New Hilton brand puts itself in places customers ‘might not expect’
New Hilton brand puts itself in places customers ‘might not expect’
ACME Hotel in Chicago, part of Hilton’s new collection brand, Outset.
https://hotelsmag.com/news/new-hilton-brand-puts-itself-in-places-customers-might-not-expect
by David Eisen
Hilton has hit 25—as in brands. The lodging company has announced the launch of Outset Collection by Hilton as part of its Lifestyle portfolio, which includes includes NoMad, Canopy, Curio Collection, Graduate, Tapestry Collection, Tempo and Motto. The new collection targets guests looking for boutique hotels with an independent identity and experience.
The collection’s first hotels will begin welcoming guests later this year, with bookings available on Hilton.com starting this November. At launch, Outset Collection will have more than 60 hotels in development, with long-term growth potential of more than 500 hotels across the U.S. and Canada, Hilton said.
This collection of hotels, initially in the U.S., will be in places guests might not expect, ranging from urban destinations, small towns adventure outposts and offbeat hubs, Hilton said. Confirmed hotels in the collection include a basecamp for exploration in Moab and a boutique hotel in Chicago.
“At Hilton, we continue to reimagine what’s next in hospitality, and today, we’re delivering it. Outset Collection is an expression of our commitment to growth, innovation and meeting the evolving needs of travelers around the world,” said Chris Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton. “By expanding our Lifestyle portfolio, we are broadening the ways guests engage with Hilton and unlocking new possibilities for our owners, our teams and the communities we serve.”
Outset joins Hilton’s other collection brands LXR, Curio Collection and Tapestry Collection.
In the second quarter of 2025, conversions across 10 Hilton brands accounted for more than one-third of openings, Hilton said, and Outset looks to build on this. The collection will feature a range of hotels, “with upscale finishes and story-driven designs.”
Outset Collection is being promoted as unique and different by Hilton. For example, food and beverage offerings will vary across the brand, based on market demand, guest sentiment or hotel experience, ranging from cafes with light bites to full lunch and dinner concepts.
A future Outset Collection property in Moab, Utah.
“Independent hotels thrive when they can preserve their unique character while tapping into the power of a global hospitality leader,” said Chris Silcock, president, global brands and commercial services, Hilton. “With Outset Collection, we are offering owners the flexibility they want without compromising on quality. By combining one-of-a-kind properties with Hilton’s powerful commercial engine and commitment to exceptional product, service, and technology, we’re elevating our value proposition across the board.”
In Outset, Hilton, like its peers, is focused on the some 50 percent of global hotel supply that is considered unbranded or independent. By incorporating these hotels, Hilton is able to grow its network faster, especially as ground-up construction stalls.
Earlier this year, Hilton’s Luxury and Lifestyle portfolios reached 1,000 hotels globally.
All hotels in Outset Collection will participate in Hilton Honors.
Pressure builds as hotel sales slump continues
Sellers need to be 'more realistic' to spark deals
LW Hospitality Advisors' Dan Lesser (left) moderated a panel of hotel owners at The Lodging Conference. Speakers were ARK Holdings' Azim Saju, DiamondRock Hospitality's Justin Leonard, RLJ Lodging Trust's Kate Henriksen, Peachtree Group's Michael Bernath and Ashford Hospitality Trust's Stephen Zsigray. (Stephanie Ricca)
https://www.costar.com/article/698843617/pressure-builds-as-hotel-sales-slump-continues
PHOENIX — Hotel sellers may need to give a little bit when it comes to pricing.
That was the sentiment U.S. hotel real estate investment trust executives and other hotel owners handed down from the stage at this week’s Lodging Conference in Phoenix.
The main roadblock is the bid-ask gap between the price sellers want and the price buyers are willing to give.
“Buyers have been looking for opportunity and being thoughtful about where they’re putting capital, and sellers are very connected to their valuations from 2019,” said Stephen Zsigray, president and CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust, on a panel discussion dissecting current and future hotel deal flow in the United States.
