KELLER, TEXAS — The City of Keller, located north of Fort Worth, conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday afternoon for the opening of a new 110-room Hampton by Hilton hotel. The property is located at 200 Town Center Lane and offers a 24-hour business center and 1,200 square feet of meeting and event space. Hotel Equities will manage the property.
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has agreed to sell Union Station Hotel, a 125-room hotel in downtown Nashville, for $56 million. The hotel is part of Marriott’s Autograph collection. The historic property is situated at 1001 Broadway in a former railroad terminal that opened in 1900. Amenities at the property include a restaurant and bar, fitness center, business center, valet parking and meeting and event space. Pebblebrook expects the sale to close in the third quarter of this year. The hotel opened in 1986 and became a member of Historic Hotels of America in 2015. Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the nonprofit organization National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing historic hotels. The buyer was not disclosed.
WACO, TEXAS — Developer Heritage Hospitality Group is underway on construction of a 104-room Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in Waco. The four-story property, which is expected to open in mid-July, will feature a sport court, outdoor pool, fitness center and meeting rooms. Atlanta-based Hospitality Ventures Management Group will manage the hotel.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) has released what it called a “Roadmap to Recovery” for the hotel sector in the United States. In the document, AHLA notes that the April jobs report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says the hotel industry was hit the hardest of any sector tracked, losing 7.7 million jobs. The AHLA wrote a letter on behalf of its members to the U.S. Congress urging it to prioritize hotel workers and small businesses during the next stimulus package and to provide immediate assistance in four areas: help hotels retain and rehire employees by extending the Paycheck Protection Program, (PPP) offering employees direct tuition assistance or tax credits and expanding the Employee Retention Credit; protect employees and guests through tax credits for cleaning equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE); keep hotel doors open by providing relief for hotel commercial mortgages and increasing the size and flexibility of PPP loans; and incentivize Americans to travel again when it’s safe with a new, temporary travel tax credit and restoring the entertainment business expense deduction. “The hospitality industry is in a fight for survival,” says Chip Rogers, president and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based …
FRISCO, TEXAS — Locally based developer Sam Moon Group will open the Hyatt Regency Frisco, a 303-room luxury hotel located at the intersection of Preston Road and the Sam Rayburn Tollway in Frisco on June 1. Construction began in May 2018. The 18-story hotel is connected to Stonebriar Mall, a 1.7 million-square-foot shopping and dining destination. Brookfield Properties owns the mall, with Nordstrom and Dillard’s as anchor tenants. A number of entertainment concepts such as Kidzania, Dave & Buster’s and iFly Dallas indoor skydiving are also located near the hotel. In addition, seven sports teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, Frisco RoughRiders (baseball) and FC Dallas (soccer) are located within a few miles of the property. “Frisco is a modern city brimming with attractions, and the new Hyatt Regency Frisco will reflect this contemporary mindset,” says developer Daniel Moon. “This bustling city was once a dusty cattle drive trail that was later transformed by the railroad through the North Texas plains, and now it’s a tourist destination renowned for shopping, stadiums, conventions and entertainment. Our hotel will celebrate the spirit of this vibrant community.” Amenities at the hotel include a 27,500-square-foot conference center, lobby bar, two restaurants and an outdoor pool. HKS …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) has released its “Stay Safe” cleaning standards initiative. AHLA rolled out the guidelines to aid hotel chains that are reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Washington, D.C.-based organization created the standards with help from an advisory council comprising industry leaders and public health experts. The initiative encourages the use of cleaning products that have a concentration of bacteria-killing ingredients, in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Participating hotel chains will also train staff on safety and sanitation in regard to COVID-19. “Safe Stay was developed specifically to ensure enhanced safety for hotels guests and employees,” says Chip Rogers, president and CEO of AHLA. “While hotels have always employed demanding cleaning standards, this new initiative will ensure greater transparency and confidence throughout the entire hotel experience.” In April, Hilton Hotels and Marriott International unveiled their own protocols for enhancing guest and employee safety.
COLONIAL HEIGHTS, VA. — Extended Stay America Inc. has opened Extended Stay America-Colonial Heights, a 92-room hotel in Colonial Heights. Each room features kitchens with full-size refrigerators, microwave ovens, cooktops, platform beds with storage space beneath, recliners and high-speed Wi-Fi. Amenities include a fitness center, laundry room and a lobby. Kara Hospitality is managing the property. The new building is located at 441 Charles H Dimmock Parkway, 23 miles south of downtown Richmond.
DALLAS — Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT) announced this weekend that it will return all funds from loans it received from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), citing recently changed rules that would have put the Dallas-based company at compliance risk. Ashford, whose portfolio includes some 120 U.S. hotels totaling nearly 25,000 rooms, has also made a change in leadership, replacing CEO Douglas Kessler with J. Robison Hays III as the company’s new president and top executive effective May 14. According to The Dallas Morning News (DMN), Ashford originally applied for $126 million in PPP loans, seeking relief for each hotel with 500 or fewer employees. Per the DMN, the company originally said that it had laid off or furloughed 90 percent of its workforce and would be using the funds to help get those employees back to work. The PPP was established as part of the CARES Act to provide relief to owner-operators amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
EAST TROY, WIS. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $2.7 million sale of the Quality Inn & Suites in East Troy, about 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee. Built in 1999, the 51-room hotel is located at 2921 O’Leary Lane. The property spans 38,660 square feet. Ebrahim Valliani, John Yurich, Allan Miller and Chris Gomes of Marcus & Millichap’s Chicago Oak Brook office marketed the hotel on behalf of the seller, a private investor. The team also secured and represented the buyer, a private investor. Todd Lindblom assisted on the transaction as the broker of record in Marcus & Millichap’s Wisconsin office.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) sent a letter to the U.S. Congress on Monday requesting more funds for small business hotels across the country. According to a report from AHLA, small business hotels won’t be able to bring back laid off employees or prevent further layoffs with the current funds offered by the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Small Business Association (SBA) initiative established by the CARES Act. The PPP funds cover 47 percent of a hotel’s operating costs, the AHLA says in the letter. The Washington, D.C.-based organization also reports 61 percent of U.S. hotels, approximately 33,000 properties — are defined as small businesses. The letter was signed by more than 13,000 hotel owners. AHLA projects that 2020 hotel occupancy will go as low as 38 percent, the lowest figure since the Great Depression. Furthermore, the report finds that hotel staff nationwide has been cut by 70 percent since mid-March. AHLA states even after recovery begins, the hotel sector will not generate significant revenue to cover costs, given that hotel occupancy is not projected to return to pre-crisis levels before 2021 and revenue won’t return to pre-crisis levels until 2022.