Park Hyatt

Lodging stocks were higher. SLNA topped the list with a 10% gain followed by AHT and VCSA, both up 6%. We start today’s newsletter on a sad note as many of you probably heard that Bruce White , the founder and chairman of White Lodging , passed away at the age of 70. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust gave a January operations update and include an update on 4Q preliminary results. Remember they roiled the Lodging REIT stocks when they preannounced weaker than expected 4Q results.

Equity investors were once again willing to give the Federal Reserve Board the benefit of the doubt on the 0.75% rate hike today but then Fed Chief Powell held a press conference and it got ugly pretty quickly. STR reported US lodging data for the week ended 9/17. US hotel RevPAR was up 30.6% year over year. RevPAR was up 12.7% versus the same week in 2019. A group of hotel franchisees has filed a lawsuit against IHG Hotels and Resorts , claiming a cyber attack on its booking system earlier this month cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue, according to various news sources.

Hyatt Hotels Corp announced plans for its continued growth in the Asia Pacific market. They unveiled a robust pipeline of landmark luxury and lifestyle hotels and resorts. CEL Australia has listed The Sebel Hotel Mandurah for sale as Western Australia reopens to the world post-pandemic. Andrew Tan’s flagship property firm Megaworld is opening a new Belmont Hotel within the 30-hectare Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

B.Riley maintained its Neutral rating on Ashford Hospitality but lowered its price target from $12 to $9. The Heard on the Street Column from the Wall Street Journal today focused on  business travel , a positive article on how it is back with the potential to be better than ever. A company called CorpHousing Group Inc., which is engaged in the short-term rental of hotel units to guests across major metropolitan cities in the US, priced an IPO of 3,375,000 shares.

Hong Kong announced plans to further ease its arrivals quarantine requirements . More than 50 luxury hotels are set to open in Jakarta and Bangkok within the next five years , highlighting the expectations of a strong economic recovery. Accor is teaming up with PT. Mega Hotel Lestari in introducing the first ibis Styles in Semarang in Indonesia .