Read the latest hotel industry news from around the Americas region.

The supply of hotels affiliated with international brands across Latin America has historically been low but investors now have growing interest in conversions as more owners understand the importance of branding, according to executives speaking at the recent Hotel Opportunities Latin America conference.

"In the region, there's a lot of small, independent owner-operators that have their own brands, with 30 or 35 hotels. They always thought their brand was more important than an international brand," said Ricardo Mader Rodrigues, CEO of Colliers Market Intelligence and Advisory. "They see now the difference of how a strong brand [and] all the benefits they bring [can make a difference].

"We're seeing a lot of owners finally understanding the value of the brand," he said. "It's a great moment for franchising. It's a big change and I believe that the next few years are going to see an increase of brands in the region to franchise."

Real estate investment trust Host Hotels & Resorts purchased the fee simple interest in two Nashville hotels adjacent to each other for $530 million in cash. The two hotels are the 215-room 1 Hotel Nashville and 506-room Embassy Suites by Hilton Nashville Downtown.

"The newly built property has a prime location in Nashville, a top-performing market, which had an impressive revenue per available room compound annual growth rate of 7.7% from 2000 to 2023, even while absorbing new supply. … We expect the property will generate outsize growth as it stabilizes, enhancing the quality of our portfolio and driving additional value creation for our stockholders," Jim Risoleo, Host’s president and CEO, said in a news release.

In Host's first-quarter 2024 earnings call, Risoleo called Nashville the "market of the future. It's the No. 2 convention market in the United States behind Orlando."

In a pursuit to expand Hilton's luxury lifestyle hotel portfolio, the company acquired a majority stake in Sydell Group to expand Sydell's NoMad Hotels brand. Hilton projects that as many as 100 NoMad hotels will roll out across the world over time.

NoMad currently has two open and operating hotels: its NoMad London and NoMad Las Vegas. The Las Vegas hotel is excluded from the deal with Hilton and will be respositioned.

Hilton will be responsible for NoMad development while Sydell will spearhead design, branding and management of it. All NoMad hotels will be independently owned and rolled into Hilton's commercial platforms.

In the first few months of Craig Smith taking over as CEO of global-third party management company Aimbridge Hospitality, he's focused on meeting with hotel owners, brand representatives and corporate teams on what can be improved.

In an exclusive virtual fireside chat with Hotel News Now, Smith said some of the feedback he's heard is that the company isn't using its scale to its full advantage.

"We've got to think like a small, third-party management company and less like a large company," he said. "In other words, we use our scale for things that are important to us, but our [thinking] has to be like almost a small company that's really dedicated to each owner and each hotel."

• KSL Resorts named Greg Kennealey as CEO while he also continues to serve as CEO of Mission Hill Hospitality, which is the acquisition platform launched by parent company KSL Capital Partners.
  
• Sunstone Hotels Investors purchased the 630-room Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk for $230 million.
• DiamondRock Hospitality reorganized its leadership team, including naming Jeff Donnelly as CEO. He succeeds Mark Brugger, who had been CEO of the company for the past 20 years.
  
• The 4,000-room Venetian Resort in Las Vegas will undergo a $1.5 billion renovation. It will also include $188 million of enhancements to its convention center.
• Hotel Stratford San Francisco, which was built in 1910 and just underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation, will join Accor's Handwritten Collection. It will be the first Handwritten Collection hotel in the U.S.
• The 410-room Marriott dual-branded New Orleans Courtyard and SpringHill Suites sold for $73 million. Robert Guidry along with Guidry Land Partners and David Bansmer purchased the properties.
• The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort in Mexico completed a $45 million property-wide renovation in time for its 15th anniversary.
• Wyndham Alltra Samana, an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic, opened with 404 rooms.
  

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