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Hotel and resort news moved quickly around the world this week, with Hilton opening its first Curio Collection resort in Hawaii, Minor Hotels taking Oaks into Japan, IHG bringing voco to East Africa and Garner to the Middle East, and Whitbread buying two UK hotels for Premier Inn. Choice Hotels made an even more unusual move, agreeing to acquire RV membership company Harvest Hosts for about $130 million.
In luxury hospitality, Minor Hotels is taking over the management of London’s famous Dukes, while Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin acknowledged that Ennismore needs additional capital to keep growing. Meanwhile, executives including Andrea Vanni at Kempinski, Brian Regula at OUTRIGGER, Fabrice Moizan at Le Bristol Paris and Sebastian Fischoeder at Grand Hyatt Bali moved into new leadership roles. The message from the past seven days is clear: hospitality companies are still expanding—but they are becoming more selective about where and how they spend their money.
Hawaii gets a new Hilton resort
Let’s start somewhere warm. Hilton officially opened Hale Hลkลซala Kauaสปi, Curio Collection by Hilton, a 210-room resort on Kauaสปi. More importantly for Hilton watchers, it is the first Curio Collection property in Hawaii.
That says something about where the large hotel companies are hunting for growth. Independent-looking resorts with a powerful global reservation and loyalty machine behind them continue to be attractive.
For travelers, Hale Hลkลซala promises the personality of an independent island resort. For Hilton, it puts another flag into one of the world’s most desirable leisure markets.
Japan: Minor Hotels brings Oaks to Kyoto
Minor Hotels made its own geographic move by bringing Oaks Hotels, Resorts & Suitesinto Japan for the first time.
Rather than arriving with one giant hotel, Oaks opened two small properties in central Kyoto: Oaks Vacation Club Kyoto Gojo, with 20 rooms, and Oaks Vacation Club Kyoto Shijo, with 27.
Dillip Rajakarier, Group CEO of Minor International, described Kyoto as a destination for travelers who want to explore at their own pace.
It is a small 47-room beginning, but an interesting one. Kyoto is hardly short of hotels, and Minor is betting that apartment-style accommodation, kitchenettes and extra space will appeal to families and independent travelers who want something between a traditional hotel and a vacation rental.
Nairobi welcomes East Africa’s first voco
Africa also had a significant brand debut. IHG Hotels & Resorts opened the voco Nairobi Airport Suites, the first voco hotel not only in Kenya but across East Africa.
The 112-suite property sits about eight kilometers from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and includes one- and two-bedroom suites, kitchenettes, workspaces and laundry facilities.
That combination is worth watching. Airport hotels were once largely about a bed between flights. Increasingly, they are becoming extended-stay properties, business bases and mini-resorts.
IHG’s Haitham Mattar pointed to growing business and leisure demand and the long-term potential of Nairobi and East Africa. General Manager Amit Sharmais running the new hotel.
IHG has more plans: Rome and the UAE
IHG wasn’t finished.
The company announced a 114-room Kimpton in Rome, scheduled for 2029 in the Via Veneto district. The project, owned by Castello SGR’s Rome Hotel Development Fund, will convert an existing building and include a rooftop bar, restaurant, wellness facilities and something unusual—a restored theatre turned into an arts and events venue.
Then there is the Middle East.
IHG and Nooa Holdings signed two Garner Hotelsin the UAE: Garner Hotel Dubai Al Jaddaf and Garner Hotel Ras Al Khaimah Downtown. Together, they will add 285 rooms and introduce Garner to the Middle East.
Luxury gets the headlines, but midscale conversion brands may be one of the industry’s more important battlegrounds. They can give owners access to a global hotel system without necessarily requiring the cost of building a hotel from scratch.
Choice Hotels buys its way out of the hotel room
Perhaps the week’s most interesting deal came from Choice Hotels International. Choice agreed to acquire Harvest Hosts, the membership-based RV travel business, for approximately $130 million in cash. Harvest Hosts gives RV travelers access to a network of thousands of locations, including farms, wineries and other host sites.
In other words, a hotel company is buying a business for people who may not want a hotel room at all. That isn’t as strange as it sounds.
Hotel companies increasingly see themselves as travel platforms rather than simply collections of buildings. Loyalty programs, subscriptions and customer relationships can be as strategically important as mattresses.
Harvest Hosts gives Choice an entry into outdoor accommodation and RV travel while retaining an asset-light model.
Whitbread goes shopping in Britain
Across the Atlantic, Whitbread, owner of Premier Inn, acquired two Future Inns properties in Bristol and Plymouth, adding 292 rooms that are destined for conversion to Premier Inn.
Whitbread wants to grow Premier Inn’s UK and Ireland network to about 98,000 rooms by 2031. Buying existing hotels provides another route to that target at a time when developing hotels from the ground up can be expensive and slow.
That may sound like an ordinary property transaction, but it illustrates a wider industry reality: sometimes the quickest new hotel is an old hotel with a new sign.
Dukes London gets a new global home
One of London’s better-known hotel names is also changing hands operationally.
Minor Hotelssigned an agreement to manage Dukes Londonin St James’s. Following its extensive renovation, the 85-key property is scheduled to reopen in the second quarter of 2027 as Dukes London, Minor Reserve Collection.
Yes, the Dukes Bar remains.
