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BETHESDA, Maryland – Host Hotels & Resort is close to selling the 444-room Four Seasons Orlando and the 125-room Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole to BDT & MSD Partners for more than $1 billion, according to Bloomberg.
R.W. Baird’s Michael Bellisario wrote that the Orlando property appears to have a $750 million price tag and assumes Jackson Hole could trade near Host's basis – a combined $1.07 billion plus/minus. Bellisario said that based on 2024A metrics, that pricing would represent >16x Hotel EBITDA and a low-5% NOI cap rate. “We assume 2025E performance was ahead of 2024's levels and that the cap rate could be closer to 6%,” he added.
Host acquired the Four Seasons in May 2021 for $610 million. The property is the only fee simple luxury resort within Walt Disney World Resort not owned by Disney. Bellisario said the 40-unit condo development currently under construction does not appear to be part of the sale with Host having spent ~$160 million to-date on inventory costs.
Bellisario offered some ideas about what Host would do with the sale proceeds.
“Previously, management had noted (1) that it would remain an opportunistic seller and (2) that acquisitions were unlikely to occur over the near-term,” he said. “On last quarter's conference call, Host noted that repurchases did not offer attractive enough returns relative to investing in its assets; HST shares traded between ~$15-$18 during 3Q25. We see the potential for a combination of buybacks and a special dividend.”
CEOs worry US is squandering golden opportunity for international travel
While there are significant events on the horizon that should boost the travel fortunes for the U.S. — specifically the FIFA World Cup and the America's 250th anniversary celebration — hotel industry leaders worry the country isn't doing what it should to capitalize on that opportunity.
Speaking during the "Boardroom XXV: Confronting Change" session at the 25th annual Americas Lodging Investment Summit, Marriott International President and CEO Tony Capuano said his company is currently trying to convince government officials to be more welcoming to international travelers.
The FIFA World Cup "should be terrific, but [we're] simultaneously engaging in every level of government and saying, 'We've got to make the world feel welcome coming to the U.S.' There may not be a more significant global sports event that draws the world and the eyes of the world, and when you have visitors asking legitimate questions about what their experience will be coming through customs and immigration, whether ... there will be a new entry fee, all of these sorts of things, those are big impediments to optimizing what should be a home-run opportunity for the lodging industry."
Elie Maalouf, CEO of IHG Hotels & Resorts, agreed that "the friction of travel [is] way, way too high, still."
He noted this can be interpreted two ways. From an optimist's perspective, it's heartening to see how much live events like the World Cup and the Olympics drive interest in travel.
"One of the benefits of our industry is we're in the business of live experiences," he said. "As long as we keep providing that great experience for our guests [that means] good returns for owners. We're in the business of live experiences, and that's not being disintermediated."
But he also believes it's noteworthy that travel and tourism still aren't priorities for U.S. officials.
"I just think we're blessed with so much domestic wealth that we just kind of take it for granted," he said. "Other countries feel like they don't have either the natural resources or the geopolitical advantages that we have — or the industries that we have in technology or finance — and so they value it more. It's not a reason not to value it. I think it's complacency, but because of other agenda items, it's hard to break through. We can't stop trying because it's just so much upside, and it's to the benefit, not just of U.S. Treasury but of individual hotel operators and mom-and-pop and families and restaurant owners. It's to the benefit of the local population."
Capuano said it's noteworthy that the U.S. is in the stark minority of countries that doesn't have a cabinet-level official devoted to tourism, despite it contributing significantly to gross domestic product and employment.
He said so many decision makers in this country still simply don't understand the value and importance of travel.
"There's a massive opportunity just laying there waiting for us, but we've got to strengthen the partnership between the public and private sector, and we've got to raise awareness, which is shockingly low, about the compounding effect of travel and tourism on the nation," he said,
Maalouf pointed out that on a global scale, the U.S. is simply not getting the share of international travelers it should based on its size and cultural prominence.
"Last year, the U.S. welcomed 68 million, let's call it 70 million international inbound, down 6% year over year, and we've talked about the reasons for that," he said. "But actually the trend has been downwards since 2019. Last week, I was in Bangkok, Thailand, for a few days on business after spending a week in India. Bangkok alone is the most visited city in the world with 36 million visitors in one city. I don't know what the U.S. should be welcoming [in terms of] international visitors, but it's certainly more than 70 million, right? We have many, many Bangkoks, and we have many, many destinations and a great country with so much to explore."
He noted that should be put into context of how valuable international traveler spend is relative to other forms of driving the economy.
"International visitors come, spend and leave and don't put a burden on our infrastructure or our social services," he said.
Rosanna Maietta, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, agreed, noting it's frustrating how hard it is to get that point across to politicians.
"We've been working so closely with the U.S. Travel Association to make sure that we are talking about the economic impact of tourism," she said. "It's free money. Foreigners spend more money here than domestic travelers. And so it's almost shocking that we as a country still don't have a focus of a cabinet-level position there."
Capuano said that he's hopeful a presidential administration that is hyper focused on trade deficits can look at the numbers and realize this is an area of opportunity.
"You point out [to politicians] the fact that a decade ago, the U.S. enjoyed a travel surplus of ... $50 billion and in 2025 it will be more like a $70 billion deficit, and you get these wide-eyed stares, as if we're not aware," he said.
Mit Shah, founder and CEO of Noble Investment Group, said he's hopeful for more stability in 2026, since travel and tourism often sees an outsized impact from uncertainty. In addition to rules impacted traveler flow, he said certainty tax policy is also "very, very valuable."
"I think anytime that things are uncertain, you see what happens in the marketplace," he said. "It's just people don't know what the rules are, and it's Armageddon. You can't put a stake in the ground around what you're going to do unless you just believe [you know what's] going to take place."
