The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the U.S., rose 19.7% in the year that ended in July, the highest annual rate of price growth since the index began in 1987.
All-Inclusive
Big hotel companies are adding more all-inclusive resorts, betting that the pandemic will boost a business model that encourages guests to stay in one place. These resorts, where customers pay a flat fee that covers their room, food, drinks and other services, have recovered from the shock of the pandemic faster than other types of hotels.
Benchmark Pyramid
Third-party hotel management companies Benchmark Global Hospitality and Pyramid Hotel Group announced they are merging to create Benchmark Pyramid.
Business Travel
A national survey AHLA commissioned this summer found 67% of U.S. business travelers are likely to take fewer trips, and 68% plan shorter trips. The survey of 2,200 adults, a group that included 414 regular business travelers, found that just over half of the business travelers planned to cancel their existing travel plans and not reschedule.
S&W Relo
Gun maker Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. is moving its corporate headquarters from Massachusetts to Tennessee, joining other firearms manufacturers that have moved from the mid-Atlantic and Northeast to Southern states with less restrictive gun laws. The company will invest more than $125 million to relocate its headquarters.
Bank M&A
Banks have announced more than $54 billion in deals through late September. That puts industry mergers and acquisitions on pace for their biggest year since 2008, when some big banks had to sell themselves to stave off collapse.
Company Owned
Overall, publicly traded U.S. companies own land and buildings valued at $1.64 trillion. That is up 38% from 10 years ago, and the highest for at least the past 10 years.
BX Cosmopolitan
Blackstone Inc. has reached an agreement to sell the Cosmopolitan casino and hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for $5.65 billion, telling investors that the sale is the company’s most profitable of a single asset ever. The deal separates ownership of the property from the hotel and casino operations, which are being sold to MGM Resorts International for about $1.6 billion. Blackstone acquired the two-tower property for about $1.8 billion seven years ago and spent an additional $500 million on upgrades.
Apollo FWD
Apollo unit backs Hong Kong insurer FWD’s $3 billion U.S. IPO. Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li’s FWD Group landed a $400 million investment as part of the Asian insurer’s plans for a multibillion-dollar U.S. listing.
Hotel Industry Trend
As the summer leisure travel surge subsided, the U.S. hotel industry reported August occupancy at 63.2 percent, down 11.3 percent from August 2019. Average daily rate reached $137.57, up 3.7 percent from August 2019. Revenue per available room was $86.88, down 8.1 percent from August 2019.