Editor's Note: Some linked articles may be behind subscription paywalls.
1. Atom Hoteles Acquires Two Luxury Barcelona Hotels
Madrid-based hotel owner GMA Corporate, via its publicly listed real estate investment trust, Atom Hoteles Socimi S.A., has acquired two luxury hotels in Spain for “an initial investment of €50 million ($54.4 million)” according to a Spanish-language news release issued by the company. The two hotels are both in Barcelona: the 75-room Hotel Miramar and the 70-room Gran Hotel La Florida.
Atom now owns a portfolio of 30 hotels and 6,858 rooms.
The Miramar was built originally as a restaurant for the 129 Universal Exhibition and housed between 1959 and 1983 a studio of Spain’s state-owned TV station RTVE. The Gran Hotel La Florida has a more storied history, having been built as a hotel in 1924 and hosted such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway and James Stewart. Last year, Bruce Springsteen, President Barack Obama, along with his wife Michelle Obama, and Steven Spielberg all stayed at the hotel to attend a Barcelona concert by Springsteen.
The hotels will undergo a management change as part of the sale. Sunset Hospitality Group will now manage the Miramar, while Hyatt Hotels Corp. will manage the Gran Hotel La Florida.
2. Consumer Spending Plummets in the UK
Retail sales volumes in the United Kingdom fell by 3.2% in December after a 1.4% increase the month before, Reuters reports, citing the government’s Office for National Statistics. ONS hinted customers searched for bargains and other deals on Black Friday and in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Non-food store sales volumes fell by 3.9% in the same period.
Heather Bovill, the ONS’ deputy director for surveys and economic indicators, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that “the longer-term picture remains subdued, with quarterly sales dipping, while annual sales volumes fell for the second consecutive year, to their lowest level in five years.”
3. Los Angeles’ New Affordable Housing Law Might Deter Hotel Developers
A new law passed in December in Los Angeles might further deter hotel developers from pursuing projects in the city, Hotel News Now's Bryan Wroten reports. The law requires real estate developers to replace affordable housing that has been displaced by new hotel developments. The new ordinance also created a voluntary registry for hotels to notify the city about vacant rooms available as interim housing.
The prospect of having to replace housing that is demolished or converted for hotel use is expected to be a deterrent to developers, whose interest in building in Los Angeles was already low, Wroten writes. Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, a real estate brokerage that focuses on California hotel deals, said: “When we’re talking about the city of Los Angeles, [development interest] was already down to zero, and now this is minus.”
4. US, Canada Hotels Post Mixed Results in Mid-January
U.S. hotel performance data for the week ending Jan. 13 showed rises in both average daily rate and revenue per available room. ADR increased 6.3% year over year to $153.84 and RevPAR increased 3.3% to $81.96, but occupancy fell 2.8% to 53.3%, according to CoStar hospitality data. Of the top 25 markets, Las Vegas posted the highest year-over-year RevPAR lift, up 128.8% to $226.34. Atlanta hotels, meanwhile, posted a 31.1% RevPAR decline to $64.34.
Results for the Canadian hotel industry were more subdued for the same week. Canadian hotel occupancy decreased 4.6% to 46.3%, while RevPAR decreased 1.8% to 77.80 Canadian dollars ($57.64). ADR did increase, up 3% to CA$167.90.
5. UK Finance Leader Hints at Spring Tax Cuts
During a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jeremy Hunt, the United Kingdom's chancellor of the exchequer, hinted that he might instigate tax cuts in the U.K.'s Spring Budget which is due on March 6, the BBC reports.
The “direction of travel” indicates that the economies of countries in North America and Asia are growing faster than the U.K., and this is due to lower taxes, Hunt said.
“I believe fundamentally that low-tax economies are more dynamic, more competitive and generate more money for public services like the [National Health Service],” Hunt said.
The BBC added, though, that “currently, the overall tax burden [in the U.K.] is on course to rise to the highest level for decades as households are pushed into higher income tax brackets as a result of tax thresholds remaining the same levels for more than two years.” There likely will be a general election held in the U.K. this year, although technically the ruling Conservative Party has until Jan. 28, 2025, to stage it.