But something’s got to give soon, speakers said.
“If you are out on the market with an aspirational price, the deal is probably going to languish,” said Michael Bernath, senior vice president of acquisitions and dispositions for private equity hotel owner Peachtree Group. “If you have a hotel deal that is around $40 million and under, the metrics make sense to sell; you’ll have a sizable bidder pool.”
The longer deals languish, the more pressure builds, and that might be the spark that ignites larger, more significant hotel transactions, said Kate Henriksen, co-chief investment officer of lodging REIT RLJ Lodging Trust.
“It does depend on the catalysts — the narrowing of the bid-ask spread, what does a refinancing look like? Are you going to have to put capital back into it? Those are catalysts pushing people toward a sale,” she said. “And the longer deals fester or hotels fester out there, there is more pressure to transact.”
And that pressure hits the sellers, said Justin Leonard, president of DiamondRock Hospitality Company, a publicly traded REIT.
“We’re going to have to trade things at a slightly higher yield in order to get the buyers to come,” he said.
Who is buying
So, what will it take to get hotel buyers off the sidelines? It’s a combination of factors, speakers said, some scientific and some less so.
“I think now is a good time to get back into [acquisitions],” said Azim Saju, CEO of non-traded REIT ARK Holdings. “I wish I had done more deals and been more aggressive post-Great Recession. Looking back on it, my miss then was that I wasn’t bold enough.”
Leonard agreed that at the last hotel industry downturn, buyers “earliest off the sidelines had the biggest wins.” But he added that mindset has burned some investors who tried the same thing in this recovery, picking up hotels early on at what he called “highly distressed price points.” Some still aren’t hitting metrics they want.
Right now, there’s no single major buyer pool rushing to pick up hotels, speakers said.
“We don’t have a lot of foreign capital in the space. REITs are still on the sidelines, and we haven’t seen the big private equity stepping in; they haven’t been that acquisitive in hospitality,” Leonard said. “They see better opportunities along the real estate spectrum.”
This fragmentation means hotels that do sell are trickling in here and there.
“There’s been more of a portfolio discount than a portfolio premium over the last couple of years, so you just see more onesie-twosie deals,” Bernath said.
Still, hotel REITs continue to be net sellers, said Dan Lesser, president and CEO of LW Hospitality Advisors, which tracks hotel sales.
“We need more realistic sellers for us to be more acquisitive,” DiamondRock’s Leonard said. “Or we need the valuation of stocks to change.”
Henriksen added “you need the investors to come back, too, to boost share price. Lodging REITs are cyclical, and right now there’s been an exodus of investors. But with signs of growth in more major markets where REITs are represented … we’ll come back.”
Peachtree’s Bernath said that in general, “we as an industry go very quickly from fear of making a mistake to fear of missing out very quickly when some of our friends start to do things,” when it comes to buying hotels.
Opportunity markets
Henriksen is bullish on San Francisco’s rebound. The city suffered during and after the pandemic with drops in international inbound travel and cancelled large group events. RLJ owns nine hotels in the Bay Area, according to CoStar data.
Henriksen pointed to the 2026 “catalysts” in San Francisco, including the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup 26, continued investment around artificial intelligence and what she called “a decent convention calendar.”
Ashford’s Zsigray agreed that San Francisco is an attractive market for buyers and added Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, to the list.
“D.C. at current price levels is attractive,” he said. “Austin is similar — they got hit with a convention center renovation, which won’t come back online until 2029, so there’s a lot of opportunity there to get a renovation done quickly and take advantage on the other side.”
Conferences, events fuel US hotel demand as calendar flips to October
Hotels in Las Vegas and Chicago see major gains in average daily rate
Las Vegas hotels saw huge gains in average daily rate during the week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 due to demand from guests attending the Pack EXPO at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Zachary Mirer/CoStar)
https://www.costar.com/article/848987198/conferences-events-fuel-us-hotel-demand-as-calendar-flips-to-october
For a fifth consecutive week, U.S. hotel revenue per available room was down (-0.4%), but the decline during Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 was the smallest during that stretch. Hotel occupancy continued to fall as it has for the past 15 consecutive weeks, but average daily rate grew 2.7%, the highest rate of the past 23 weeks.
