Today’s financing environment for hotels looks quite a bit different than it did one year ago, according to a report from HotelNewsNow.com’s Shawn A. Turner.
Mortgage real-estate investment trusts, regional lenders and, yes, even commercial mortgage-backed securities lenders are becoming more active.
“A year ago, the markets were essentially closed,” said Mathew Comfort, executive VP with Jones Lang LaSalle Americas. “The only lenders lending were what you could call alternative lenders, (and mezzanine) lenders.”
He added, “The pool has broadened considerably.”
Finding a last-minute, deeply discounted hotel room might not be so easy this summer, reports HotelNewsNow.com’s Jason Q. Freed.
Hoteliers have realized actual demand increases and are confident in driving rate this summer, according to STR’s 2011 summer forecast, which predicts a 4.1% average daily rate increase for the summer months. The forecast—released today and which comprises June, July and August—predicts summer occupancy will increase 1.7% from summer 2010 to 66.7%, ADR will increase 4.1% to US$103.01, and revenue per available room will end the summer up almost 6% at US$68.68.
“No matter how dire things are, that vacation is something families plan for,” said Brad Garner, COO at STR, the parent company of HotelNewsNow.com. “The summer months are typically when the industry makes hay.”
Louvre Hôtels and Golden Tulip have formed Louvre Hotels Group. The new company manages a portfolio of seven brands with more than 1,000 hotels in 40 countries.
The new entity plans to open 80 hotels this year. Since January, 20 hotels have opened, including seven in France, four in India and three in Brazil.
Louvre intends to focus on “high-growth” countries such as India, Brazil, China, Ukraine and Morocco, with India being the priority in 2011.
Home prices in the United States are still down year-over year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday.
The 10-city composite is down 2.6% and the 20-city composite fell 3.3%, according to data through February. The 20-city composite, at 139.27, is essentially back to the low reached in April 2009.
Accor North America has announced its CEO, Olivier Poirot, will assume the additional responsibilities for the Novotel network in Canada and Accor’s operations in Mexico. Poirot already oversees Motel 6 and Studio6.
The additional duties undertaken by Poirot come with the departure of Accor Americas COO Michael Flaxman in June.
Compiled by Shawn A. Turner.
