Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management purchased Thayer Lodging Group, a hotel investment company. No acquisition price was announced.
Thayer will operate as a subsidiary of Brookfield under the leadership of President Bruce Wiles. Thayer co-founders Fred Malek and Leland Pillsbury will be co-chairmen and co-heads of global lodging for the new company and as senior advisors to Brookfield.
Since its founding in 1989, Thayer has completed 43 hotel investments with a total acquisition cost of approximately $2.5 billion. In 2010, Thayer and joint-venture partner Jin Jiang Group acquired Interstate Hotels & Resorts.
Marriott International has offered €130 million ($178 million) for the Hotel Ritz by Belmond Madrid in a deal that also would let the American hotel company use the name “Ritz” as a brand in Spain, according to Spanish-language news website Expansión.com.
The 167-key hotel, currently owned in partnership by Orient-Express Hotels Limited and Spanish businesswoman Alicia Koplowitz, 7th Marquise of Bellavista, and her company Omega Capital.
According to the story, Koplowitz and Belmond (then Orient-Express Hotels) paid about the same amount for the property when they bought it together in 2003.
Investment in the London hotel market increased 155% in the first quarter compared to the same period of 2013, according to JLL. Asian hotel investment in the city rose 33% compared to the fourth quarter of last year.
During the quarter, £527.8 million ($891.4 million) of hotel investment was consummated in London, up from £207.2 million ($349.9 million) in the first quarter of 2013.
Drivers of Asian investment include an increase in Chinese property developers placing money into real estate projects following a relaxation of restrictions imposed by its government on Chinese companies investing overseas, as well as a broadening of the types of funding allowed.
Internet searches for hotel rooms in Brazil during next month’s World Cup are up 700% year over year, according to hotel search website Trivago. Searches for hotels in the country are up 4% for dates before and after the tournament, which will be held 12 June to 13 July.
The largest increase came from Belgium (+1,456%), while interest from the United Kingdom increased by 555%. Travel interest from Italy increased 46%.
More than 60% of searches were for Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Cup final on 13 July. With 22% of searches, São Paulo is the second-most searched city.
The Middle East reported the strongest increases in hotel performance during the first quarter of 2014 in what proved to be a solid time of growth for most of the world, reports HNN’s Patrick Mayock. The same was true for development, although strong underlying fundamentals in the region will fuel growth for the foreseeable future, according to a presentation from STR Global’s Elizabeth Winkle during the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference.
“The really positive note is that across every region demand is outpacing supply,” she said. “The Middle East certainly leads the way with over 9% year-over-year demand increases even with the most significant supply increases.”
During the first three months of the year, the Middle East reported a supply increase of nearly 6%, above that of Asia (nearly +4%) and Central and South America (approximately +2.5%). If all the rooms in the region’s pipeline were to open, supply would increase 40%.
Compiled by Ed Watkins.