By day, ADR soared on Sunday (+4.9%) and Monday (+4.9%). The gain was led by the top 25 U.S. hotel markets with an average increase of 8.6% on those two days and strong growth continuing into Tuesday (+5.0%). A closer look revealed that six markets drove the extraordinary ADR gains: Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York City and San Francisco. On those three days, top 25 market ADR was up 7.3%, but if you exclude those six, ADR in the remaining top 25 markets was down 1.5% and barely up in all other markets (+0.8%). Thus, the ADR increase does not signal a change in trend. It was more of an anomaly.
Las Vegas hotels saw the highest ADR increase among the six markets, with rates rising by more than 49.5% Sunday through Tuesday as the Pack EXPO welcomed 30,000 attendees and 20,000 exhibitor personnel to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Chicago’s ADR increase was not far behind Las Vegas, increasing 23.1% on those three days due to WEFTEC 2025, the largest annual water quality event in North America. Plus, McCormick Place also hosted several other large conventions during those days.
While Chicago’s ADR and RevPAR were strong like the other markets mentioned, excluding Las Vegas, U.S. weekly RevPAR would be down 2.2% and similar to the previous week with ADR rising 1.2% but still below the rate of inflation.
Difficult 2024 hurricane comparisons emerge
Among the top 25 U.S. hotel markets, full-week RevPAR growth was highest in Las Vegas (+49%) and Chicago (+19.1%). Six markets, however, saw double-digit declines, including Atlanta, Houston, and Tampa.
Tampa hotels saw RevPAR decrease 35% on falling demand because of the difficult comps created by Hurricane Helene in 2024. In total, 17 of the top 25 markets saw flat to decreasing RevPAR last week.
Outside of the top 25, most of the U.S. hotel markets seeing large RevPAR decreases were those that saw large gains a year ago due to Hurricane Helene: Columbia, Georgia South, Sarasota, Savannah, Greenville/Spartanburg, and eight others we identified last year where RevPAR was down an average of 24% on declining occupancy (-23.6 percentage points). Excluding those 13 markets, U.S. weekly hotel RevPAR was up 0.9% on rising ADR. However, if you also exclude Las Vegas, RevPAR was down 0.9% on declining hotel occupancy, which underscores the continued weakness across the U.S.
As we have seen since the start of football season, several hotel markets saw strong RevPAR growth driven mostly by weekend ADR gains. Markets in this group included Michigan South, Alabama North, and Indiana North, where weekend ADR rose more than 60%. In total, U.S. weekend ADR was up 2.6% with equal gains in both the top 25 and all other markets.
Yom Kippur also occurred during the week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 on Wednesday and Thursday. The impact was noticeable in demand change within the Top 25 Markets, where the measure fell 3% on Wednesday and 4.4% on Thursday. The impact of this year’s Yom Kippur was somewhat offset since in 2024 Rosh Hashanah was observed on Wednesday, Oct. 2 to Friday, Oct. 3.
Luxury hotels win big due to group business
With strong convention activity in key markets such as Las Vegas, it shouldn’t be a surprise that luxury hotel RevPAR increased 8.2% on ADR (+7.9%). Economy RevPAR dropped 6.5% on decreasing occupancy. Upper upscale (-0.1%) and upscale (-1.4%) saw the smallest declines of all hotel types.
While we know that Las Vegas, Chicago and a few other hotel markets saw strong group demand, total U.S. group demand among luxury and upper-upscale hotels was down 2.9% while ADR was up 7.1% due to Las Vegas.
