Atlas in the news
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Why San Francisco has become such a hotel sales hot spot
A series of major sales in the back half of the year symbolizes a larger tourism turnaround. By Max Harrison-Caldwell Published Dec. 03, 2025 • 6:00am After a brutal few years in which the city’s tourism and hospitality market was as good as dead, outside investors are once again paying attention to San Francisco. In the third major hotel sale since September, Blackstone has acquired the Four Seasons on Market Street. The transaction, which closed last week, follows the turnover of Parc 55 and Hilton Union Square in November and the former Hotel Union Square in September. It’s the latest sign that investors are banking on downtown’s recovery — and on tourism and conventions specifically. “People are seeing the city of San Francisco turning around,” said Alan Reay, president of real estate firm Atlas Hospitality. “It’s a huge endorsement of what they see long term for the city and for the luxury sector.” Blackstone CEO Jon Gray said as much in a sweaty video(opens in new tab) posted to his LinkedIn account last month, in which he praised Mayor Daniel Lurie and the city, which he unfortunately called “San Fran.” “My enthusiasm here is about as high as it can get,” Gray said, apparently during a pre-dawn run…
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Sonder had years of red flags before Marriott made a deal — and travelers got left in the lurch
By Madeline Berg, Natalie Musumeci, and Kelsey Vlamis Nov 21, 2025, 1:17 AM PTShare The warning signs were there. Long before guests found themselves abruptly kicked out of their “Sonder by Marriott” stays this month, Sonder, the Airbnb rival, was battling sloppy accounting, a litany of lawsuits, and a stock price so low it was nearly delisted from the Nasdaq. Bankruptcy filings and SEC records show just how stark the signs were — and raise questions about why Marriott, the world’s biggest hotel chain, got into bed with the one-time unicorn. The San Francisco startup, founded in 2014, leased apartments and hotel rooms in bulk, redesigned them with a minimalist aesthetic, and rented them to travelers. It’s the brainchild of Canadian Francis Davidson, who is the ideal of a 2010s founder: VC-backed, college dropout, Forbes 30 Under 30. He offered a “revolutionary” promise: Goodbye, poorly decorated Airbnbs with quirky hosts. Hello, streamlined rentals managed with modern technology. In August 2024, he unveiled his pièce de résistance: a deal between Sonder and blue-chip Marriott, which was heralded as a way to bring that vision into the future. “Making this deal happen — along with the multi-party, complex capital raise I orchestrated — was the hardest thing I’ve…
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Former Park SF assets sell at big discount
Newbond Holdings and Conversant Capital are the new owners of the Hilton in Union Square. By Jeffrey Weinstein | November 23, 2025 Newbond Holdings and Conversant Capital could be buying at a bargain as the market starts to rebound, attracting capital from the likes of Blackstone. SAN FRANCISCO – A $408 million sale price has been reported for Park Hotels & Resorts’ former Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 San Francisco (3,000 total rooms), recently acquired by Newbond Holdings and Conversant Capital. The price marks a reported 75% discount to the appraised values in a 2016 financing. The hotels were subject to a $725 million non-recourse CMBS loan and were placed in court-ordered receivership in October 2023. At that time, Park no longer had any economic interest in the operations of the hotels. This can be considered a great deal for the buyers in what has been a rebounding market, especially for group business, and the completion of the process for Park, who just reported seeing an upswing in group demand with its Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort reporting a 57% surge. Park Hotels & Resorts Chairman and CEO Thomas Baltimore, Jr., stated, “We are extremely pleased that the court-appointed receiver…
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San Jose hotel could be converted to apartments amid market blues
Bay Area hotel market remains wobbly By George Avalos | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: November 14, 2025 at 5:15 AM PST | UPDATED: November 14, 2025 at 8:59 AM PST SAN JOSE — The Sonesta ES Suites in San Jose could be reborn as a residential hub under a proposal being floated at City Hall in a fresh sign that the region’s lodging sector remains under siege in a tricky economy. At 1602 Crane Ct. in North San Jose, the hotel could be converted to apartments or condominiums under a very preliminary proposal on file with the city’s Planning Department. The 114-room hotel consists of a cluster of seven buildings, according to the project proposal. “The applicant is interested in investigating the possibility of remodeling the hotel suites into multi-family rental apartments or for-sale condominiums,” project plans state. The proposal has emerged at a time when the Bay Area hotel market faces loan defaults, foreclosures and plunging property values. “It makes a lot of sense to convert a suites hotel like this to apartments,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, an Irvine-based firm that tracks the California lodging market. Units in this sort of lodging already contain multiple features that could readily apply…
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New Ownership for Waldorf Astoria
