Host Marriott to acquire Maui Hyatt
Bloomberg News Service
Maryland-based Host Marriott Corp., the largest hotel real estate investment trust, has agreed to pay $321 million in cash for the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa in Ka'anapali, its first hotel in the state.
The 806-room resort sits on 37 acres of oceanfront land on Ka'anapali Beach and has a 9,000-square-foot spa.
An affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, a unit of buyout firm Blackstone Group LP, is selling the hotel.
Hawai'i is a difficult market in which to build new hotels, keeping competition for the Hyatt low, Host Marriott said.
Host Marriott is raising cash through asset sales and share sales to purchase hotels in areas that will benefit from a recovery in travel demand, said Steve Burton, a money manager at Clarion CRA Securities.
"They've got cash, and if you buy into the thesis that the economy is recovering, now is the time to buy properties," said Burton, who helps oversee $2.5 billion in real estate securities, including 3 million shares of Host Marriott.
The purchase will be completed this year, the company said. Hyatt will continue to manage the hotel, according to Host Marriott spokesman Gregory Larson.
Although they share common roots, Host Marriott is a separate company from Marriott International Inc., which operates 2,600 lodging properties in the United States, including in Hawai'i.