September down sharply
Preliminary data shows that September U.S. hotel RevPAR fell 2.4%. If that result holds, it would be the largest monthly decline – excluding the pandemic period from March 2020 to February 2021 – since the end of the Great Recession in February 2010. The decrease was due to falling occupancy, which has decreased for seven consecutive months. ADR is also expected to have decreased (-0.3%), which would be the second monthly decline since the end of the pandemic, both of which have occurred in the last quarter.
Will October be better than September?
While U.S. hotel RevPAR improved from the previous week, underlying weakness remains. It was encouraging to see strong group performance in Chicago and Las Vegas hotels, but the growth appears to be more of an outlier versus a change in trend. That said, we do expect October to be better than what we witnessed in September given a relatively clean calendar and the movement of Halloween to a Friday.
Strong global RevPAR growth
Same-store global RevPAR, excluding hotels in the U.S, rose 9.9% on ADR as occupancy was flat. Germany, France, Spain and several other countries and regions saw double-digit RevPAR and ADR growth.
Countries and regions with hotel RevPAR declines included China (-6.5%) and the Caribbean (-8.7%). China’s decrease was occupancy-driven due to the Mid-Autumn Festival and Golden Week (Oct. 1-8). The Caribbean saw a decline in both occupancy and ADR with the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, and others down significantly, likely due in part to Hurricane Imelda.
Mexico saw same-store hotel RevPAR rise 5.1% with Canada up 3.9%. Most Mexican markets saw RevPAR rise with the most notable exception being Mexico City (-9.3%). In Canada, Nova Scotia saw the largest increase (+21.7%) with the Niagara region posting the worst decrease (-11.3%).
Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR.
This article represents an interpretation of data collected by CoStar's hospitality analytics firm, STR. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concerns.
Flying Back From Paradise Just Got Way Easier
Stay at the beach a little longer
Shutterstock
https://www.fodors.com/news/news/flying-back-from-paradise-just-got-way-easier
For some years, travelers to Fiji have had an airport check-in option that allows them to extend the time spent at their resort. On Denarau Island, near the international airport at Nadi, several resorts have Fiji Airways check-in lounges where they can get boarding passes, check their bags, and have their documents checked so they can go to the airport with their carry-on bags just 90 minutes prior to departure.
The catch, however, was that travelers bound for destinations in the United States couldn’t use the service because of TSA restrictions. Those restrictions ended earlier this month, when the Fiji Airways Resort Check-In Lounge at the Sheraton Fiji Golf & Beach Resort became TSA-accredited.
The service is available for travelers booked on a Fiji Airways flight (it’s the only airline flying nonstop between Fiji and the United States), and check-in isn’t limited to guests at the Sheraton – any Fiji Airways passenger can use the check-in lounge at the Sheraton. Fiji Airways operates check-in lounges at several other resorts on Denarau Island, but currently only the Sheraton location is accepting check-in from U.S.-bound passengers.
Fiji is a South Pacific country 10 hours from the U.S. West Coast. Many travelers from North America stopover in Fiji en route to Australia or New Zealand, but a number of travelers are electing to spend their entire vacation in the island chain, which has a number of secluded island resorts in the upper upscale and luxury tiers.
One of the most secluded of these is Royal Davui Island, located a half-hour flight and a half-hour boat transfer from the main island of Viti Levu. The adults-only island retreat has large villa units with open-air living rooms, infinity plunge pools on outdoor decks, and sweeping views of the surrounding Pacific. As if being on a private island with just a handful of other guests wasn’t secluded enough, the resort staff can also arrange a solitary Robinson Crusoe-style picnic on a nearby sand cay, leaving guests on their own (with a cell phone in a waterproof box) to commune with the seabirds and ocean life for a few hours on a sun-baked Fijian day.
Other properties are more residential, like Nanuku Resort, where many units have full-service kitchens and laundry facilities for extended stays, along with little niceties like a personalized welcome message spelled out in the bottom of the villa’s private infinity pool in white pebbles. Both Nanuku Resort and Royal Davui are located near Beqa Island, home to the country’s famed firewalkers, who walk on hot stones set for hours in a smoldering fire, without injury. At both resorts, demonstrations of the ritual are available for visitors.
