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David Eisen

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  • 3 min

How wellness is helping reshape the luxury hotel experience 

🏨 Santa Monica Proper Hotel offers wellness-focused amenities like cold plunges, red light therapy, and infrared saunas. The Ranch Hudson Valley in New York and The Ranch Malibu focus on holistic wellness through minimalistic retreats. Equinox Hotels, a spinoff of the luxury fitness brand, integrates sleep tourism with custom mattresses and soundproofing. Park Hyatt New York features AI-enabled beds. In 2022, the wellness tourism industry was valued at $651 billion, projected to exceed $1.4 trillion by 2027.
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Pandox and partner to acquire Ireland’s largest hotel group

💰 Dalata Hotel Group's board has approved a €1.4 billion sale to Pandox AB and Eiendomsspar AS, with the deal expected to close in Q4 2025. Dalata, operating 56 hotels across Ireland and the UK, will see a €6.45 per share offer, a 12% premium. Pandox will hold 91.5% ownership, with Eiendomsspar owning 8.5%. Dalata's 2024 revenue was €652 million, up 7.3%. This acquisition strengthens Pandox's Northern European presence.
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Extra, extra! July/August digital issue of HOTELS Magazine is live.

📚 July/August 2025, HOTELS Magazine highlights: Global hotel rankings in "The List"; BWH Hotels' CEO Larry Cuculic featured; BD Hotels expands to Palm Beach; Hyatt Hotels in New Orleans; focus on brand partnerships; middleware tech's crucial role; "I Do" F&B business; Texan design at Denizen McKinney Hotel; JLL insights on luxury investments. Explore the full issue for comprehensive industry updates.
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BWH Hotels drives membership through diversification, egalitarianism

🏨 BWH Hotels, a non-profit membership organization, generated $8.5 billion in global revenue last year. CEO Larry Cuculic, appointed in 2021, oversees 18 brands, including Best Western and WorldHotels. BWH operates 4,300 hotels worldwide and continues to expand with new projects in New York, Palm Beach, and Saudi Arabia. Significant acquisitions include WorldHotels in 2019. The company emphasizes flexibility, less prescriptive brand standards, and plans digital transformations under CTO Bill Ryan, hired in late 2024.
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  • 2 min

Brand Bashing: Fair or Foul?

🗺️ April/May 2025, the best hotels list featured 42 global hotels, with only nine being hard brands. Examples include Populus in Denver and Hotel Hana in Paris. Independent hotels often provide unique experiences compared to known brand hotels like SIRO One Za’abeel in Dubai versus Jumeirah Emirates Towers. Barry Sternlicht, speaking at NYU IHIF in June, noted the rise of independent startups, and Hailey Bieber sold her beauty brand for $1 billion, illustrating market dynamics. 💼📊
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Hyatt to offload Playa real estate, remain operator

🏠 Hyatt recently completed the $2.6 billion acquisition of Playa Hotels & Resorts. Days later, Hyatt agreed to sell Playa’s 15-resort real estate portfolio in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica to Tortuga Resorts for $2 billion. The deal includes 50-year management agreements for 13 properties and a retained $200 million preferred equity. Closing is expected by 2025, subject to approval. This transaction aligns with Hyatt’s asset-light strategy, boosting its all-inclusive portfolio to around 55,000 rooms.
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  • 6 min

Middleware software isn’t the sexiest tech, but it plays a pivotal role: bridging gaps between product services that allows hotels to run effectively.

💻 Hapi (Miami) bridges hotel systems with real-time data, consuming 20% of hotel development budgets for integration. Ireckonu (Amsterdam), aiding CitizenM since 2014, improves guest experiences by solving tech-stack issues. TigerTMS (Hampshire) deploys at 10,000 hotels, reducing costs with distributed middleware. Axing (Ramsen) enhances hotel tech experiences with IPTV middleware. DerbySoft (Dallas) connects 500+ channels, optimizing hotel sales opportunities. Middleware is essential for integrating numerous systems, ensuring smooth operations, and leveraging AI for future hotel innovations.
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  • 2 min

The Westin Resort Guam is for sale and Colliers is the broker

🏖 Colliers is marketing The Westin Resort Guam for IGIS Asset Management. Located in Tumon Bay, the 21-floor, 424-room hotel features two pools, a $1.6M villa collection, and 15,000 sq ft of event space. The master lease expires in April 2026, offering investors options like rebranding. Visitor numbers are projected to reach 900,000 by 2026-27. Previously sold in 2016 for $125M, Guam's hotel market has seen $12B in investments since 2023.
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Today’s Talent, Tomorrow’s Leaders: Three up-and-comers in the hospitality industry share what it takes to make it

📚 Tyler Pitman, senior director of operations at Ark Hospitality, found his passion for hospitality from varied roles, starting as a dishwasher. Jacqueline Rencurrell, director at Turnstone Group, blends her love for real estate and puzzles. Dominic Ziebert, development analyst at Four Seasons, supports projects like Deer Valley and Puerto Rico, enhancing the brand's portfolio. They advise embracing learning, technology, and relationships, highlighting generational strengths and the importance of adaptability.
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Native Texan: The design behind one of Texas’s newest stars, the Denizen McKinney Hotel

🏨 Earlier this year, the Denizen McKinney Hotel opened in McKinney, Texas, designed collaboratively by Archstreet Hotel Partners, Aimbridge Hospitality, 5G Studios, and Ink + Oro. This 102-room hotel combines a limited-service model with a luxury experience, featuring custom-designed furniture and a residential style. Design elements like a fireplace wall and staircase offer a sense of grandness, and materials such as white oak flooring and Italian leather enhance guest comfort and aesthetic appeal.
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