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1. Ireland's Dalata Hotel Group agrees to €1.4 billion takeover bid
Irish hotel firm Dalata Hotel Group has accepted Pandox AB and Eiendomsspar AS’s updated cash offer of €6.45 ($7.53) per share, which values the company at €1.4 billion ($1.63 billion). The official acquisition entity is Pandox Ireland Tuck Ltd., which said long-term partner Scandic Hotels Group AB will operate the entire Dalata portfolio in partnership with Dalata.
In early June, Dalata had rejected the duo’s initial offer of €6.05 per share that valued the Irish firm at €1.27 billion. Dalata has 56 operating hotels and approximately 12,000 keys.
2. New York’s Waldorf Astoria to reopen after eight-year renovation
After a renovation that lasted almost eight years and is reputed to have cost $2 billion, according to news site Construction Dive, Manhattan’s famed Waldorf Astoria New York has announced its reopening in August. The renovation was initiated by now liquidated Chinese insurance firm Anbang.
Occupying a full block between 49th and 50th streets and Park and Lexington avenues, the 375-room hotel last changed hands in 2020 when Anbang transferred ownership to another Chinese insurance group, Dajia, and Chicago-based luxury hotel owner Strategic Hotels & Resorts.
The New York Times reports that when Hilton sold it to Anbang in 2014, the $1.95 billion sale price remains “the most expensive hotel sale in history.” Hilton retains a long-term lease on the hotel, which when it closed for renovation had approximately 1,400 rooms, with 372 private residences.
3. Zara billionaire Ortega acquires Paris hotel for €97 million
Amancio Ortega, the billionaire owner and founder of Spanish clothes retailer Zara, has acquired the 90-room Autograph Collection Hotel Banke Opera in Paris for €97 million ($113.3 million) from Barcelona-based Derby Hotels Collection.
The new owner is Pontegadea Inmobiliaria SL, the family office of Ortega, which owns 59% of Zara’s parent company Inditex SA. According to CoStar data, the sale is valued at approximately €1.07 million per key.
4. Arora acquires fellow UK airport-hotel specialist Bloc
London-based Arora Group has acquired Bloc Hotels for an undisclosed price, according to a news release. Arora Group specializes in owning hotels at several United Kingdom airports, and Bloc Hotels has two hotels, one of which is based at a U.K. airport.
Bloc owns and operates the 245-room Bloc Hotel Gatwick Airport, which is inside the airport’s South Terminal, and the 105-room Bloc Hotel Birmingham, Jewellery Quarter. According to Arora, Bloc also owns two sites that have yet to begin development.
Arora owns approximately 7,000 rooms in hotels operated by firms including Accor, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International. Among its non-airport hotel portfolio is InterContinental London The O2 in Greenwich, London, and two Fairmont-branded properties, the Fairmont Windsor Park and Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa, which will undergo a renovation before it changes brands.
In 2024, Arora opened the first hotel from French budget flag B&B Hotels in the U.K. in a partnership that seeks to expand the brand across the country.
5. Eid al-Adha festival in Abu Dhabi sees performance hit 16-year highs
CoStar’s hotel analytics division STR reports that Abu Dhabi, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, saw hotel performance during this year’s festivities for Eid al-Adha reach its highest occupancy and revenue per available room levels since 2009.
Eid al-Atha — one of the Islam religion’s main festivals with Eid al-Fitr being the other — in 2025 ran between Thursday, June 5 and Monday, June 9.
STR data showed that occupancy peaked on June 6 at 91.5%, and RevPAR on the same date soared to 602.46 United Arab Emirate dirhams ($164). It added the average daily rate on June 7 of AED663.71 was the highest ADR performance since 2020.