BY MARK MUELLERNOVEMBER 10, 2025 The Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club has seen a change in ownership, following a deal that values the Dana Point luxury resort at around $500 million, according to industry watcher estimates. Last month, Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, an indigenous tribe located in the San Bernardino region, took over full ownership of the 400-room property—one of the higher-end resorts in Orange County—from Redwood City-based Ohana Real Estate Investors LLC.Terms of the deal were undisclosed. San Manuel, whose portfolio includes Yaamava’ Resort & Casino, initially bought a 40% stake in the property from Ohana in 2023. At the time, it was estimated that the resort was valued around $600 million, or roughly $1.5 million a key. Given slightly lower pricing for high-end, coastal properties of late, the Waldorf Astoria’s valuation is now likely closer to $1.25 million a key, according to Alan Reay, the head of Irvine-based hotel consultancy and brokerage Atlas Hospitality Group. At that per-room price, San Manuel’s just-completed deal for the remaining 60% in the resort is estimated at around $300 million. The purchase is believed to be San Manuel’s largest-ever investment in a non-casino property. It is the tribe’s only…
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East Bay hotel is foreclosed in sign of region’s ailing lodging market
Lender takes property in fresh hotel loan failure By George Avalos | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group UPDATED: October 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM PDT NEWARK — A Newark hotel was seized by its lender due to a delinquent loan, a foreclosure that highlights the wobbly values for the region’s hospitality market. The Hyatt Place Newark/Silicon Valley hotel at 5600 John Muir Dr. is now owned by an affiliate of lender State Bank of Texas following a foreclosure of an $18 million loan, documents filed on Oct. 17 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office show. The bank paid $25.8 million for the 112-room hotel, equal to the unpaid debt on the loan, which State Bank of Texas provided in 2019 to the hotel’s owner. Shivam Real Estate had defaulted on the loan in June and lost the hotel through the foreclosure. Fremont residents Nimish Patel and Dipika Patel are among the principal executives and members of Shivam Real Estate, state business records show. Atlas Hospitality Group has listed the hotel for sale on behalf of the lender, according to a marketing package. Atlas Hospitality agents Oliver Shah and Justin Myers are handling the efforts. On the market for $21.9 million, the hotel was appraised at $41…
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UC investment unit buys East Bay hotel for more than $170 million
Price is less than hotel’s appraised value in sign of weakness By George Avalos | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group UPDATED: October 14, 2025 at 4:46 PM PDT BERKELEY — The University of California’s investment arm bought an East Bay hotel for well under its appraised value, a deal that hints at lingering ailments in the Bay Area lodging sector. UC Investments, acting through an affiliate, paid $175.8 million in an all-cash deal for the 331-room Residence Inn Berkeley, a Marriott brand hotel, according to documents filed on Oct. 8 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office. “This hotel has a very good location in Berkeley,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, which tracks the California lodging market. “Residence Inn is the most profitable brand that Marriott has.” Near Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley, the 16-story hotel at 2121 Center St. is also about a block from the UC Berkeley campus. In 2023, the hotel was appraised at $218 million in connection with a $120 million financing package it received at the time, according to a report produced by MSCI Real Capital Analytics. The hotel also had previously received $50 million in C-PACE financing for an energy-efficient structure. “UC Investments got a very…
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Inland Empire on development fast track
By Dennis Nessler | October 13, 2025 The Southern California region is one of the hottest hotel pipeline markets in the country, thanks to its robust logistics sector and low barriers to entry. NATIONAL REPORT — Driven largely by the growth of distribution centers, prohibitive coastal pricing and low barriers to entry, the Inland Empire has emerged in recent years as a key market for hotel developers seeking new opportunities. The Southern California region — located east of Los Angeles County and home to some 4 million residents — encompasses Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including cities such as Palm Springs, Ontario, Fontana, Temecula, as well as the Coachella and Victor Valleys. Due primarily to its proximity to Los Angeles, the region has evolved into a major logistics hub. According to the Q2 2025 Lodging Econometrics report, the Inland Empire is poised for robust hospitality expansion with 122 hotel projects totaling 12,272 rooms in the U.S. pipeline. This ranks the market sixth nationally among the top 50 U.S. markets for hotel construction volume, based on project count. One global brand company with a strong presence in the region is Sonesta International Hotels Corp., which currently operates 10 hotels, including eight Americas Best…
