This year’s Super Bowl pushed revenue per available room to $419, the second-highest level for a Super Bowl weekend on record.
The Diplomat Sale
A joint venture between Credit Suisse Asset Management and Trinity Real Estate Investments have acquired The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla. The 1,000-room resort sold for $835 million, the third largest single-asset hotel sale ever in U.S. history,
Brand Conversions
Lodging executives and owners said conversions have been a key driver of growth coming out of the pandemic since lenders are reluctant to finance new hotels.
Hotel Development
There were roughly 612,000 hotel rooms in the active development pipeline at the end of last year, down 2.6% from the year before and 6.1% lower than in 2019. The number of projects entering the pipeline is also falling: About 15.6% fewer rooms were in the planning phase at the end of 2022 compared with a year prior.
Home Mortgages
The average 30-year home loan rate has come down by just about a full percentage point from a 20-year high above 7% in November with mortgage applications up by about a quarter since the end of last year.
GOP Margins
Despite strong RevPAR growth, GOP margins have declined for the sixth straight month due to the reopening of amenities and the impact of inflation.
Home Prices Decline
Home prices declined in November from the prior month as higher mortgage-interest rates made home purchases less affordable for home buyers. The National Home Price Index fell 0.6% in November compared with October, the fifth straight month-over-month decline.
Field & Stream Hotels
Field & Stream Lodge Co. will operate hotels around national parks, woods, ski mountains, lakes and desert land across the U.S. It is aimed at families and outdoor enthusiasts. Starwood Capital Group and AJ Capital Partners say they are targeting 125 U.S. markets.
Small-Cap Performance
Over the past 96 years, the returns for small-capitalization stocks starting in May of a midterm year through the same October averaged negative 2.3%. The return over the following six months has been positive 19.2%.
RevPAR Recovery
The latest forecast for the U.S. hotel industry indicates that real, inflation-adjusted revenue per available room will not fully recover until 2025, despite RevPAR on a nominal basis recovering to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.