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

Hilton reached a deal with AJ Capital Partners to acquire all rights to the Graduate Hotels brand worldwide for $210 million, HNN's Trevor Simpson reports. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

Through the deal, Hilton will enter into a long-term franchise agreements for all existing and signed hotels in Graduate's pipeline to operate them under Hilton's lifestyle portfolio, though AJ Capital will still be the owner of the more than 35 operating and signed Graduate hotels.

Each Graduate hotel is positioned in a college or university town.

Following months of pursuing a takeover of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, executives of Choice Hotels International put an end to the chase in March as they concluded that shareholder response to an exchange offer would not be successful. Choice also withdrew its candidates for Wyndham's board of directors, HNN's Sean McCracken reported.

Choice first took its pursuit of Wyndham public in October 2023 with an offer of $7.8 billion in cash and stock and $2 billion in debt assumption. After no bite from Wyndham, Choice took the takeover bid hostile with an exchange offer of $90 a share in combined cash and stock for all available Wyndham shares.

Travel demand is back and so are the bills due for hotel owners who delayed required brand renovations, HNN contributor Danny King reports.

“Everybody played very nicely in the sandbox during COVID, whether it was lenders, brands or investors, because it was nobody’s fault. Those days are over,” said Daniel Lesser, president and CEO of New York-based LW Hospitality Advisors. “The pressure to get any deferred PIPs done will ratchet up as time goes on.”

Hotel owners are being asked to foot the bill for "soft goods" such as bedding, carpeting, wall art and window treatment as well as improvements in food-and-beverage operations, banquet facilities and technology.

“Generally, it’s the traditional things like making sure your guestrooms are new and fresh, and updating finishings,” said Steve Schrope, senior director at CBRE. “The technology is always changing, like making sure the guestroom locksets are fully up to date and can support touchless check-in. What’s also on the list now is making sure your Wi-Fi network is robust enough to handle multiple devices per room.”

Wall Street investors that acquire hotels have held off a bit the past few years in executing new deals, but more hotel transactions activity coming to the table is spurring conversations around deal-making.

For example, investment management company Blackstone hasn't purchased a hotel since 2022. But that's not because of lack of conviction in the hospitality space or lack effort, said Scott Trebilco, senior managing director of Blackstone, during a panel at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference.

"We've bid and looked at hundreds of deals over that time period. It's really the cost of capital challenge for us," Trebilco said. "I would say it's two elements for us, it's an absolute cost of capital issue and it's a relative cost of capital issue."

Trebilco is more optimistic about opportunities for deals as cost of capital is coming down.

• Apple Hospitality REIT purchased the 234-room AC Hotel by Marriott Washington DC Convention Center for roughly $116.8 million or $499,000 per key. The seller was Douglas Development Corp.
• The 154-room Hampton Inn & Suites National Harbor/Alexandria Area has sold for $47 million or $305,195 per room. Sak Harbor Developers was the buyer and BRE Hotels & Resorts was the seller.
• The 127-room Hyatt Place Pittsburgh Airport/Robinson Mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, sold for $7.7 million or $60,630 per room. The seller was unnamed; the buyer was ARA Asset Management Limited.
• AHLA's Chip Rogers resigned as president. AHLA Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Carey has taken on the role in an interim capacity.
• The Knoll Hotel Napa Valley, Tapestry Collection by Hilton opened with a rebranding and design refresh. It has 90 guestrooms, an outdoor terrace and hot tub, fitness center, roughly 1,600 square feet of event space and on-site electric vehicle charging stations.
• The Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., completed a multimillion-dollar renovation, updating the interiors of its 559 guestrooms as well as corridors. The hotel is owned by Ashford Hospitality and managed by Hilton.
• A 390-room InterContinental San Antonio Riverwalk is under development in San Antonio, Texas, and anticipated to open summer 2024. It is owned by Trailbreak Partners in conjunction with Scarlett Hotel Group.
• Jim Gissy has been appointed CEO of Westgate Resorts.
  
• Concord Hospitality opened the 348-room Westin Atlanta Gwinnet Hotel in Gas South District of the metro Atlanta area, with easy access to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
• LBA Hospitality opened the Residence Inn Galveston Island near Galveston Beach.
• Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines opened with 301 rooms across 50 acres.
• Hyatt Hotels Corp. opened its adults-only Hyatt Vivid Grand Island in Cancun, Mexico, with suites ranging from 570 square feet to more than 3,000 square feet.

Read more news on Hotel News Now.