Atlas in the news
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Native American casino hotels are doing well in California
by advertising April 4, 202570 Gambling is an incredibly popular pastime in California, with many punters either using online casinos or visiting their brick-and-mortar counterparts to feel the thrill of the game. As such, the state is a prime location for casino hotels, with many of these institutions regularly welcoming gamblers from across the globe. Although general hotels opening up across the state of California in 2024 did not do as well as they had in previous years, casino hotels owned by Native Americans, and on native american soil, were an exception to this rule. This comes, in part, from the passion the people of California have for the gambling scene. In 2023, it was revealed that 1 in 4 Californians gamble in one way or another. For many people, that involves immersing themselves in online casinos due to their accessibility. Additionally, many online casinos also have various bonuses to entice gamblers. Some instant play casinos enable gamblers to enjoy games without having to download any software, whereas new crypto casinos expertly blend gambling with the incredibly popular world of cryptocurrency. However, some people believe that nothing can replicate the traditional casino experience, which is one explanation for the rising popularity of casino…
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Bay Area hotel market languishes far below pre-COVID levels
Downtown San Jose shows recent strength in hopeful indicator By George Avalos | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group UPDATED: March 31, 2025 at 7:30 AM PDT SAN JOSE — As Bay Area hotels remain well below the lofty levels of success they had achieved before the onset of lockdowns to combat the spread of COVID-19, some lodging hubs in downtown San Jose are showing signs of a comeback. These trends are visible in key benchmarks that experts use to assess the hotel market, according to information provided by CoStar, which tracks the commercial real estate industry. “A lot of the hotel markets that are primarily business-oriented, such as San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, are struggling the most,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group. In 2024 compared with 2023, hotel markets in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Phoenix, as well as California overall, suffered weaker performance. The declines snapped three straight years of improvement following the pandemic. Downtown San Jose was an exception. In 2024, the city’s urban core saw a big improvement compared with 2023 in the industry’s most closely watched benchmark: revenue per available room. “We’re seeing the fastest hotel rebound in the Bay Area,” San Jose Mayor…
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Laguna Hills hotel sells for $17 million
121-room lodge bought by Lake Forest hospitality firm By Parimal M. Rohit | March 17, 2025 A 121-room hotel that offered discounted rates for victims of January’s fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena was sold for nearly $17 million, or $140,083 per room, according to CoStar data. Laguna Hills Lodge, the independently branded economy class hotel that was built in 1968, was bought by Lake Forest-based Haley Hospitality Enterprises LLC. Oliver Shah and Justin Myers of Newport Beach-based Atlas Hospitality Group represented the buyers. The hotel was sold by LHMLP, the property’s original ownership group. The transaction was completed on March 11, according to CoStar data. Laguna Hills Lodge is a three-floor, 87,500-square-foot building on 2.7 acres at 23932 Paseo de Valencia, located just off Interstate 5 at El Toro Road. Hotel sales for the central and south Orange County markets have cooled, according to a CoStar study. The stretch of Orange County between Newport Beach and Dana Point reported $125 million in sales volume year, compared to a three-year average of $340 million, according to CoStar.
