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1. Eighth-strongest on record, Hurricane Melissa reaches Jamaica
Category 5 Hurricane Melissa has reached wind speeds of 175 miles per hour as it bears down on Jamaica, The New York Times reports. Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay was closed on Sunday and remains shut down. Authorities in both Jamaica and Cuba — where the hurricane is expected to go next — have ordered evacuations.
The barometric pressure of the front dropped to 901 millibars, which makes it the strongest hurricane in 2025, the eighth-strongest Western Hemisphere hurricane on record and a weather front stronger in intensity than Hurricane Katrina in 2025, according to The Washington Post. Al-Jazeera reports that Melissa has killed seven people, one in the Dominican Republic, three in Haiti and three in Jamaica.
2. Israel’s Dan Hotels acquires first US property
Israeli hotel owner-operator Dan Hotels has made its first acquisition in the U.S. with the $125 million purchase of hotel NoMo SoHo in New York City, according to legal firm Proskauer Rose, which advised on the deal. On Manhattan’s Crosby Street in the SoHo district, the hotel has 264 rooms, according to CoStar, giving the acquisition an approximate per-key value of $473,500.
CoStar added the seller is The Sapir Organization, which acquired the hotel in March 2015 for approximately $205 million. Dan Hotels now has 18 hotels, 16 in Israel and one in India.
3. Samhi to enter Mumbai with 700-room dual-branded hotel
India-based hotel owner and management firm Samhi Hotels has received planning permission to develop 700 rooms in a dual-branded hotel in Mumbai. The Hindu Business Line reports the hotels will be affiliated with Marriott International brands Westin Hotels & Resorts and Fairfield by Marriott.
The development, near to the city’s Navi Mumbai International Airport, will be Samhi’s first hotel in Mumbai in a portfolio of 34 hotels and 4,862 rooms. The newspaper added the first phase of the project will see 400 rooms, but it is not made clear whether one hotel will be opened before the other.
4. Pebblebrook launches new $150 million share buyback
U.S. real estate investment trust Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has announced a new $150 million share buyback scheme and the termination of its previous $400 million share buyback plan, according to Investing.com. When Pebblebrook announced that $400 million scheme in September 2024, CoStar News Hotels’ Bryan Wroten reported the funds would be used to “pay down its existing debt.”
CoStar News' Natalie Harms reported in August that stock buybacks have become commonplace for hotel REITs in the last year.
“Stock prices are down, sentiment is down, multiples are low, so cost of capital is elevated. The bid-ask spread for transactions is wide. Therefore, the management team is saying, ‘What do we do with our capital?’ And for the most part, these REITs are buying back stock,” Baird Senior Research Analyst Michael Bellisario said.
According to its website, Pebblebrook's owned portfolio includes 46 hotels and approximately 12,000 rooms.
5. US, global stock markets reach record highs
U.S. and global stock markets reached record highs on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper said fears over tariffs appear to be over as “from trade deals and foreign elections to merger announcements to corporate earnings, investors are finding plenty of reasons to be happy.”
All three major U.S. stock indexes reached new all-time highs, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining approximately 337 points, the S&P 500 adding 1.2% to its value and the Nasdaq Composite increasing 1.9%, “notching back-to-back gains greater than 1% for the first time since May.” In addition, the stock markets of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all reached new heights on Monday, and the “Shanghai composite closed at its highest level in more than 10 years,” the WSJ added.