The hotel will become the UK debut of Minor’s newly launched Reserve Collection. The deal also shows how international hotel groups can expand at the very top of the market without erasing the identity of established independent hotels.
Minor gains a famous London address. Dukes gains Minor’s international sales, marketing and distribution network.
Accor, Ennismore and the question of money
Not every hospitality story this week involved cutting a ribbon.
Accor CEO Sébastien Bazinsaid Ennismore needs additional capital to support its growth, with options including an IPO or a direct capital injection. He also acknowledged Accor’s longstanding difficulty in establishing the same strength in the United States that it enjoys in other markets.
That is one of the more interesting strategic questions facing global hospitality.
Lifestyle brands are fashionable. Owners like them. Guests recognize names such as The Hoxton, Mondrian and Delano. But rapid international expansion requires capital, technology, distribution and owners willing to invest.
Cool brands still need very traditional money.
$100 million for a resort in Fuerteventura
Spain’s Canary Islands are also attracting serious capital.
Hoteles Elba is preparing the Elba Corralejo Resort & Spain Fuerteventura, reported as a €100 million investment, with an opening planned for November. The resort is expected to include an eye-catching 24 pools along with separate family and adults-oriented areas.
Twenty-four pools may be excessive if you are the person responsible for maintenance.
For vacationers, however, it certainly solves the problem of finding a sun lounger near some water.
Argentina attracts another Accor push
Accor is also planning five hotels in Argentina for 2027 and 2028, including ibis properties in Escobar, Rosario and Ushuaia and a Mercure in Merlo, San Luis.
The projects represent around $50 million in investment from local partners, according to industry reports.
This is the asset-light hotel model in action: global hotel groups provide brands, distribution, loyalty programs and management expertise while local investors provide much of the real estate capital.
Who got the corner office this week?
Hotels may be about buildings, but hospitality remains a people business, and there was plenty of movement upstairs.
Andrea Vannibecame Chief Financial Officer of Kempinski Group, bringing more than 25 years of European luxury real estate experience. Brian Regulawas appointed CFO of OUTRIGGER Hospitality Group, effective September 21.
In Paris, Oetker Hotels appointed Fabrice MoizanPresident and General Manager of Le Bristol Paris, effective September 28.
In Bali, Sebastian Fischoederbecame Hotel Manager of Grand Hyatt Bali, effective September 21.
And Accor appointed Fadeel WehbeManaging Director for Sofitel Legend, Sofitel, MGallery and Emblems in Saudi Arabia—another indication of just how strategically important the Kingdom has become to international luxury hotel groups.
Hotels are filling rooms—but don’t celebrate too soon
The U.S. hotel market delivered some encouraging numbers.
For the week of September 20–26, national hotel occupancy reached 69.7%, while RevPAR increased 14.2% year over year. August figures had also shown modest year-over-year improvement, with occupancy at 66.4% and ADR at $161.78.
HVS expects relatively healthy U.S. hotel performance through the remainder of the year and says average daily rates have been outperforming earlier expectations.
But operators still have plenty to worry about: labor expenses, insurance, financing costs, technology spending and the simple fact that guests expect more.
Hotel owners may celebrate rising room rates. Their accountants are probably looking at the expense column.
And then there is AI
Artificial intelligence has moved rapidly from hospitality conference panels into hotel operations.
A global h2c survey reported that 91% of hotel groups surveyed are already using AI, but many still lack the staff expertise, coordinated strategy and data governance needed to deploy it effectively across their businesses. Financial returns are also much harder to demonstrate than productivity improvements.
That distinction matters. Putting an AI chatbot on a hotel website is easy.
Connecting AI intelligently with reservations, revenue management, housekeeping, customer service, loyalty, marketing and property systems—without annoying guests or creating expensive mistakes—is another matter.
The opportunity is enormous, but so is the temptation to call every new piece of automation “AI.”
One development is heading to court
There was also a reminder that resort development does not happen in a vacuum.
A planned $200 million Rosewood Exuma project in the Bahamasis facing a Supreme Court judicial review concerning its environmental approvals. The challenge includes allegations that the development was assessed in separate parts instead of as one overall project. Developer Yntegra Group disputes those allegations.
This is precisely the sort of issue likely to become more important as luxury resorts push into environmentally sensitive destinations.
The hotel industry wants extraordinary beaches, islands and natural settings. Those are also the places where development can face the greatest scrutiny.
The bigger hospitality story
Put all these developments together and the week’s hotel news tells a bigger story.
Hilton is taking Curio deeper into resort destinations. IHG is stretching brands from Nairobi to Rome and the Emirates. Minor Hotels is entering Japan with Oaks while adding a prestigious London address. Whitbread is buying existing hotels rather than waiting for new ones to be built. Choice Hotels is moving beyond hotels altogether into RV travel.
At the same time, hotel groups are talking about AI, capital requirements and operating margins while owners deal with construction costs, labor, financing and environmental scrutiny. Hospitality isn’t slowing down. It is becoming broader.
A “hotel company” can now manage a palace, operate an airport suite, sell an all-inclusive vacation, convert an existing building, plug an independent hotel into a global loyalty system—or acquire a network where the customer brings the bedroom along behind the car.
Perhaps that is the most interesting hotel story of the week. The accommodation business is no longer just competing over where travelers sleep.
It is increasingly competing over who owns the relationship with the traveler before, during, and after they arrive.
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