AirDNA Buys Location Intelligence Platform Arrivalist

Private equity firm KSL said on Monday it intends to buy Hersha Hospitality Trust, the owner of 25 U.S. lifestyle hotels, in an all-cash transaction worth about $1.4 billion. The move would take private Hersha at an approximately 60% premium to the real-estate investment trust’s closing stock price on Friday.

Adventure travel specialist G Adventures has made a “significant financial investment” in Reforest, a digital platform that connects travelers with local communities that are restoring their ecosystems using reforestation.

If you’d thought Silicon Valley’s TripActions was running out of steam as we head towards the year’s end, after its acquisitions and extensive fundraising, think again.

The Mexican government signed a deal with several aviation unions Friday to purchase the brand of the defunct Mexicana airline for 811.1 million Mexican pesos ($42.41 million), a union spokesman told Reuters.

Hotel real estate investor and management company Highgate signed a deal to acquire Viceroy Hotels & Resorts as Highgate intensifies its quest to add luxury lifestyle hotels to its already ample portfolio.

Here are some excerpts from Daily Lodging Report from the past week. If you’re not a subscriber, you should be. Get news on hotel deals, development, stocks, and career moves. Sign up here, now.

Australia’s Flight Centre Travel Group is buying UK-based tour operator Scott Dunn for $148 million (A$211 million), in a bid to expand into the U.S., as well as the UK.

U.S.-based meeting, event and office provider Convene has bought etc.venues, which now expands its footprint in the UK.

Rural and outdoor destinations are contending with slower growth rates compared to their pandemic boom as big cities become competitive again and Americans travel internationally. 

Plusgrade, a Montreal-based company that helps travel businesses persuade travelers to spend more, has acquired UpStay, a growing provider of upgrade and ancillary revenue solutions for hotels, Plusgrade said Tuesday. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Abel Zhao, co-founder & CEO of FreeD Group, a technology innovator that specializes in proprietary enterprise application solutions, has acquired 75-year-old Connexus Travel from the parent company of Cathay Pacific, Swire Group. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Greek startup Blueground has bought corporate housing specialist Travelers Haven to grow its footprint across the U.S.