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San Francisco’s Hotel Market in US Faces Uncertainty as Historic Reopenings, Debt-Ridden Properties, and Casino Growth Redefine California’s Hospitality Scene
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 San Francisco’s hotel market in the US is undergoing a turbulent transformation in 2024, with historic properties reopening, major hotels struggling under financial burdens, and casino resorts expanding across California. While some iconic hotels are making a comeback with extensive renovations, others remain in limbo as ownership uncertainties and foreclosure risks loom. Meanwhile, casino resorts, particularly on tribal lands, are thriving, driving a shift in California’s hospitality industry. As the city’s largest hotels seek new buyers and business travel remains below pre-pandemic levels, the future of San Francisco’s hotel landscape remains uncertain, reflecting broader industry challenges and evolving tourism trends. California’s Changing Hotel Landscape in 2024 The hotel industry across California is undergoing major shifts in 2024. While new hotel openings have declined significantly, one sector is gaining traction—casino resorts. In San Francisco, some of the most iconic hotels are undergoing transformations, with reopenings, sales, and conversions reshaping the city’s hospitality sector. Casino Resorts Lead Growth in California’s Hotel Industry The hospitality industry across California has experienced a slowdown in new hotel developments. A report found that only 35 hotels opened in 2024, marking a 34% decrease from the previous year. In contrast, 88 hotels opened…
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Bay Area hotel converts into housing for 700 people
SFGATE contributor Randy Diamond recaps the latest in San Francisco hotel news for the column Get a Room The Ferry Building in San Francisco during sunset. This week in Get a Room, SFGATE’s roundup of news on hotels, we start by examining 2024 hotel openings across California.Joe Daniel Price/Getty Images By Randy Diamond, Freelance Writer | March 12, 2025 This week in Get a Room, SFGATE’s roundup of news on hotels in San Francisco and California, we start by examining 2024 hotel openings across the state. While debuts have dipped compared to previous years, there’s one type of hotel that’s starting to take off — especially in the Bay Area. Next, we catch up with a San Franciscan hotel investor who scooped up one of the crown jewels of historical downtown properties during the pandemic and is almost ready to reopen its legendary doors. Later, we consider the future of San Francisco’s largest hotel — whose owner walked from its mortgage two years ago — before ending by recounting the tumultuous life cycle of a trendy hotel brand that recently folded its San Francisco location (but the Market Street property has already reemerged under a new brand name). Casinos are a safe bet for California hotels…
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Buyer Selected for $725MM Mortgage on Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Parc 55 Hotels
March 10, 2025 By Kate Snyder San Francisco’s hospitality landscape is bracing for a significant shift as two of its largest hotels. The 1,921-room Hilton San Francisco Union Square and the 1,024-room Parc 55 San Francisco are slated to soon have a new owner with the recent selection of a buyer for more than half a billion dollars in debt connected to the properties. According to reports from Trepp, offers for the properties’ $725 million mortgage have been reviewed and a non-binding term sheet has been executed and a draft purchase and sale agreement is in circulation. The deal is anticipated to close around the end of March 2025. The Hilton San Francisco Union Square is located at 333 O’Farrell St., and Parc 55 is situated at 55 Cyril Magnin St. Both hotels are close to the Powell Street cable car turnaround, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Moscone Convention Center. The hotels, boasting a combined 2,945 rooms, have been grappling with declining performance, mirroring the broader economic challenges facing San Francisco. Despite generating nearly $1 million in net cash flow in 2023, the portfolio experienced a cash flow deficit of $15.7 million for the 12 months ending…
$725M Parc 55, Hilton Union Square debt finds buyer
Emily Landes | Thu, March 6, 2025 at 4:30 PM PST 6 min read An unknown buyer has snapped up the $725 million in debt on two of San Francisco’s largest hotels, according to servicer commentary. Virginia-based Park Hotels walked away from the 1,921-room Hilton San Francisco Union Square and 1,024-room Parc 55 San Francisco in 2023 and Eastdil began marketing the debt for sale last July. “Offers have been reviewed and a buyer has been selected,” specials servicer Trimont Real Estate Advisors told commercial mortgage-backed security bondholders. “A non-binding term sheet has been executed and draft purchase and sale agreement is being negotiated.” The note cautioned that material terms were under discussion by the receiver and the buyer, so there is still a risk that the sale will fall through. The properties, which are the city’s first- and fourth-largest hotels, respectively, were worth a combined $1.56 billion when the loan originated in 2016. But that value had dropped by $1 billion by last summer amid severe declines in post-pandemic revenue and occupancy. Performance at the two properties continues to dip, according to the Trimont comments. At the end of 2024, they had a combined 40.5 percent occupancy, and just $96.24 revenue per available room,…
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LA County hotel development balks at inflation, interest rates
