Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s Frits van Paasschen reflected on his month-long stay in China over breakfast in Shanghai with HotelNewsNow.com’s Stacey Higgins recently.
The trip wasn’t necessarily about signing deals, van Paasschen said.
“There’s an accumulation of interest and goodwill that we have here that begets more momentum and I think our presence here adds to that, but I don’t think I could say to you this hotel or that plan emerged precisely because we were here,” he said. “And I didn’t come here with that objective either.”
STR Global’s June global pipeline update continues today with data from the Central/South America and Caribbean/Mexico regions.
Caribbean/Mexico: The Central/South America hotel development pipeline comprises169 hotels totaling 27,676 rooms, according to the June 2011 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.
Among the chain scale segments, the upscale segment accounted for the largest portion of rooms in the total active pipeline with 26% and 7,193 rooms. Three other segments each made up more than 10% of rooms in the total active pipeline: the midscale segment (25.2% with 6,963 rooms); the upper-upscale segment (22.7% with 6,294 rooms); and the upper-midscale segment (12.1% with 3,348 rooms). The economy segment made up the smallest portion of rooms in the pipeline with 3.8% and 1,062 rooms.
Central/South America: The Caribbean/Mexico hotel development pipeline comprises 130 hotels totaling 19,582 rooms, according to the June 2011 STR Construction Pipeline Report.
Among the countries in the region, Mexico ended the month with the largest number of rooms in the total active pipeline with 12,091 rooms. More than 50% of Mexico’s rooms in the total active pipeline are in the In Construction phase (6,525 rooms). Other countries to report a significant number of rooms in the total active pipeline include: the Bahamas (1,604 rooms); the Dominican Republic (1,603 rooms); Jamaica (860 rooms); and Puerto Rico (650 rooms).
Strong revenue-per-available-room growth helped Accor’s upscale and economy hotels during the second quarter, HotelNewsNow.com’s Higgins reports.
Total revenue reported for the first half of 2011 was €2.97 billion (US$4.2 billion) and for the second quarter was €1.62 billion (US$2.29 billion). There was a 6.1% like-for-like increase in revenue in the second quarter, which was a good growth rate considering the recovery started to materialize in Q2 2010.
The company said during a second-quarter earnings call Tuesday that it opened 13,700 rooms during the first half and is on track to open 30,000 rooms this year.
Extended-stay hotels saw mixed results during the most recent recession, according to an analysis by PKF Hospitality Research’s Robert Mandelbaum in a report.
The segment saw less of a decline in RevPAR, dropping 18.5% compared to 19.5% for all property types. Meanwhile, occupancy fell by a relatively greater amount than other hotels during the recession while average daily rate did not fall off by as much during the two-year downturn.
“Frequently during industry recessions, extended-stay hotels solicit transient demand more aggressively. This will lower occupancy levels, but helps to bolster ADR,” Mandelbaum said in his report.
A group of Japanese investors bought the 51-room Lotus at Diamond Head hotel in Honolulu for US$18.5 million, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The seller of the hotel, Unity House, acquired it in December 2009 for US$8.5 million. The sale allows for the pay off of a US$6 million debt on the hotel.
The Japanese group intends to renovate and rebrand the hotel. It’s not yet decided who will manage the hotel or how much renovations will cost.
Compiled by Shawn A. Turner.
