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Hotels
Congratulations, Mr. Sternlicht. You just invented motels. Econolodge without the econo. We look at the new brand's pitch deck.
Sean O'Neill | 1 year ago
Starwood Capital has bet on two trends with SH Hotels. It seems likely that the rich will get richer, boosting demand for luxury hotels. It also seems likely climate change will worsen, increasing the demand for sustainability.
Investors like Barry Sternlicht tout the hotel industry as an opportunistic place to park capital during the travel recovery. But discounts aren’t coming in as steep as some hoped thanks to Uncle Sam and forgiving lenders.
Cameron Sperance | 3 years ago
Hotel companies venturing into broader hospitality concepts isn't a new trend, but the rapid growth seen over the last decade is a warning sign to not go overboard. Exclusivity is what makes some of these brands appealing in the first place.
SH Hotels & Resorts has a new CEO after his successor lasted only a few months. Beefing up the company's brand presence in the highly competitive lifestyle hotel sector is crucial to success.
Coronavirus
The U.S. hotel sector is performing relatively well this summer, but there is too much uncertainty heading into fall in cities that rely on business travelers. Hotel companies shouldn’t take a few months of strong performance as a signal to reintroduce brand standards and costly renovation mandates.
Cameron Sperance, Skift | 3 years ago
Group business and convention bookings may be coming back to life, but we're years away from some of the world's largest hotels seeing regularly sold-out nights. Barry Sternlicht said it, in striking difference to some bullishness from his fellow travel execs this week.
Airlines
The momentum for so-called SPACs, or blank check companies, shows no signs of slowing down with some high-profile names getting in on the action. Let the deals begin.
Noor Zainab Hussain, Uday Sampath and Joshua Franklin, Reuters | 3 years ago
SH Hotels & Resorts has many of the boutique qualities bigger brands covet, so its new CEO simply has to stay the course. But he also has to hit the ground running, quickly finding revenue substitutes for the depleted international travel sector.
It's nearly time for opportunistic investors like Starwood Capital's Barry Sternlicht to swoop in on distressed hotel assets, but they'd better have the pockets to stomach at least another year of no returns on investment.