Despite statewide hospitality doldrums, LA has 23 hotels with 2,833 rooms under construction: Atlas Mar 5, 2025, 7:00 PM By TRD Staff While hotel development across the state has stalled, Los Angeles leads in new hotel openings and lodging under construction ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympics. Los Angeles County had the highest number of new hotels that opened among California counties last year, with five, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported, citing a report from Atlas Hospitality Group. The county also led in the number of newly opened rooms, with 607. That’s 56 percent fewer than the nine hotels and 1,370 rooms that opened in 2023, in tandem with a statewide slowdown blamed on higher interest rates and the high cost of construction. Despite the challenges, the county leads the state in hotel development, with 23 hotels and 2,833 rooms under construction — up from 18 hotels with 2,162 rooms under construction in 2023. The 300-room Kali Hotel, Autograph Collection, in Inglewood, is the largest under construction, and is expected to be completed next year. The 150-room Cambria Suites Burbank by Choice Hotels was the largest hotel to open last year. Hotel developers in L.A. County…
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Hospitality: Development Stalls
As inflation drives up construction costs, the development of new hotels in Los Angeles County has stalled. By Gina Hall | March 3, 2025 Hotel development in California slowed in 2024 and is likely to stay sluggish in 2025 as investors remain concerned about rising interest rates and the high cost of construction. A new survey out from Newport Beach-based Atlas Hospitality Group reported that Los Angeles County had the highest number of new hotels that opened among California counties in 2024, with five. It also led in the number of new rooms that opened, with 607. Still, that represents a 56% room count decrease from nine hotels and 1,370 rooms that debuted in 2023. “There is not a lot of land, so it really comes down to buying existing buildings and repurposing them,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality. “That means that you’re also in competition with multifamily developers. Those other uses and the mansion tax has obviously also had a negative impact both on sales and the desirability for anyone to build new hotels in the city of Los Angeles.” The mansion tax, also referred to as Measure ULA, is a transfer tax that applies to properties that sell for more…
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Hospitality: Hotel Sales Fall
Hotel transactions fell 58% last year, and that trend is expected to continue. By Gina Hall | March 3, 2025 Los Angeles County hotel sales plummeted in total dollar volume in 2024 compared to the previous year driven by higher financing costs and increased operational expenses. The total dollar volume of Los Angeles hotel sales declined 58%, dropping from $1.16 billion in 2023 to nearly $486 million in 2024, according to Atlas Hospitality Group, a Newport Beach-based, a real estate company specializing in acquisition, development and management. Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality, said the fall is not because California has become a less desirable market. “When we see this decline in sales, like we’ve seen in the last two years, the big message is that there is a disconnect between what the sellers want to sell for and what the buyers are willing to pay,” Reay said. “Until that gets reset, we’re not going to see a big jump in the number of sales.” The number of hotel sales in Los Angeles slightly increased in 2024 – 36 properties sold, up from 34 in 2023. The hotel that fetched the highest price in L.A. County was the $68 million paid…
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Bay Area hotel defaults on loan after $40M basketball facility renovation
Oakland Marriott City Center, the city’s largest downtown hotel, is defaulting on its loan. By Olivia Harden, Travel Reporter Feb 22, 2025 In another blow to Oakland’s tourism industry, the largest hotel in the city’s downtown is defaulting on its loan. The owners of the Oakland Marriott City Center, a 500-room hotel on Broadway, defaulted on its $100 million loan from Invesco CMI Investments, putting the property at risk of foreclosure, according to the Mercury News, citing Alameda County public records filed earlier this month. Gaw Capital, based in Hong Kong, purchased the hotel in 2017 for $143 million. Oakland’s downtown Marriott joins several other Bay Area hotels facing financial upheaval, which industry insiders say is part of an ongoing trend. “Lenders have been extending loans and pretending things might turn around,” Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based hotel market consultancy Atlas Hospitality, told the Mercury News. “Extend and pretend is coming to an end. More foreclosures are ahead. More hotel owners are going to walk away and just give the lenders the keys to their properties.” The Oakland Marriott City Center is also home to a 31,800-square-foot practice facility that previously hosted the Golden State Warriors, according to the San Francisco Business Times, until the team left Oakland in 2019. The space was recently transformed into a practice facility…
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Experts hope for a quick recovery for LA’s tourism economy
Michelle Lhooq | BloombergPublished 11:03 a.m. ET Feb. 17, 2025 On a rainy afternoon in early February, Hodari Sababu, the cowboy-hat-donning owner of LA Hood Life Tours, isn’t running his usual assortment of van excursions to hip-hop and Hollywood landmarks. “People are scared to come to LA right now,” he says, seated at a booth on Hollywood Boulevard. He adds that his small business has lost $12,000 because of customer no-shows, cancellations and refunds since Jan. 7, when wildfires first broke out across Los Angeles, eventually burning through 40,000 acres and killing 29 people. Normally, it would already be a slow month for Sababu, with low season running from January to March. That makes any additional hit to business difficult to absorb in the short term. But the tour operator is among a large number of local travel industry professionals who are predicting that this month’s anomalies will soon give way to a quick travel recovery citywide. Puffing a cigar and twirling a toy water gun, he says, “Come spring break, we hope to be busy again.” Almost a dozen hoteliers, tourism operators and analysts who spoke to Bloomberg shared an equally bullish outlook on LA’s travel recovery, thanks in…
