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1. Markets React to UBS-Credit Suisse Deal
With UBS recently announcing plans to buy Credit Suisse in a deal put together by Swiss regulators, the Wall Street Journal reports markets "are absorbing the deal without too much panic." The newspaper pinned the 167-year-old bank's downfall on "the way it exited the last financial crisis flush with confidence" and its reliance on its "freewheeling investment bank."
The $3 billion UBS purchase will hopefully bring some stability to a financial sector rocked by a wave of recent bank failures, CoStar News reported over the weekend.
“This acquisition is attractive for UBS shareholders but, let us be clear, as far as Credit Suisse is concerned, this is an emergency rescue," UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said in a statement. "We have structured a transaction which will preserve the value left in the business while limiting our downside exposure."
Credit Suisse is tied to the largest recent U.S. hotel transaction, in which it is joint venture partner with Trinity Investments to buy The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida for a reported $835 million. When reached for comment, Trinity officials said they do not expect the Credit Suisse-UBS deal to affect the pending Diplomat acquisition.
2. LA Mayor Criticized For Homeless-in-Hotels Program
While Los Angeles' Inside Safe program is billed as a pathway for homeless people in the city to find a permanent way off the streets, critics now say the program's habit of moving participants around to different hotels seems to stymie that goal, the Los Angeles Times reports. The newspaper points to the example of 38-year-old Princeton Park, who was living in a tent on the west side of the city before moving into Hotel Silver Lake, which he noted at first made him feel like "I had a home."
"But that arrangement was upended last week when [LA Mayor Karen] Bass’ Inside Safe operation abruptly moved him and about 20 others to a hotel in downtown LA," the newspaper reports. "When that location didn’t work out, Parker was then sent to a third hotel in Hollywood. He has felt lonely and isolated since then."
Meggie Kelley, a volunteer for Fairfax Mutual Aid and advocate for homeless Angelenos told the newspaper that the program is failing people like Park.
“Moving them around from place to place is not offering them stability," she said. "It takes people away from the community they have.”
3. Mexican Hoteliers Optimistic About Nearshoring
The hope that more companies will move manufacturing back to North America — and more specifically Mexico — in order to guard against future supply-chain issues is spurring hope for a near-future business travel boom among the Mexican hotel industry.
Speaking at HVS' 2023 Mexico Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference, Delia Paredes, an economic professor from Universidad Anáhuac, said the phenomenon known as nearshoring "could be a game changer for Mexico."
"They want partners that are close and reliable and that are friends," she said.
Experts points to recent planned expansions by Tesla and BMW in Mexico as early signs of the trend.
4. Highgate Takes Over Delinquent San Francisco Hotel
The Huntington Hotel in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood has been taken over by Highgate after the property defaulted on a $56.2 million loan from Deutsche Bank in August, the Mercury News reports.
"Deutsche Bank scheduled several auctions whereby it might seize the hotel through foreclosure of the loan or sell the property to an outside bidder," the newspaper reports. "None of the auctions transpired, with the most recent public sale scheduled to occur on March 16. Instead of an auction, Deutsche Bank struck a deal to enable Highgate’s affiliate to assume ownership of the loan, effectively purchasing the mortgage on the Huntington Hotel."
5. Miami Beach Mayor: 'We Don't Want Spring Break in Our City'
After issuing a strict curfew for spring breakers in the wake of two separate deadly shootings and what city officials called "excessively large and unruly crowds," Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber left little question how he felt about the throngs of young travelers coming to his city for vacation, CBS News reports.
"We don't ask for spring break in our city. We don't want spring break in our city. It's too rowdy, it's too much disorder, and it's too difficult to police," Gelber said in a video message posted Sunday.