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The Lodging Unlimited Group of Companies Appointed Receiver for Country Hearth Inns & Suites Hotel in Indiana

CHICAGO, Ill.,/NEW YORK, N.Y., January 19, 2012 The Lodging Unlimited Group of Companies (LUIGC), a hotel investment and services organization, today announced that it has been appointed receiver by a Midwestern savings bank for the Country Hearth Inns & Suites hotel in Madison, Ind. The hotel will be operated by LUIGC’s Chicago-based hotel management division, Lodging Unlimited, Inc., which has a 50-plus-year proven track record of operating and turning around troubled hotels. It is the eighth hotel currently owned or operated by the company.

“Many hotels were unable to survive the severe economic downturn and credit crunch and require a significant infusion of re-energized management, updated marketing strategy and creative financing,” said Morris Lasky, chief executive and founder of the management company. “We have a significant number of relationships with lending institutions and expect to increase our work as a receiver over the next 24 months. Our role for this property is to dramatically improve top-line revenues, rebuild margins and enhance employee morale. That combination will help us quickly re-establish the hotel in its market, return it to profitability and significantly improve its value.”

Lasky noted that the company is building its hotel management portfolio through taking on troubled and profitable asset assignments, both individual hotels and portfolios, and through acquisitions through its sister company, The Lodging Opportunities Group (LOG).

LOG is a recently formed opportunistic investment company formed to acquire troubled assets that require significant hands-on turnaround and repositioning expertise. Headquartered in New York City, the fund currently has a significant pipeline of both single assets and portfolios.

“We organized our group to respond to the opportunities that are emerging from the latest down-turn,” said Marty Schiffman, president of LOG. “Combined, our executive team brings more than 150 years of hotel and real estate investment experience, including ownership, third-party management, asset management and consulting on hotel assets valued at more than $8 billion in the aggregate, comprising more than 300 hotels.” The organization historically has been an active participant in the troubled segment of hotel management, and along with management, provides litigation support, development consulting and crisis consulting.

The Lodging Unlimited Group of Companies includes management divisions, Lodging Unlimited Inc.; Lodging Unlimited West, the group’s Scottsdale, Ariz.-based hotel management division; and LOG. Additional information about the company may be found at www.lodgingunlimited.com, or by calling Morris Lasky at (312) 595-1390, Marty Schiffman at (212) 909-8420, or John Cauvin at (480) 443-0909, x100.

Italy reports favorable results YTD October

Italy reports favorable results YTD October.

LONDON—Hotel performance in Italy shows a generally favourable view, as measured by year-on-year percentage change for the year-to-date October 2011 for the key performance indicators of occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room, according to data compiled by STR Global, the leading provider of market data to the world’s hotel industry.

Some markets, however, still are reporting performance decreases. These include Rome Airport Eur-Fiumicino with a fall in RevPAR of 5.3 percent, compared with RevPAR growth for Rome’s other submarkets. Similarly, the sub-market of Milan Linate - San Donato - Assago reported a RevPAR decrease of 1.7 percent when the rest of Milan shows RevPAR growth. See chart below.

PKF: Holiday home buyers need to know the new tax facts

5 September 2011: With fond memories of an enjoyable break in the sun still fresh in their minds, now is the time when many British holidaymakers start thinking about realising their dream of purchasing a holiday home somewhere warmer and sunnier. However, PKF Accountants & business advisers warn that it is important to consider the tax implications before taking the plunge.

Owners of holiday homes in the UK or other European Economic Area countries who let their properties for at least part of the year have been able to claim special tax reliefs for several years. But changes to the ‘furnished holiday letting’ (FHL) rules introduced earlier this year have made it more difficult for properties to qualify for the tax breaks.

Patrick Harrison, tax partner at PKF says: “The qualifying rules for an FHL have become tougher since April 2011. To meet the new criteria, the property must be available for commercial letting as holiday accommodation for 210 days a year, compared to 140 days previously, and actually let for 105 days, previously 70 days.

“Potential FHL owners who may struggle to meet the thresholds should decide if the purchase is for personal use or an investment, or take active steps to ensure that the property is available and actually let for the appropriate periods.

“FHL owners will be entitled to tax relief on interest paid on the mortgage, whereas those who retain properties purely for personal use or as an investment will not.

“The stricter letting thresholds must also be met in order for any subsequent sale of the property to qualify for capital gains tax reliefs. This can make a significant financial difference to the property owner as they will be able claim ‘rollover relief’ if they reinvest the proceeds and potentially entrepreneurs’ relief, which will reduce the tax on the gain from 28% to 10%, if they don’t.”

“Although buying a holiday home might seem like the ideal investment when you’ve just got back from an enjoyable break in the sun, it is worth seeking some tax advice on the basics before moving ahead.”

PKF Hotel Consultancy Servicecs: hotels performance in UK

Hotels across the country posted a strong set of results in September, according to preliminary hotel figures released today by PKF Hotel Consultancy Services.

Rooms yield in London increased by a healthy 6.8% to £139.08, compared with £130.17 in September 2010, thanks to a 7.5% rise in room rate to £156.04. Occupancy dropped by 0.6% from 89.6% a year ago to 89.1% - the second consecutive monthly decline in the capital since the August riots.

