REPORT FROM HAWAII—Once rivals, Aqua Hotels and Resorts and Aston Hotels & Resorts find themselves sharing the same umbrella.
Vacation Holdings Hawaii, an affiliate of Miami-based Interval Leisure Group, announced last week it acquired for an undisclosed sum Aqua Hospitality and its Aqua Hotels and Resorts. Aqua manages a total of 26 full-service resorts and boutique-style hotels in Hawaii and two in Guam.
Aston, which is a subsidiary of VHH, has an operating portfolio of two dozen hotels in Hawaii on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and The Big Island of Hawaii. Aston also has properties in Orlando, Florida; Lake Las Vegas, Nevada; and Lake Tahoe, California.
VHH President Kelvin Bloom said the company is eager to increase the size of its shadow on the Aloha State, in part because the state’s tourism industry has been strong of late. Year to date through October, the state has seen a 3.8% increase in total visitors and 7.8% increase in international visitors, according to Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
Hoteliers have benefitted from the increase in visitors, at least as far as average daily rate and revenue per available room are concerned, according to data compiled by STR, parent company of Hotel News Now. Year to date through November, ADR was up 10.9% to $224.01, while RevPAR also has shown a double-digit percentage increase of 10.1% to $171.42.
Occupancy, meanwhile, was down slightly by 0.7%% to 76.5%.
As for supply, there are 287 hotels comprising 57,201 rooms in the Hawaiian market, according to STR. The state has one 75-room project under construction.
“Hawaii has performed exceptionally well since the end of the recession,” Bloom said. “It’s a really strong leading market in the United States, if not globally.”
Bloom said the company is always on the lookout for potential acquisitions—Aston itself was acquired by VHH in 2007—and had its eye on Aqua Hospitality for some time because of the company’s strong performance.
“Aqua has been a leader in the hospitality sector in Hawaii and Guam,” he said.
He said VHH is constantly searching for companies that are showing excellent performance. “Aqua certainly fits that bill.”
Waikiki-based Aqua was founded in 2001, while Aston was founded in 1948. Aston and 12 other companies came together in 1998 to form ResortQuest International, a vacation rental company. In 2007, ResortQuest Hawaii, which was separate from the mainland ResortQuest, became an operating company of publicly traded Interval.
Aqua and Aston will be operated as separate companies. That said, the two companies play well off each other, Bloom said.
“They are very well complementary,” he said. “Aston is represented well … and Aqua has a significant presence in Waikiki.”
Without citing specific details, Bloom said the company is likely to continue to grow its hotel portfolio.
“We’re in the mode of searching for companies, searching for opportunities for growth,” he said. “As always, we’re on the lookout for more opportunities. There’s more to come.”