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1. Japan's Interest Rate Rises for First Time in 17 Years
Japan’s central bank increased its interest rate to 0.1%, the first time the rate has been increased in 17 years, Reuters reports.
The change to Japan’s long-held policy is a “historic shift away from its focus on reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus,” according to Reuters. The country is the last of the major world economies to move its interest rates out of negative territory.
2. Signa Creditors Forge Plan To Avoid Park Hyatt Vienna Sale
Creditors at Vienna-based real estate and retail group Signa have agreed to a plan to transfer assets held by its divisions Sigma Prime Selection and Signa Development Selection, which include the 146-room Park Hyatt Vienna, into receivership. Through this process, which Signa executives said will avoid a fire sale, assets will be sold within two to five years, Hotel News Now reports.
The Park Hyatt Vienna, which opened in June 2014, is considered one of Vienna’s finest hotels. Signa also owns in part the Andaz am Belvedere Vienna hotel through a joint venture with Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
CoStar News' Bert Erik ten Cate reports that “some creditors, including the state of Austria, preferred an insolvency procedure as they doubted there would be sufficient liquidity for a receivership procedure. Signa Prime creditors have filed €12.8 billion ($13.9 billion) of claims, Signa Development creditors €2.3 billion. With the receivership process, the insolvency administrator is aiming for a 30% recovery rate. This would have been significantly lower in the case of an insolvency with fire sales.”
3. What's Next for Choice, Wyndham After Takeover Fails
Following the failed takeover bid by Choice Hotels International of competitor Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, both companies have points to prove. Analysts said Choice needs to demonstrate a new path to growth to quell market concerns, while Wyndham officials must deliver on promises of better growth as a standalone company, writes Hotel News Now’s Sean McCracken.
C. Patrick Scholes, managing director of lodging and leisure equity research at Truist Securities, said that for Choice the market has been “highly competitive … and the challenge Choice has is while all their competitors have been introducing new brands, Choice hasn’t been doing that.” Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird, said one job Wyndham must focus on is the “need to prove that their stock is as undervalued as they said it was.”
4. Europe Hotel Metrics Improve
Europe's hotel industry posted year-over-year increases in all three key performance metrics in February, according to data from CoStar. For the month across the continent, occupancy increased 2.7% to 62.7%, average daily rate increased 3.1% to €124.13 ($134.84) and revenue per available room was up 5.9% to €77.88.
The European region that showed the most growth over the same period was Southern Europe, which posted an occupancy rise of 5.4% to 63.2%, an ADR rise of 4.8% to €131.78 and a RevPAR rise of 10.4% to €83.33. No region in Europe showed a decline in any of the three metrics for the month.
5. Czech Republic’s Palasino Hotel Firm To Go Public
Czech Republic-based hotel and casino firm Palasino Group, which was acquired by Hong Kong-based Far East Consortium in 2018, will be spun off and launched with an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to Hong Kong newspaper The Standard. It said Palasino opened its retail books on the exchange on March 18 and hopes to raise $372 million Hong Kong dollars ($47.5 million).
Palasino has one hotel and three casinos in the Czech Republic, three hotels in Germany and one in Austria. Far East also is the parent company of Dorsett Hotels.