Hoteliers in the regions saw rooms yield grow by 2.1% from £50.60 to £51.66, with a 2.2% increase in occupancy more than offsetting a 0.1% decline in room rate from £64.76 to £64.71. Of the major cities, Liverpool and Edinburgh performed particularly well, posting year-on-year rooms yield rises of 6.6% and 4.7% respectively.

Robert Barnard, partner for Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, commented: “With much of the economy seemingly struggling to keep its head above water, another impressive performance from the hotel sector is undoubtedly good news. Although London remains the engine of growth, it is encouraging to see that the industry is not overly reliant on any single region and that growth appears to be increasingly broad based."

“That said, hotels cannot keep successfully battling the economic headwinds indefinitely. During the final quarter of the year, the industry will need to assess how best to respond to growing concerns about the health of the economy, the uncertain future of the Eurozone, and declining consumer and business confidence both at home and abroad. Skilful revenue management is likely to be essential if hotels are to maintain the same high level of performance that we’ve seen thus far."

“The second consecutive decline in occupancy at London hotels suggests that hoteliers will be watching guest numbers for October with interest, but I doubt that any alarm bells will be ringing whilst occupancy remains close to 90%.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact: Andy Konieczko, PR Manager, 020 7065 0537, andrew.konieczko@uk.pkf.com

Preliminary data for September 2011

Rooms department	2011	2010	% change
UK Regional hotels	851	851
Average daily room rate per occupied room	£64.71	£64.76	-0.1%
Average daily room occupancy	79.8%	78.1%	2.2%
Average daily rooms yield per available room	£51.66	£50.60	2.1%
Approximate number of rooms per day	93,900	94,100
London hotels	115	115
Average daily room rate per occupied room	£156.04	£145.20	7.5%
Average daily room occupancy	89.1%	89.6%	-0.6%
Average daily rooms yield per available room	£139.08	£130.17	6.8%
Approximate number of rooms per day.	23,000	23,000

Notes to Editors:

1. PKF (UK) LLP is a leading firm of accountants and business advisers with more than 1,500 partners and staff operating in 23 offices in the UK mainland firm, incorporating a wholly-owned financial planning company and associated offshore practices. The firm specialises in advising growing and entrepreneurial/owner-managed businesses, AIM and fully listed companies, and also has extensive experience in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Principal services include assurance and advisory; taxation; consultancy; corporate recovery and insolvency; corporate finance and forensic. The firm has particular expertise in advising sectors such as hotels and leisure; mining and resource; public sector; real estate and construction; professional practices; not-for-profit; and medical. The firm’s web site is www.pkf.co.uk

2. PKF (UK) LLP is a member firm of the PKF International Limited (PKFI) network of legally independent member firms. The PKFI member firms have around 2,200 partners and more than 21,000 staff in around 125 countries.

3. PKF (UK) LLP has been providing hotel consultancy services since the early 1970s and, in that time, has undertaken thousands of assignments throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa and further a field. Services include: market evaluation and financial feasibility studies; operational and profit improvement reviews; asset management; business valuations; international property services; corporate strategy and planning; litigation support. PKF’s web site features regular articles from the firm’s hotel consultancy services experts on industry topics – the address is www.pkf.co.uk/hotelcons

4. PKF (UK) LLP’s hotel trends surveys feature a broad range of hotels across the country although mainly in the 3 – 4 star categories and featuring rather more chain operated hotels than those operated independently. While there are a fair number of hotels in country and rural areas, there is a predominance of hotels in towns and cities. In London, supply featured is mainly in the 3 –5 star categories.

5. Final data for July 2011

Rooms department	2011	2010	% change
UK Regional hotels
Average daily room rate per occupied room	£61.30	£61.16	0.2%
Average daily occupancy	76.5%	74.0%	3.4%
Average daily rooms yield per available room	£46.91	£45.26	3.6%
Approximate number of rooms per day	99,650	99,650
London hotels
Average daily room rate per occupied room	£114.46	£110.16	3.9%
Average daily room occupancy	82.1%	82.2%	-0.1%
Average daily rooms yield per available room	£93.97	£90.51	3.8%
Approximate number of rooms per day	41,950	41,900

6. Definition of the key terms used in the surveys table are given below:

7. Room occupancy: the ratio of total occupied rooms to total available rooms

8. Average achieved room rate (AARR): rooms revenue divided by the total number of guest rooms occupied during the year.

9. Rooms yield: room occupancy multiplied by the average achieved room rate (also known as RevPar).

L'hotel Terme di Merano passa ai privati

Una cordata di imprenditori altoatesini, guidati dalla casa editrice Athesia, si è aggiudicato l'hotel Terme di Merano. La cordata è formata dal gruppo Athesia con Alpina Tourdolomit, la famiglia Nestl che possiede l'Hotel Erika di Tirolo, la famiglia Demetz, proprietaria dell'Hotel Engel di Ortisei, e la famiglia Sanoner dell'Hotel Adler di Ortisei.
Il valore dell'operazione è di 30,6 milioni di euro.

Hotel News Now | Hotels News - Article

A capitalization rate (cap rate) is a ratio that can be used to estimate the value of income-producing properties. Put simply, a cap rate is the net operating income of an asset divided by its sales price or value expressed as a percentage. A cap rate is determined by evaluating the financial data of similar properties which have recently sold in a specific market.

Read the full story in Hotel News Now | Hotels News - Article.