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San Jose hotel complex faces foreclosure as lodging market remains frail
Property in East San Jose has hundreds of rooms By George Avalos | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group UPDATED: October 7, 2025 at 6:48 AM PDT SAN JOSE — A hotel cluster in San Jose with hundreds of rooms faces a loan foreclosure as early as this month if the property’s owner doesn’t cure the delinquent financing. The 204-room hotel site consists of a Motel 6 and a Super 8 by Wyndham, according to documents on file with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office. Choice Hotels International provided the hotel complex with a $21.7 million loan in August 2024 and is now pressing ahead with a foreclosure proceeding before the end of October, county property documents show. An affiliate headed up by Texas-based lodging executive Jagmohan Dhillon obtained the loan from Choice Hotels. The hotel complex is at 2560 Fontaine Rd. near the interchange of U.S. Highway 101 and Tully Road. An affiliate that Dhillon also controls is in default on a 104-unit lodging property at 4673 Lassen Road in Livermore. The affiliate for the Livermore hotel has filed for bankruptcy. The south San Jose hotel complex that faces foreclosure is one of several hotel sites that affiliates controlled by private equity firm Blackstone Group sold in recent years to…
Hospitality: Hotels Toil
Times are tough right now for Los Angeles-area hotels, but upcoming major events may shift things in the right direction. By Sherry Karabin | September 22, 2025 With its proximity to the Getty Museum and University of California, Los Angeles, the iconic 16-story Hotel Angeleno in Brentwood draws leisure and business travelers from around the world. During an average summer, the full service 210-room boutique hotel would normally be bustling with customers. But there’s a cloud hanging over the establishment and many other hotels in Los Angeles County, which have seen fewer tourists and rising costs. “We’re struggling,” said Hotel Angeleno Partner Mark Beccaria. “Our numbers have improved since the pandemic, but we are still a lot lower than we were in 2019. … At the same time, our housekeeping costs continue to increase due to ongoing wage hikes and expanded health benefits for workers.” Beccaria added that he expects the interest rate on the hotel’s mortgage to soar, rising “by 40% next summer resulting in a much higher payment … My profit is not going up, so it’s a very challenging time.” Beccaria isn’t alone in his struggles. According to Alan Reay, president of the hotel brokerage firm Newport Beach-based Atlas Hospitality Group, revenue for the entire hotel industry has essentially remained flat at 0.4% during the…
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Braemar’s sale process highlights the squeeze on lodging REITs
By Nellie Day Sep 3, 2025 8:00am Braemar Hotels & Resorts is officially for sale. The Dallas-based luxury hotel REIT announced in late August that it had formed a special committee of independent directors to evaluate “strategic alternatives,” including a potential sale of the company, after months of shareholder pressure. Richard Stockton, the REIT’s president and CEO, says the sale process is meant to address investor concerns and unlock shareholder value. “Braemar initiated a sale process to end shareholder activism, believing it’s the best way for investors to get a premium for their shares,” he says. “Braemar’s luxury portfolio has achieved the highest revpar among its peers, and its strong performance, along with favorable market conditions, positions the company well to attract a premium valuation.” Braemar’s decision comes at a time when lodging REITs are transacting at some of the steepest discounts in the public markets. S&P Global Market Intelligence notes that as of June 30, U.S. hotel REITs were trading at 35.5 percent below their net asset values – the deepest discount of any REIT sector. Higher interest rates, rising operating costs and looming property improvement plan (PIP) obligations have only deepened the divide between Wall Street’s perception of these companies and the…
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Silicon Valley hotel sells in year’s largest deal for region’s hard-hit hospitality sector
Sheraton San Jose Hotel trades for $5 million less than 2023 deal The 229-room Sheraton San Jose Hotel is near Levi’s Stadium as well as the headquarters of tech giant Cisco Systems. (CoStar) By Rachel Scheier | CoStar News | August 26, 2025 | 12:45 P.M. A Silicon Valley hotel sold for some $20 million, marking the biggest hotel sale in the area in two years, even as the property went for about 20% less than it changed hands for just two years ago. Texas-based investment firm Shreem Capital purchased the 229-room Sheraton San Jose Hotel at 1801 Barber Lane in Milpitas, a town at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay. The seller was an affiliate of Highgate Hotels, a hospitality investment and management company that paid $25 million for the property in December 2023. The latest purchase price was also well below the property’s assessed value of just over $38 million as of January, according to CoStar. The discounted sale is the latest sign that the region’s hospitality market is still coping with an extended hangover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The financial challenges for hotels in San Francisco and East Bay cities like Oakland have been particularly acute, especially as loans…
