Highgate announced it will acquire hotel brand Viceroy Hotels & Resorts for an undisclosed sum, adding Viceroy’s 11 hotels in operation and two under development to its portfolio.
Wynn Resorts announced the completion of a planned sale of land and other real estate assets at its Encore Boston Harbor resort casino for $1.7 billion in cash to Realty Income Corp. Wynn will continue to operate the Encore Boston Harbor five-star resort via a sale-leaseback arrangement with Realty Income, the San Diego real estate investment trust. The lease is valued at $100 million annually for a 30-year term. Rent at the property will escalate at a 1.75% annual rate for the first 10 years of the lease.
Blackstone Inc. has agreed to sell its 49.9% stake in two Las Vegas hotels in a deal that values the properties at $5.5 billion. The New York investment firm is selling its stake in the MGM Grand Las Vegas and the Mandalay Bay to Vici Properties Inc., which owns the other 50.1% stake in the properties. Blackstone would receive $1.27 billion in cash, and Vici would assume Blackstone’s share of some $3 billion in debt. The sale would bring a profit of more than $700 million for Blackstone in less than three years.
Airbnb Inc. is launching a listing service for rental apartments with some of the biggest landlords and property managers in the country. The new service will feature more than 175 buildings where short-term sublets are allowed. Landlords who partner with the new listing service will get a share of the total booking revenue from Airbnb sublets—20% in most cases.
Hyatt Hotel Corp. said it would acquire Dream Hotel Group’s lifestyle hotel brands, including Dream Hotels, The Chatwal Hotels, and Unscripted Hotels. Hyatt would spend $125 million for the Dream Hotel Group’s dozen open hotels, with more than 1,700 guest rooms worldwide.
San Francisco airport took first place in The Wall Street Journal’s first ranking of the country’s busiest airports since 2019. Atlanta and Minneapolis filled out the top three.
The cleaning fees that customers of Airbnb Inc. have long complained about will soon become more apparent early in searches for lodging. Starting in December, the company will allow guests to filter their search results by the total cost of the stay before taxes.
Year-to-date, rising interest rates, historic inflation and geopolitical volatility have so far had limited negative impact on the U.S. lodging industry’s performance, evidenced by YTD RevPAR surpassing 2019 levels by 6.4%.
Hyatt has been testing bookable personal gyms, most of them in a converted guest rooms, available by the hour. They are separate from the hotels’ regular fitness centers.
Marriott announced the debut of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, making its foray into the luxury yachting space.
