Dive Brief:
- Houston-based property management company Valencia Hotel Group completed its largest equity raise to date, enabling it to acquire two boutique hotels in College Station, Texas.
- Valencia acquired Cavalry Court and The George in the college town home to Texas A&M University. Valencia purchased the controlling interest in the properties from Chicago-based Harrison Street, the company detailed in a release. Transaction costs were undisclosed.
- The acquisitions reinforce Valencia’s “dedication to expanding [its] footprint in key markets,” the company’s COO, Roy Kretschmer, said in a statement. The deals come as more hotel investors eye college markets.
Dive Insight:
Valencia acquired Cavalry Court and The George, situated near each other in College Station’s Century Square district. The hotels are “renowned for their exceptional guest experiences and distinctive charm,” the company said in a release.
The acquisitions “align perfectly” with Valencia’s “robust growth strategy,” according to the company. Also contributing to Valencia’s portfolio growth are several ongoing hotel projects, including a Tempo by Hilton in Tucson, Arizona, and an upscale redevelopment in Arlington, Texas.
As for the College Station deals, they reflect the “growing appeal” of the college town as a “dynamic destination” for both business and leisure travelers, Valencia said.
In 2022, direct travel spending in College Station reached $427 million, a nearly 17% year-over-year increase and a 9% increase compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels, according to city tourism bureau Visit College Station.
Hospitality industry experts previously told Hotel Dive that large-scale university-hosted events help drive significant visitation to college towns, in part making them more stable than other markets of similar sizes.
The likelihood of large universities closing is also low, making the communities supported by the institutions “essentially recession-proof,” Gary Brandeis, CEO of Scholar Hotels, previously told Hotel Dive.
These and other factors have driven recent hotel investment in major college towns across the U.S. Last fall, Travel + Leisure Co. acquired vacation ownership business rights from Sports Hospitality Ventures to bring Sports Illustrated Resorts to college towns across the country. And in March, Hilton acquired the college town-focused Graduate Hotels brand.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Valencia Hotel Group’s COO, Roy Kretschmer. His name has been updated.
