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News Articles About Business Leadership and Management

Completion News: Civitas Capital Group Names Austin Khan Managing Director, Investments

We are pleased to have assisted Civitas Capital Group in the recruitment of Mr. Austin Khan as Managing Director, Investments. Austin Khan is an experienced hotel and real estate investment management professional and a senior member of the Investments team at Civitas. Khan’s 20 years of experience in real estate principal investment and advisory roles includes hospitality, office, multifamily, and retail investments throughout the capital stack. Khan brings over $1.2 billion in lodging investment experience and $3 billion of total real estate transaction experience to Civitas Capital Group.

At Civitas, Austin is responsible for general management of the firm’s lodging investment team. He serves on the firmwide Investment Committee as well as various other committees, boards, and the like related to Civitas lodging investment vehicles. Austin earned his MBA from Columbia Business School and BA from the University of Virginia. Congratulations and best wishes to Austin and the Civitas team.

Travel to and within the United States grew 2.2 percent year over year in October, according to the U.S. Travel Association’s latest Travel Trends Index

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Travel to and within the United States grew 2.2 percent year over year in October, according to the U.S. Travel Association’s latest Travel Trends Index (TTI).

Domestic business travel declined 1.6 percent and underperformed its six-month trend (0.8 percent). U.S. Travel economists note that historically, business travel declines in advance of leisure heading into an economic slowdown—possibly a harbinger for the broader economy.

However, the strength of domestic leisure travel (4.4 percent) offset the struggling business travel segment and kept domestic travel overall in positive territory at 2.6 percent growth. But the report predicts that the pace of domestic leisure travel’s expansion is unlikely to sustain, with the Leading Travel Index (LTI)—the predictive element of the TTI—projecting leisure travel growth to slow to 1.6 percent in the coming six months. On average through April 2020, domestic business travel growth will remain relatively slow at 1.2 percent year over year.

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International inbound travel growth, which has oscillated between positive and negative territory in 2019, was flat in October. The LTI projects inbound travel volume will decline 0.8 percent over the next six months as prolonged trade tensions and the high value of the dollar continue to weigh on demand for travel to the United States.

This is in line with U.S. Travel’s latest forecast, which projects a 1 percent decline in international visitation to the United States when final data is tallied for 2019. While global long-haul travel is projected to grow an average of 4.8 percent annually through 2023, the pace of U.S. growth is projected to be just half of that figure at 2.4 percent. This will further diminish the U.S. share of the total long-haul travel market to 10.4 percent by 2023—continuing the steady slide from its previous high of 13.7 percent in 2015.

Remington Hotels Names New CEO to Support Third-Party Management Growth

Dallas – Following the November 6, 2019, acquisition of Remington Hotels by Ashford Inc., Remington today announced several changes to its organizational structure, including the promotion of key leaders and the expansion of its executive team to support its anticipated growth into the third-party management space. Remington promoted Sloan Dean from chief operating officer to CEO and president and Stan Kennedy from senior vice president, operations, to chief operating officer. The company also appointed Jarrad Evans as chief investment officer and created a new role: chief commercial officer.

Trump Org Considers Selling Landmark Washington Hotel

The Trump Organization says it will consider offers to buy out the 60-year lease on the Trump International Hotel Trump International Hotel Trump International Hotel, which since opening in late 2016 has become a magnet for lobbyists and diplomats looking to gain favor with the administration.

“People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel and therefore we may be willing to sell,” said Eric Trump, an executive vice president of the Trump Organization. “Since we opened our doors, we have received tremendous interest in this hotel and as real-estate developers, we are always willing to explore our options.”

The opulent, 263-room hotel built in the Old Post Office down the street from the White House has hosted parties thrown by diplomats from the Philippines, Kuwait and other countries, and has been among Trump’s biggest moneymakers. It is at the center of two lawsuits accusing the president of violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars presidents from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments.

According to Trump’s most recent financial disclosure, the hotel took in $41 million in revenue last year, up less than half a million dollars from the previous year.