Many travelers to Fiji who visit secluded resorts dotted around the country often elect to spend the final night or two of their visit at the resorts on Denarau Island, which are just 20 minutes from the international airport at Nadi, allowing for easy transfers on their departure day. There are specific timelines for baggage drop and boarding pass issuance prior to departure, and the departure lounges may only be open certain hours for check-in for certain flight departures in the morning and evening, so it’s worth checking the signage posted outside or calling Fiji Airways for detailed information about checking in at the resort desk in advance to avoid disappointment.
Resort check-in is available for Fiji Airways passengers at several other resorts on Denarau Island for passengers bound for other destinations in Oceania—including U.S.-originating passengers who have stopped over in Fiji. Participating resorts include Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa, and Hilton Fiji Beach Resort & Spa.
Trump Administration Drops Biden-Era Airline Requirements
Ekaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock
https://www.fodors.com/news/news/trump-administration-drops-biden-era-airline-requirements
The Biden plan for airline compensation to delayed passengers has been nixed by the Trump administration.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) says it will drop a Biden-era plan to require airlines to pay cash compensation and cover expenses for passengers who are impacted by flight delays and cancellations not related to weather.
The rule, which had not been fully implemented, was announced by the Biden administration in 2023. The DOT had outlined its plans in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), allowing the public—including trade associations representing the airlines—to offer comment on the DOT’s plans. Those trade associations, including the International Air Transport Association and the U.S. airline trade group Airlines 4 America, pushed back, saying that the Biden administration was attempting to wield regulatory authority it didn’t have.
The rule would have set specific requirements for airlines to provide cash compensation and cover expenses for what are termed “controllable” delays, such as those related to crew staffing, maintenance irregularities, or airline computer system outages. Delays for weather events, political unrest, or terrorism—causes deemed outside of airline control—would not be included in compensation requirements.
In a statement to the New York Times, a DOT spokesperson said that the previous administration had overreached. “Some of the rules proposed or adopted by the previous administration went beyond what Congress has required by statute, and we intend to reconsider those extra-statutory requirements.”
The DOT, part of the Executive Branch of the federal government, enforces laws written by Congress by issuing regulations to support those laws. The transportation secretary—currently former Wisconsin Congressman and airline lobbyist Sean P. Duffy—sets department priorities, including direction on how the department should interpret the laws when creating regulations. The transportation secretary has historically been relatively non-partisan, and several presidents, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, have nominated transportation secretaries from opposing parties.
Different administrations tend to interpret laws passed by Congress differently or prioritize enforcement efforts differently. Democratic administrations have historically favored consumer protection regulations, while Republican administrations have historically preferred to let market forces drive how airlines write their policies to compete with each other.
The NPRM issued by the DOT during the Biden Administration cites the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, passed by Congress in May of that year, as its statutory requirement, saying that “Section 512 of the 2024 FAA Act requires the Department to ‘direct all air carriers providing scheduled passenger interstate or intrastate air transportation to establish policies regarding reimbursement for lodging, transportation between such lodging and the airport, and meal costs incurred due to a flight cancellation or significant delay directly attributable to the air carrier.’”
That NPRM also noted that the act did not specifically outline what constituted a “delay directly attributable” to an airline. The DOT also noted that many airlines already include in their customer service commitments that they will provide passengers with accommodations and reimbursement for expenses—but not cash compensation—for controllable delays.
The U.S. airline industry was deregulated by an act of Congress in 1978, which prohibited the government from regulating airline scheduling and fares. The airline industry grew exponentially in subsequent decades as fares lowered and millions more passengers each year could afford to fly, but complaints about airline practices spurred later legislation prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices and regulating certain airline activities, like overbooking flights, and providing services for passengers with disabilities.
