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Hotel real estate investment trust Host Hotels & Resorts announced it acquired the 200-room Baker's Cay Resort Key Largo, Curio Collection, in Key Largo, Florida, for $200 million cash.

According to the news release announcing the deal, it was an off-market acquisition and is the first Florida Keys property for Host.

"After a complete $63 million renovation and repositioning in 2019, Baker’s Cay shows like a new resort. Additionally, the Florida Keys market benefits from excellent supply-demand dynamics owing in part to strict development ordinances which have led to the highest 2019 upper-upscale [revenue per available room] of any market in the U.S.,"said Jim Risoleo, Host president and CEO, in the release.

Tropical Storm Elsa on Monday brought strong winds and rain to the rural section of western Cuba before it headed to the Florida Straits on Tuesday for a possible "close brush" with the lower Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas, AP news reports.

The storm landed in Cuba on Monday afternoon near Cienega de Zapata, then went northwestward, passing Havana. The storm's maximum sustained winds strengthened to 60 mph late Monday.

"The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was expected to be near the Florida Keys early Tuesday and would then pass near or over portions of Florida’s west coast by late Tuesday and into Wednesday," the news service writes.

The UEFA European Soccer Championships, better known as the Euros, returns to Europe as the first international event drawing in crowds since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but "hoteliers in the city say it's still a far cry from the massive demand spikes they would have seen in more typical circumstances," writes Hotel News Now's Terence Baker.

Rachel Stevenson, director of operations at the 361-room Hilton London Wembley, which is next to the Wembley Stadium, said her property had seen some additional business on the night of the England-Germany game but that “it was not fantastic.”

She suspects that fans booked hotel stays in lower segments, leading to lower-than-expected bookings at her property.

Hotel REIT Ashford Hospitality Trust reported its preliminary revenue per available room for June was $91.27, an increase of 256% compared to June 2020 but a 37% decline compared to June 2019, according to a company news release.

Ashford expects "to report RevPAR for all hotels in the portfolio increased approximately 372% for the second quarter of 2021 compared to the second quarter of 2020, and decreased approximately 46% compared to the second quarter of 2019," the release states.

Hotel scams are already increasing this travel season, warns the Better Business Bureau, including the "fake front desk call," news station Wbay.com reports.

“You may get a call in the middle of the night from someone who says that they are the front desk, and that there was a problem with your credit card processing equipment, or that your credit card number did not go through,” said Susan Bach, Northeast Wisconsin regional director for the Better Business Bureau. “As it turns out, that is a scammer calling you. They have really just called the hotel and asked for a random room number and then whoever picks up, they try and get them to reveal their credit card information over the phone.”