Portfolio of 10 UK hotels selling for £130m: A portfolio of 10 U.K. hotel properties, including some historic properties, is up for sale for a total price of £130 million ($184.4 million), according to the Harrogate Advertiser.
The English properties for sale are The Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, The Old Ship Hotel in Brighton, the Redworth Hall Hotel in County Durham, The Imperial Hotel in Torquay, The Billesley Manor Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon, The Imperial Hotel in Blackpool and The Shrigley Hall Hotel, Golf and Country Club in Macclesfield. The Scottish and Welsh properties in the portfolio include the Stirling Highland Hotel in Stirling, The Aberdeen Altens Hotel in Aberdeen and The Angel Hotel in Cardiff. They are being represented by agents of Savills and Rothschild.
The hotels comprise 1,433 guestrooms and 111 meeting rooms, the newspaper reports. The portfolio had combined total revenue of £48 million ($68.1 million) in 2015.
New debt surge fueling Chinese economic recovery: Factory activity, investment and household spending in China are seeing a boost thanks to new debt in the country, Reuters reports.
Although the recovery is good news at the moment, the news agency reports, economists are concerned that this is a repeat from the recent financial crisis when the Chinese government used massive stimulus rather than structural reform to help the economy. The country’s gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.7% during first quarter, which was a decrease from 2015’s fourth quarter 6.8% rate.
“Today’s released data ought not to distract from the fact that the structural issues facing China’s economy remain unresolved,” wrote Economist Intelligence Unit economist Tom Rafferty in a research note. “It has taken considerable monetary and fiscal policy loosening to stabilize economic growth at this level and this effort has distracted from the reform agenda that is fundamental to long-term economic sustainability.”
Turkish hotels suffer amid economic, security issues: Recent terrorism, tension with Russia and the Syrian refugee crisis are all weighing heavily on the Turkish hotel industry, HNN’s Terence Baker reports.
Tourism dropped following the 12 January bombing in Istanbul that killed 12 tourists. Economists in the country expect Turkey will lose about $8 billion in tourism revenue, Baker reports.
Istanbul’s occupancy decreased 21.4% to 47.5% year over year in February, according to data from HNN’s parent company STR. In the past year and a half, Baker reports, the city’s monthly occupancy peaked in August 2015 at 76.2%, but continually decreased month after month. Occupancy first dropped below 50% in January 2016 to 48.9%.
Oil prices drop ahead of production meeting: The price of oil dropped early Friday amid growing doubt that petroleum-producing countries will reach an agreement to slow or freeze output at a meeting this weekend, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Brent crude dropped 3.1% to $42. 48 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange, the newspaper reports.
“Our expectations for the meeting are low. Although an agreement on production caps is likely to be reached, it will probably not include any concrete figures or obligations, let alone any sanctions to be imposed in the event of non-compliance,” analysts at Commerzbank told the newspaper. “In other words, the meeting will do nothing to change the current situation on the oil market.”
New Zealand hotel bans cyclists’ Lycra shorts: The Plough Hotel in Rangiora, New Zealand has banned Lycra shorts often worn by cyclists from its property because of the “unsightly bumps and bulges” the material reveals, The Guardian reports.
Hotel co-owner Mike Saunders told the newspaper that he wanted to create an old-fashioned, family friendly atmosphere.
“I am not against Lycra in general, just Lycra shorts. A lot of our customers are elderly or children and they don’t need to know that much detail about the shape of somebody,” he told the Guardian.
Compiled by Bryan Wroten.