Geolo Capital, led by John Pritzker, will buy the 50% interest in Commune Hotels and Resorts owned by its joint venture partner, Thompson BP. In the deal, the Pomeranc family, owners of Thompson, gain ownership of five hotels, including 60 Thompson in New York. The family plans to create a hotel management and brand company and rebrand its properties, except for 60 Thompson.
Commune Hotels was formed in 2011 as a parent to Thompson and Joie de Vivre Hotels, which Pritzker owned. Earlier this year, the company announced the launch of Tommie Hotels, a value-conscious brand with the first two properties scheduled to open in 2015 in Manhattan.
Commune also announced a new executive team, which will be led by CEO Niki Leondakis, who joined the company last year. The appointments include Mike Blake, chief information officer; Phil Keb, executive VP, development; Rick Colangelo, executive VP, operations; Jorge Trevino, executive VP, brand operations; and Greg Smith, VP, people services.
In July, 74.1% of commercial mortgage-backed securities loans reaching their maturity dates were paid off, the highest percentage in nearly five years, according to the Trepp July Payoff Report. In December 2008, 84.9% of CMBS loans at maturity were paid, the last month at a higher level than July.
The payoff level in June was 58.5%, and the 12-month moving average is 61.5%.
In a news release, Trepp LLC said it is difficult to compare the July reading to numbers from 2012. In 2012, many of the loans reaching maturity were issued in 2007 with five-year balloons, while the majority of loans reaching maturity now were 10-year balloons that were originated in 2003.
Earnings season continues with four hotel companies releasing second-quarter results:
InterContinental Hotels Group: Global revenue per available room rose 4% in the second quarter and 3.7% in the first half of the year. The company’s strongest region was Asia, Middle East and Africa, which recorded second-quarter RevPAR growth of 6.8%, with Southeast Asia and Japan achieving high single-digit RevPARs. The company added 108 hotels and 15,000 rooms to the system in the first half of the year. IHG also announced the first two openings for its Even Hotels brand will be in 2014 in Rockville, Maryland, and Norwalk, Connecticut.
Sunstone Hotel Investors: Excluding results from four properties under renovation, RevPAR increased 3.3%, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margins improved 10 basis points to 33.1%. Renovations to the four hotels—two Hyatt hotels and one each of a Hilton and Renaissance—were completed in the second quarter.
Chatham Lodging Trust: RevPAR for 20 hotels owned during the entire second quarter rose 2.6%. Occupancy for those hotels slipped from 83.5% in the same quarter in 2012 to 83% this year, while average daily rate climbed 3.7% to $139.
Hospitality Properties Trust: Based on an increase in occupancy of 3.8 percentage points to 76.9%, RevPAR for comparable hotels rose 7.1%. ADR increased 1.8%. During the quarter, the real estate investment trust acquired hotels in Atlanta, New Orleans and Florham Park, New Jersey.
Global spending on business travel will rise 5.4% this year to $1.12 trillion, according to a new study from the Global Business Travel Association. Next year, business travel spending is forecast to rise 8.2%.
According to GBTA, developing countries in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions will fuel increases in business travel spending in the next few years. Spending in Asia-Pacific has grown 8% annually since 2000, and by 2016 China is expected to surpass the United States as the largest business travel market in the world.
Other growth markets are India, where spending is forecast to grow at a compound rate of 13.5% over the next five years; and Brazil, which should see a growth rate of 7.3% every year for the next five years.
Good service. Clean rooms. Comfortable beds. There are some components of a hotel stay that will never change. But with the march of time comes new needs and wants from guests that hoteliers must address to stay relevant, writes Hotel News Now’s Patrick Mayock.
These range from technology to design to new modes of communication—each of which can either prove a boon or burden to business, sources said.
“Guests’ needs are always evolving,” said Bill Duncan, global head of Homewood Suites by Hilton, which notched the highest satisfaction scores in the upper extended stay segment, according to J.D. Power’s “2013 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.”
Compiled by Ed Watkins.