021. The hotel — located on the banks of the River Cam — is held on a long leasehold basis.
4. PPHE sells $33.5 million Manhattan development site previously earmarked for first US hotel
Amsterdam-based hotel firm PPHE Hotel Group, via an ownership division called W29 Owner LLC, has agreed to sell a development site in Manhattan for $33.5 million after concluding it is not favorable to build a hotel in New York City due to the “regulatory landscape for ground-up hotel developments in New York (having) significantly altered.”
The site, at 542-544 W. 29th St., close to Manhattan’s Hudson Yards and the High Line, had been earmarked for PPHE’s first hotel in the U.S.
PPHE said in a release the sale to a real estate developer “optimized the site to maximize [our] exit value through demolition works and the acquisition of air rights.” It said the deal should be completed in the coming months and “sale proceeds will be used to repay the associated debt of $8.3 million, with the balance of funds to be deployed in accordance with the group’s capital allocation strategy.”
According to CoStar data, the site was last acquired in March 2019 by Largo Investments for approximately £16.4 million.
5. WTTC: UK to lose £14.4 billion if tourism levy introduced
The World Travel & Tourism Council in research reports the U.K. stands to lose £14 billion ($19 billion) in tourism receipts in 2027 if the government allows city and local mayors to introduce daily levies starting this year. WTTC said both international and domestic hotel guests and visitors would react negatively.
In a questionnaire of more than 2,500 people, the WTTC said 29% of those it spoke to from the U.K.’s three largest feeder markers — U.S., France and Germany — said they would “consider alternative destinations or decide not to visit the U.K.” while 39% of the domestic guests it surveyed said “they would consider somewhere else, or definitely not holiday in the U.K., if the tax is set at £10 ($13.57).”