The 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act, which authorizes funding for the FAA and provides statutory guidance for how the DOT should oversee passenger air carriers and other aviation operators, runs through 2028, when it will be again debated in Congress.
Several aviation regulators, including those in the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and Brazil, already require airlines to compensate passengers for lengthy flight delays or cancellations for reasons within the airlines’ control. The longest-standing regulation, in effect for over two decades in the European Union, is known colloquially as EU 261, and was cited as an example in the Biden-era NPRM.
Unlike the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act, EU 261—legislation which was passed by the European Parliament—specifically prescribes the compensation to be issued and types of delays that do and do not qualify for compensation.
'Confusion, chaos and uncertainty' of current administration weigh on US hotel industry, economist says
Bernard Baumohl of The Economic Outlook Group outlines short- and long-term worries and opportunities
The Economic Outlook Group's Bernard Baumohl talked tariffs, Trump and the ways politics and the economy are linked. (Stephanie Ricca)
https://www.costar.com/article/1929940325/confusion-chaos-and-uncertainty-of-current-administration-weigh-on-us-hotel-industry-economist-says
PHOENIX — The U.S. has reached a point where “it’s really difficult to disentangle the politics from the economics,” and the results aren’t positive for the hotel industry, said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist for The Economic Outlook Group.
Addressing The Lodging Conference in Phoenix this week, Baumohl laid out a picture of substantiated uncertainty, calling it “truly one of the more bizarre moments in U.S. economic history we’re dealing with.”
“With President Trump, we’re jumping into the unknown,” he said. “It’s causing a lot of confusion, chaos and uncertainty.”
"Over the last nine months, we have strayed so far away from the norms of economics, politics and the law, that it’s virtually impossible to predetermine the course of the economy with any degree of confidence or accuracy beyond the next couple of months," he said.
The major factors contributing to the cloud of uncertainty — tariffs, high inflation, cross-border alienation, the current government shutdown — have short- and longer-term consequences for the hotel industry, he said.
“In the last 24 to 36 hours, we've been hearing more stories about air traffic controllers. These are federal employees who are paid by the government — but not now. Air traffic controllers are calling in sick,” Baumohl said. “And if this escalates with air traffic controllers and TSA employees, this is going to shut down travel.”
He also worries hoteliers are giving up pricing power. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, traveler spend on lodging away from home fell drastically this year beginning in March, but hotel occupancy didn’t fall as much.
“That raises the question whether the industry has given up too much pricing power,” he said, adding that it’s happening at a time of record low hotel supply, alongside data from TSA and airlines showing more people flying and paying higher prices for plane tickets.
But despite the negatives, Baumohl pointed out the U.S. stock market strength, historically tight credit spreads, relatively low unemployment rates and data showing Americans continuing to spend money on everything from eating out to travel to washing machines — factors that can benefit parts of the lodging sector.
“I don’t see any evidence of recession,” he said.
Calling recessions more psychological than economic, Baumohl said the true breakdown comes “when Americans have a complete loss of confidence in the vitality and the progress in the economy.”
“I think there's just a lot of confusion and uncertainty acting as a drag on economic growth,” he said.
Some of the harder factors at play such as tariffs and interest rates will have an effect on the business of operating hotels: budgeting, capital expenditures planning and the ability to finance hotel transactions.
But what about the willingness of people to spend money on travel? Deciphering consumer confidence in today’s environment is tricky, Baumohl said.
“Consumers are carrying a record amount of debt and interest rates are still fairly high, … but we’ve seen household net worth increase to record high levels,” he said.
Retail and restaurant sales are climbing, too, all leading Baumohl to remind the audience that all consumer behavior is not the same and definitions of “discretionary spending” vary wildly.
“It could very well be that households are carefully making distinctions when it comes to discretionary spending,” he said. “Maybe we don’t need a TV, but boy, I want to maintain my lifestyle, because there are too many stressors and too many pressures in life right now.
“That’s the kind of psychology I think is happening right now,” he said.
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