Global investment firm Certares, in partnership with Belcourt Capital Partners, acquired the 390-key Hilton Boston Back Bay hotel for $171 million.
The New York City-based firm bought the property from Ashford Hospitality, which announced in February it was offloading the Hilton hotel to pay off strategic financing.
The Hilton is located in Boston's historic Back Bay neighborhood, near much of the city's most popular commercial, retail and residential real estate, including Fenway Park, Symphony Hall and the Prudential Center, Certares detailed in a Tuesday statement.
The property’s location was a top investment driver for Certares, according to Director Mike Kusy, who said in the statement that the hotel “benefits from an irreplaceable location within one of the top submarkets in the country.”
“Boston is one of the only true ‘seven-day-a-week’ lodging markets in the U.S., with demand driven by a diverse set of corporate and leisure travelers,” Nolan Hecht, senior managing director and head of real estate at Certares, said in a statement.
“The city is home to major corporate tenants, world-class colleges and universities, numerous leading medical centers, state-of-the-art life science facilities and a wealth of after-work and weekend leisure activities, making this an incredibly attractive investment,” Hecht added.
The Boston/Cambridge lodging market saw year-over-year occupancy, ADR and RevPAR growth in 2023, according to locally based hotel asset management firm Pinnacle Advisory Group. The firm found that ADR in the market increased 4.7% from 2022 to 2023, while RevPAR increased 14.9% year over year.
The Hilton acquisition represents Certares’ first hotel buy in the Boston market and 12th overall. The firm’s portfolio includes other Hilton properties in top markets like Atlanta and San Antonio, Texas, as well as several Marriott hotels.
Together, Certares and Belcourt plan to modernize the hotel’s facilities to “enhance the overall guest experience,” Certares said, though the company declined to comment on the specifics of the capital expenditure project.
Boston’s Back Bay has been a hotbed for hotel activity in the last year, with Hilton opening the 1,060-room Hilton Boston Park Plaza in November and Raffles Hotels & Resorts opening its first North American property in the neighborhood in September.
