The recovery of the hospitality industry in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has been among the slowest of the post-pandemic era in Europe, and some hoteliers are still scrambling to make ends meet.

In Latvia, 2023 proved quite challenging for hotels, said Andris Kalnins, president of Latvia’s Association of Hotels & Restaurants, noting bookings were about the same as those of 2019 but were offset by rising costs. Soaring energy prices, increased labor costs and higher prices for raw materials have resulted in hoteliers’ wallets being much thinner in the past year, Kalnins said.

Hotel News Now>>

Investment firm Qatari Diar is in talks to sign two famous restaurant names — Richard Caring’s Le Caprice and U.S.-based Carbone — for its luxury hotel and leisure redevelopment of the former U.S. Embassy building at 30 Grosvenor Square in London’s Mayfair area, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Qatari Diar started construction in 2021 on the planned £1 billion hotel, retail, restaurant and leisure destination, to be known as Chancery Rosewood. British architect Sir David Chipperfield’s plans for the building include 139 hotel rooms and suites, dining and entertainment venues, a ballroom for 1,000 guests, a Rosewood Spa and five retail spaces.

CoStar News>>

Germany posted 60 commercial property sales transactions of more than €50 million each during 2023 with a total deal volume of €8.7 billion. That was down 60% from the prior year, according to data compiled by Thomas Daily, a CoStar publication.

The biggest deal of 2023 was the approximately €1 billion purchase of a supermarket portfolio by Slate from X+Bricks. The second-biggest deal would have been the sale of a 50% stake in Berlin’s KaDeWe store by Signa to Central Group for about €700 million, but the proposed deal was never completed.

Thomas Daily>>

Prospective and completed deals could indicate renewed interest in the La Défense business district of Paris, where commercial investment has slumped in a challenging economic climate.

Less than €15 million was invested in the district during the past year, well below the 10-year average of €1.86 billion, according to brokerage Knight Frank. Deals completed during 2023 in the district or the immediate vicinity included the sale by Soremi and Stam Europe, a subsidiary of Corestate Capital Group, of 1,800 square meters of office space in the Ciel tower to a private real estate company, and the acquisition by Soremi of 6,000 square meters in the Franklin tower, owned by several investors.

Business Immo>>

About half the 335 locations of electronics retailer The Source are expected to close after the chain's parent company announced a deal with Best Buy Canada.

Bell Canada Enterprises and Best Buy Canada are teaming up with plans to operate 165 of the Source stores. They are set to be rebranded as Best Buy Express and sell consumer electronics and telecommunications products and services from Bell, Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile. About 170 Source stores are expected to close over the course of several months this year, with exact locations and timelines still to be determined.

CoStar News>>

Job cuts throughout the tech industry are adding another layer of uncertainty for a U.S. office market already contending with record-high vacancies.

Since the start of the year, a roster of companies such as Microsoft, eBay, Google, Instagram, Salesforce and Amazon have collectively passed out more than 24,000 pink slips in a bid to manage expenses and reallocate capital expenditure budgets. It comes as some tech firms say they are shifting their investment priorities to focus on artificial intelligence and changing the calculus on how they value office space, according to industry analysts.

CoStar News>> 

This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.