Hotel Openings

🏡 Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants opened Kimpton BEM Budapest, a 127-room boutique hotel, alongside the Danube River in Budapest's Buda side near the Castle District. In Thailand, Meliá Hotels International is expanding with Meliá Pattaya City, a 234-room hotel set to reopen in December, and Paradisus Jomtien Resort, a 698-room property with a 43-floor tower, opening in 2028. Smith Hill Capital and Bain Capital Special Situations provided a $72 million loan to refinance Hotel Viking, a 208-room property in Newport, R.I. Crescent Hotels & Resorts will manage Virginia's first JW Marriott hotel, a 243-room property with 94 JW Marriott-branded condos above, opening in Reston in 2025.

🍴 Margo, a new 138-cover restaurant by Scoop restaurant group, is set to open on Miller Street, Glasgow. Led by Chef Robin Aitken, Margo will offer a menu of snacks, small plates, and sharing dishes featuring seasonal produce, Scottish seafood, in-house butchered meat, as well as homemade bread and pasta. The restaurant will present an extensive wine list, including fine, natural, and biodynamic wines. Aitken, who joined Ox and Finch in 2014 and contributed to Ka Pao Glasgow's Michelin Bib Gourmand, leads the latest addition to Scoop's portfolio, which includes Ox and Finch and Ka Pao in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Margo aims to evolve from Ox and Finch, sharing its ethos while promising to be "bigger and bolder.

✈ Ryanair, a budget carrier, forms its 6th 'Approved OTA' partnership with Etraveli Group, enabling OTA brands such as Mytrip, Gotogate, and Flightnetwork to offer Ryanair flights. This follows Ryanair's earlier 2023 partnerships with lastminute.com, On the Beach, Tui, Loveholidays, and Kiwi.com. Customers booking through these OTAs are guaranteed correct contact and payment info, access to myRyanair accounts, and vital flight details. Etraveli Group will use a direct API for efficient bookings. Ryanair also announces its 4th Moroccan base in Tangier for summer 2024, with 25 routes, including 13 new ones, and two aircraft based there.

🏡 Indigo Road Hospitality to open the 9th, 10th, and 11th O-Ku locations within the next year, alongside the 7th Indaco and 1st Maru location, specializing in Nikkei cuisine. Founded in 2005 by Steve Palmer with Oak Steakhouse in Charleston, S.C., the group now boasts 36 restaurants and 6 hotels. Luminosa, an Italian restaurant in Asheville, N.C., launched in May. The next O-Ku is set to open in mid-September in Alys Beach, Fla., with local chefs and Gulf coast seafood. O-Ku’s culinary director, Masatomo Hamaya, guides menu personalization, with an average check of $50-$60 per person. Upcoming openings include Tampa’s O-Ku and Maru, alongside another O-Ku in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Indaco in Nashville by 2025.

🏨 ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham opened its first location in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Wednesday. The brand has a development pipeline of nearly 270 hotels across the U.S. and Canada, with Texas and Virginia openings planned for 2023 and a goal of 75 properties by the end of 2026. CEO Geoff Ballotti highlighted the brand's growth and extended-stay market demand. Spartanburg’s first ECHO Suites, developed by Mitch Cox Companies, features a 124-room prototype on less than two acres, offering amenities like kitchens, fitness centers, and 24/7 laundry. New builds are exclusively required to maintain brand consistency, with a design offering 79% revenue-generating square footage, the highest in the industry. Mandeep Singh was appointed as vice president, Extended Stay Operations, bringing 20 years of experience to oversee Wyndham's extended-stay brands.

🍔 Azzurri Group plans to open 60 Dave’s Hot Chicken outlets in the UK, starting Q1 2025 in London. Bundobust to shut its Birmingham location on July 14th. Pizza Express tests new 'Pod' concept in Tesco, Bursledon. Chef Jakob Grant debuts Cherub’s in Deal, Kent, with 27 seats. Patrick Powell leaves The Midland Grand Dining Room and Allegra, concluding service on July 14th.

🏨 Smith Hill Capital and Bain Capital Special Situations financed a $72 million loan to KSL Capital Partners for Hotel Viking in Newport, Rhode Island. The 208-room historic property, located in the Historic Hill neighborhood, features an indoor pool, fitness center, and over 14,000 square feet of event space. The joint venture between Smith Hill and Bain Capital was formed in 2023 to support hospitality financing across the U.S.

🏖️ The Potlatch Club, Eleuthera's first luxury boutique hotel, emerged from a seven-year renovation led by owners Bruce Loshusan and Hans Febles since discovering the property in 2016. The 11-key establishment, set on 12 acres, fronts a seven-mile pink sand beach, offering a variety of accommodations including historic suites, garden cottages, and a four-bedroom ocean view villa with butler service. Amenities include the Fig Tree restaurant, Pavilion Bar, spa, pool, and gym.

🏨 Archer Hotel Collection added its third D.C. metro area boutique hotel, Archer Hotel Old Town Alexandria, formerly Lorien Hotel & Spa, in Alexandria, Virginia. The hotel features 107 rooms, 15 suites, and amenities like a fitness studio and is celebrating its 10th anniversary. IHG's Vignette Collection is set to open its first Kazakhstan property in Almaty by the first half of 2027, with three currently in Europe and a global total of 12, plus 23 more planned. Home2 Suites began construction on its 107-room property in Kalispell, Montana, marking The Hotel Group’s 40th anniversary and its second Montana hotel. Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of the TownePlace Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites Dallas Downtown, a 274-room dual-branded hotel, to Lowen Hospitality and Vashee & Associates; financial details remain undisclosed.

🍴 Chef Santiago Lastra and MJMK Restaurants are set to open Fonda, a new Mexican restaurant in Mayfair, London, in September. The establishment will occupy two floors offering traditional Mexican dishes inspired by family recipes. Utilizing heirloom corn from Tamoa, the kitchen will prepare fresh tortillas daily. The menu includes unique salsas, sikil pak, trout ceviche, comal dishes like costras and baja tacos, seasonal specials, and traditional desserts with British twists. The restaurant will also serve agave-based cocktails with a paloma section, reinvented classic cocktails using British ingredients, and a curated wine list from small producers.