(Corrected on July 27 to indicate 100 hotels in New York City remain closed in the 11th paragraph.)
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1. Joint Venture Acquires 11 Travelodge Hotels for $620 Million
A new hospitality joint real estate venture between Melbourne-based Salter Brothers, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Switzerland-headquartered Partners Group has acquired 11 Travelodge hotels for $620 million, Business News Australia reports.
The 11 hotels in the portfolio, comprising 2,032 rooms in the midscale segment, are located across Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Newcastle.
The hotels will operate under different brands post-settlement and after an operator selection process.
"The transaction enables us to capitalize on the evolving hospitality sector in Australia, positioning for growth and adding value to the portfolio via targeted capital expenditure and rebranding where appropriate," Salter Brothers Managing Director Paul Salter told the news outlet.
2. Legal Implications of Long-Term Hotel Guests
When long-term guests become tenants and hotels become landlords, hoteliers can run into several legal quandaries, HNN's Bryan Wroten reports.
Tenants have more legal protections, which can make it more difficult to remove guests who have outstayed their welcome.
These laws haven't changed much over the years, but during the pandemic, more hotels may have had to consider tenancy laws than before, said Dana Kravetz, firm managing partner at Michelman & Robinson.
“If there’s an issue relative to payments, then it becomes that much more difficult to get the eviction that you need to do to pursue an unlawful detainer process,” he said.
3. NYC Hotel Room Demand Highest Since Start of Pandemic
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said demand for hotel rooms hit its highest since the start of the pandemic last week, but analysts say hard times for the city are far from over, Bloomberg reports.
Hotels in NYC sold more than 481,000 room nights last week, which is a 17,000 increase from the week before. The city has a weekly goal of 500,000 room nights sold.
Anne Purcell, director of hospitality and market analytics for the northeast at CoStar, told the news outlet that the New York City hotel industry remains depressed, with 100 properties closed.
While the occupancy rate was 63% in June for hotels that are open, it was about 50% for the city’s hotel room inventory. The average occupancy rate was about 90% in the summers of 2018 and 2019, according to the news outlet.
4. EU Gives Google Two Months To Improve Flight, Hotel Search Results
The European Commission and European consumer authorities told Google on Monday that it has two months to improve how it displays internet search results for flights and hotels and explain how these are ranked "or face possible sanctions," Reuters reports.
Google has faced scrutiny from antitrust enforcers in the past and has been met with fines, and this latest concern is over pricing on Google Flights and Google Hotels.
The EU executive and national consumer watchdogs, led by the Dutch agency and the Belgian Directorate General for Economic Inspection, said in a joint statement that Google's "final prices for these should include fees or taxes that can be calculated in advance, while reference prices used to calculate promoted discounts should be clearly identifiable," according to the news outlet.
5. Madison Hotels Full for CrossFit Games
Hotels in Madison, Wisconsin, are full this week for the NOBULL CrossFit Games, which has more than 600 athletes competing, WKOW-TV reports.
Eric Lund, owner of Clarion Suites At The Alliant Energy Center, which is connected to the center where the event is being held, told the news outlet his property is full.
"[CrossFit] brings in millions and millions of dollars to the area, and it's just wonderful to see it getting back to some more normal times," he said.