It’s the most expensive single hotel transaction ever in Hawaii. It’s actually the second highest ever in the United States. The 5-star Grand Wailea resort is changing ownership to the Blackstone Group for 1.1 billion US dollars. New York-based Blackstone Group LP, a private equity firm, plans to purchase the Grand Wailea, according to a report in the Honolulu Advertiser.

Blackstone acquired Turtle Bay Resort in October for roughly $330 million. In the past, the company has owned other Hawaii properties, including the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa, Marriott Wailea Beach Resort Maui, Hilton Hawaiian Village, Waikiki Beach Resort, and Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa. The $1.1 billion price tag would make the Grand Wailea sale second only to the sale of Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria for $1.95 billion almost 3 years ago. China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. bought the Waldorf Astoria from Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. Blackstone will be buying the Grand Wailea from GIC Pte, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

The sale of the 776-room Grand Wailea, for the equivalent of $1.4 million per room, bodes well for the continued strength of the Hawaii hospitality investment market. This purchase by Blackstone shows the confidence that these investors have in Hawaii. It’s great news for Hawaii. Not only are they spending top dollars to acquire the asset, but they’ll put money back into it to help increase the valuation for investment returns. The Grand Wailea wants even higher-spending guests after the sale, and a major renovation is in the pipeline.

STR forecasts that Hawaii would realize 4.5 percent hikes in average daily rate, the average price paid for a hotel room and in revenue per available room, or RevPar. Many in the hospitality industry identify RevPAR as the key performance measure for hotels since it’s the average price that a hotel realizes for each room in a property whether or not it’s occupied.

In comparison, STR forecasts that the U.S. ADR would grow 2.7 percent and U.S. RevPar would grow 2.5 percent. And within Hawaii, Maui hotels are doing especially well. HTA’s November hotel report, the most recent available, showed that Maui leads the islands in RevPAR. Maui’s RevPAR increased 6.5 percent year-over-year to $236.

Women aged 25 and over will now be allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia without a chaperone, the country’s tourism commission has announced. It’s the latest reform in the easing of restrictions in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom. As long as they meet the age requirement, women will now be able to receive a tourist visa to visit the country by themselves, Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) spokesman Omar al-Mubarak told the Saudi daily Arab News. The move is part of the country’s wider decision to officially allow tourist visas for both men and women after running a trial period from 2008 to 2010.

“The tourist visa will be a single-entry visa, and valid for 30 days maximum. This visa is added to those currently available in the Kingdom. It is independent of work, visit, Hajj and Umrah visas,” Mubarak said. He said the commission’s IT department is “currently building an electronic system for the issuance of tourist visas, coordinating with representatives of the National Information Center and the Foreign Ministry.”

Saudi Arabia experienced an influx of more than 32,000 people during its trial period of implementing tourist visas. Those visas were facilitated by various tour operators licensed by the SCTH. The SCTH announcement was not unexpected, as Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, head of Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority, said in November that “tourist visas will be introduced soon.”
Riyadh seems intent on boosting the country’s image as a tourist destination, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announcing in August a project to turn 50 islands and a string of sites on the Red Sea into luxury resorts. The visa decision comes less than four months after King Salman issued a decree ordering that women finally be allowed to drive. The new policy is set to come into effect on June 24, 2018, officially abolishing the world’s only female driving ban.

The country is also easing restrictions on women in other ways. In September, women were allowed into the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh for the first time to witness the 87th anniversary celebrations of the country’s foundation. In October, stadiums across the country were ordered to begin making preparations for women to be allowed inside from early 2018. As a result, women will be allowed into Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah on Friday to watch a Saudi Premier League football match for the very first time. Cinemas, which have been banned in the ultra-conservative country for 35 years, are also set to open in March. The country plans to have more than 2,000 movie screens operating by 2030.