Great Wolf Resorts may have a bidding war on its hands. KSL Capital Partners on Sunday submitted a proposal to acquire the Madison, Wisconsin-based family of indoor water park resorts for $7 per share in cash, subject to certain conditions. This comes two days after original bidder Apollo Global Management offered $6.75 per share.
Based on Great Wolf's 32.91 million outstanding shares, KSL's bid is now worth approximately $230.4 million.
This represents the second round of bids. Apollo set the wheels in motion 13 March with a proposed bid of $5 per share, which KSL outbid 4 April at $6.25.
Group travel spending increased nearly 8% during 2011 and is expected to continue to rise during 2012, according to the Global Business Travel Association. But despite a much-maligned Vegas retreat enjoyed by the folks over at the U.S. General Services Administration, don’t expect a return to the status quo.
“No one is really looking at resuming pre-recession extravagance. There’s a balance,” the GBTA’s Senior Director of Research Joseph Bates told Forbes.
The uptick in corporate travel is being felt in destinations from Las Vegas to The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to The St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, California, which played host to the now infamous AIG corporate boondoggle that sparked a wave of public backlash.
Booking windows continue to lengthen, shifting direction in 2011 and steadily increasing on both the business and leisure sides through the first quarter of 2012, according to data from Pegasus Solutions, reports HotelNewsNow.com’s Jason Q. Freed.
In North America, the average lead time for leisure travelers is approaching pre-recession levels; globally, leisure lead times are meeting and exceeding pre-recession levels.
Most notably, average reservation lead time for business travelers in North America—which almost always trails the rest of the world—has surpassed international numbers and pre-recession levels. The average lead time for North American business travelers in February 2012 was 22.99 days while lead time for the rest of world was 21.4 days. In February 2007 it was 19.38 days.
Hotels in Dubai reported a 2% decrease in revenue per available room during February 2012 compared to the same period last year, reports Emirates 24|7. Occupancy in the region dropped 4.3 percentage points while average daily rate was up 2.9% to $312.40 (1,146 dirham).
A marginal growth in the non-room revenues appears to have helped the hotels limit the drop in total revenues per available room, which decreased marginally by 0.2%, reported the outlet, citing data from TRI Hospitality Consulting.
On the bottom line, Dubai hotels posted a marginal growth of 0.9% for the month compared to the same period last year, achieving a gross operating profit per available room of $299.96 (1,200 dirham).
Direct employment in the U.S. travel industry rose by 6,000 during March to approximately 7.6 million, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Since February 2011, travel employment has increased by 131,300.
The increase comes on the heels of a positive jobs report for the U.S. economy in general. The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell to a four-year low during the week ending 31 March, reported the U.S. Department of Labor.
Compiled by Patrick Mayock.
