Hoteliers in the United States say performance is on pace to match, if not exceed, last year’s metrics for June, July and August, backing up STR’s new forecast for the three summer travel months, writes HNN’s Samantha Worgull. STR is the parent company of Hotel News Now.
According to STR, occupancy is expected to increase 1.8% to 71.2%; average daily rate is expected to rise 4% to $116.44; and revenue per available room is predicted to increase 5.8% to $82.90 during June, July and August when compared to 2013.
“In general, we have a real positive outlook for summer,” said Matt Marquis, president of Pacifica Hotels, which owns and operates 25 boutique hotels in California along the coast, in addition to one in Hawaii and one in Florida. Marquis said one thing helping drive rates at his California coastal properties is the lack of supply entering the markets.
London-based EasyGroup Holdings, operator of low-fare air carrier EasyJet, intends to launch an initial public offering for EasyHotel, its budget hotel subsidiary. According to a filing with the London Stock Exchange, the offering could raise as much as £60 million ($100 million).
Founded in 2004, EasyHotel has 20 properties—two wholly owned, one leased and 17 franchised—in the United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. According to the filing, the company will use proceeds from the IPO to grow its owned-hotel portfolio throughout Europe.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of EasyGroup, said he intends to maintain a minority stake in the new company.
More than three-fourths of U.S. travel industry leaders said the state of the country’s transportation infrastructure puts the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage compared to other countries. In a survey conducted by the U.S. Travel Association, more than a quarter of the executives surveyed called it a “strong disadvantage.”
"It is imperative that Congress takes action to fix America's crumbling bridges and potholed roads so that the United States can once again be economically competitive on a global scale,” said Ray LaHood, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and co-chair of the Building America’s Future coalition, during a news conference Thursday. “Six of the world's busiest ports are now in China—and none are here in the U.S. America invented aviation, and now the U.S. ranks 18th in the world behind such countries as Barbados and Panama in the industry. It's shameful, and must be remedied."
The Highway Trust Fund, which states use to pay for improvements to the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure, is in danger of running out of money by August unless Congress takes action.
The hotel market in Yangon, Myanmar, is forecast to post record results in 2014, according to a report from JLL. In 2013, the market saw a 46% increase in international visitors and hotel occupancy at 80%, up from 45.8% in 2009.
Strong demand for hotel rooms, predominately driven by visitors from Thailand, Japan, China and Korea, is outpacing supply, with less than one-third of the city’s 9,163 hotel rooms fitting the criteria of “international standard,” according to the report.
More than 4,500 rooms—95% of which will be at international standards—are expected to enter the market in the next five years, more than doubling the city’s supply.
RLJ Lodging Trust acquired two hotels on the U.S. West Coast—the 256-room Courtyard by Marriott City Center in Portland, Oregon and the 293-unit Embassy Suites in Irvine, California—in an off-market transaction.
RLJ paid a combined $120 million, or approximately $219,000 per key, for the two properties, which represents a forward capitalization rate of 7.4% on the combined hotels’ projected 2015 net operating income, the company said in a news release.
With the addition of these two properties, RLJ owns 146 hotels.
Compiled by Ed Watkins.