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1. Catastrophic flooding hits Valencia region of Spain
The southeast Spanish province of Valencia has been hit by some of the worst flooding it has ever seen. Reuters reports more than 60 people have died. Heavy rain and hail across the region caused the state weather agency, the Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), to declare a red alert in the province. Some areas such as Turis and Utiel saw 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rainfall Tuesday.
The flooding did not affect the city of Valencia, Spain's third-largest city, but AEMET now has announced new warnings for province of Castellón, and the Balearic Islands as the rains head north and east into the Mediterranean Sea. The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has said “Europe is ready to help,” according to the BBC.
2. Reuben Brothers acquires W South Beach for $400 million
Investment company Reuben Brothers has acquired the 348-room W South Beach in Miami for $400 million. In a press release, the firm said they seller was Tricap and RFR.
The London-based firm likes Southern Florida. In 2022, Reuben Brothers bought the former Chesterfield Hotel in Palm Beach, which is due to open early next year as the Vineta, and it has a stake in the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa.
3. US Travel praises improvement in US visa processing
The U.S. Travel Association has welcomed the improvement in the U.S. government’s processing of visas. The organization said the U.S. “will be a more competitive destination by adding 1 million visa appointments that will enable visa wait times of 90 days for the vast majority of visitors.”
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “on the visa side, in 2024, in fiscal year 2024, [the U.S.] issued 11.5 million visas, and that’s a world record for us. … Of these 8.5 million were visitor visas. That’s a 10% increase over the previous year. Wait times to get visas are down, down by nearly 60%.”
U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman said the reduction in wait times for visitor visas is needed especially before major events in the coming years such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which the U.S. is hosting along with Canada and Mexico.
4. Italy's hotel investors assess risk as transactions pace picks up
Hotel investors have returned their attention to Italy, but they are being very choosy about where they park their capital as they assess risks. Companies and investors active in Italy for years are looking to be aggressive now before outside investors catch on, writes Hotel News Now’s Terence Baker.
“Italy has always been one of the most touristic counties, but it is interesting we are now only starting to see upside. We have five hotels in Italy. Destinations are getting 10%, 12% more arrivals from last year, but Italy does not have the equivalent supply,” said Grazi Painelli, managing director of Limestone Capital, at the recent Italian Hotel Investment Conference.
5. Extended-stay US hotel performance down but better than other segments
In September, extended-stay hotels in the U.S. reported average daily rate growth was behind the industry average and the segment's decline in revenue per available room decline — its first since March — was fractionally greater than the total hotel industry.
“September was a mixed month for extended-stay hotels as demand growth lagged the change in supply and the increase in ADR was not enough to stop RevPAR contracting for the first time in six months,” said Mark Skinner, partner at The Highland Group.
Earlier this week, Hotel News Now published a podcast with Daniel Johansson, director of development and acquisitions at Cheval Collection, on the extended-stay landscape in Europe.