As expected based on history, U.S. hotel revenue per available room fell 1.8% during the week of Jan. 18-24 due to the MLK holiday, but the decrease was much larger than anticipated because of Winter Storm Fern.
The impact of the storm could be clearly seen over the weekend days Friday and Saturday, when RevPAR was down 6.2% on falling occupancy. Over the remaining days of the week from Sunday to Thursday, U.S. hotels saw flat RevPAR, which was better than the in the same MLK week of the previous two years. The post-MLK weekend, however, was the worst since 2018, excluding 2020.
While hotel demand was down on the weekend, average daily rate was up 0.6% despite the 3.9-percentage-point occupancy decrease. Weekdays, where occupancy increased 0.9 percentage points, saw ADR fall 1.6%; the largest MLK week decrease since 2009, excluding 2020. Overall, ADR for the entire week was down 1% with occupancy falling 0.5 percentage points via flattish year-over-year demand (-0.2%).
Weekday performance was led by hotels in non-top 25 and non-hurricane hotel markets where RevPAR gained 6.7%. That group included Salt Lake City, San Antonio and Mobile, Alabama, where RevPAR growth exceeded 30%. In total, 47 of the 135 markets in that category saw double-digit RevPAR growth this week. The top 25 U.S. hotel markets saw the measure fall 2.8% during the weekdays due to a 59.6% fall in Washington, D.C., because of difficult comps to last year’s presidential inauguration. Excluding Washington, D.C., top 25 weekday RevPAR was up 4.9%, resulting in a total U.S. weekday RevPAR gain of 3.2%. Besides Washington, D.C., Atlanta saw weekday RevPAR fall 35.2%; also a difficult comp to last year’s college football championship game. Weekday RevPAR in hurricane markets fell 15.8% with Las Vegas down 9.6%.
Weekend RevPAR was severely affected by Winter Storm Fern. Our analysis found 48 U.S. hotel markets in its path, including nine of the top 25 markets. Weekend RevPAR dropped 20.5% in the 48 Fern markets with the nine top 25 falling 13.1%. Gatlinburg/ Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, saw the largest decrease (-65.2%) followed by Nashville (-52.3%). The remaining top 25 markets – excluding Tampa, a 2024 hurricane market – and Las Vegas, saw RevPAR advance 1.6% on rising occupancy and ADR. All other markets saw RevPAR increase by 1% over the weekend. RevPAR in the 2024 hurricane markets, several of which were also in Fern’s path, were down 15% over the weekend with Augusta, Georgia; Columbia, South Carolina; Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina; and North Carolina West seeing RevPAR declines of more than 30%.
If we categorize all U.S. hotel markets into six mutually exclusive groups, RevPAR for the full week was down the most in Washington, D.C. (-53.9%), followed by Atlanta (-30%), 2024 hurricane markets (-15.6%), Las Vegas (-8.2%), and Fern markets (-2.4%). RevPAR was up in the remaining 110 markets, increasing 5.4%. The latter is very encouraging as both occupancy (+1.5 percentage points) and ADR (+2.5%) drove the gain but one week isn’t a trend.
Like with everything else this week, on the surface, weekly RevPAR change by chain scale is discouraging, ranging from down 0.4% in Upscale to down 5.4% in economy. However, if you strip out Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., and focus on weekday performance, you’ll find a different story. Luxury was up 8.5% on weekdays with every other chain scale seeing 4% or more RevPAR gains except midscale (0.0%) and economy (-4.5%). The latter two are still feeling the impact of the 2024 hurricanes. Excluding those markets, midscale-class hotels were up 4.1% in weekday RevPAR with economy slightly up (+0.2%).
Weekday group demand was slightly down among luxury and upper-upscale class hotels (-0.8%), falling sharply over the weekend, particularly in the Fern markets. Excluding Atlanta, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., top 25 weekday group demand was solid, increasing by 6.5%. Detroit, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco and six other top 25 markets all posted double-digit weekday group gains. We surmise that the large gains were due to easy comps given meeting planners stayed away from this week a year ago due to the presidential inauguration.
History suggests that demand for the week of Jan. 25-31, will fall. We expect the decrease to be more dramatic given the impact of Winter Storm Fern on the weekend of this reporting week and its lingering effects. As of Jan. 24, month-to-date RevPAR is up 1.3% but we anticipate that it will come down.
Global hotel performance insights
Global hotel RevPAR on a constant USD and same-store basis grew 6.1% on rising occupancy as ADR was up a scant 0.8%. ADR was held back by China, where it fell 3%. While it’s true that global ADR (+3.4%) is higher without China, global RevPAR is lower because China saw strong occupancy growth in the week. Other countries with falling ADR included France, Japan and Mexico. Those three countries were also the only ones to see a retreat in RevPAR this week among the key ones we follow.
The Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries saw strong RevPAR growth (17.1%) as did Africa, Italy and the Caribbean, where RevPAR advanced by more than 11% on rising ADR.
After a fortnight of declines, the U.K. saw RevPAR grow (+1%) on rising ADR. RevPAR in London, the country’s largest market, grew 6.4%. This was also its first increase of the past three weeks. Without London, the U.K. would have seen negative ADR and RevPAR. Manchester, M4 Corridor, and East Sussex/Surrey/West Sussex – the next three largest U.K. markets – were all down significantly.
Canada continued to see RevPAR advance, increasing by 4.5% this week on a same-store basis and slightly more when including all hotels. Since the first week of March 2025, demand and RevPAR have increased in 36 of the past 48 weeks. This week’s gain was somewhat in line with the previous three. Toronto, the largest market, saw RevPAR rise 9.1% on strong ADR growth. Montreal was also positive this week while Vancouver fell.
Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR. Cole Martin is an analytics and insights specialist at STR.
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