30% of investors want hotels

More than 30% of property investment companies intend to buy up hotels according to a study from Cushman & Wakefield.

The findings published in the report ‘Hotel Investor Beat’ show that these investment entities, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, want hotels in tourist locations, typically near a beach.
In fact, only 10% of investors put their plans on stand-by but 21% said they would reduce their investment in the hotel sector.
Gonçalo Garcia, Director of Hospitality at Cushman & Wakefield said “the great interest shown by investors in buying up hotels again suggests that these entities are already thinking beyond the pandemic.
For the majority of those surveyed, tourism resorts are the most attractive asset with 70% of investors believing them to be more interesting now than before the pandemic.
Serviced apartments have also become more attractive, with 60% emphasising these assets’ resilience, high yield and ability to adapt to change for medium to long term investments in this type of asset.
On the other hand, business hotels aimed at conferences and events, particularly those close to airports, have lost their attractiveness because of the noticeable change in work patterns (teleworking) and a reluctance to organise large events in the near future.

Portugal particularly attractive

While the UK and Ireland are top investment markets, followed by Germany, the Iberian Peninsula, France and Benelux are also attractive.
In terms of cities, Barcelona leads the ranking, followed by London, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich. Lisbon comes 9th in the cities rankings front of Dublin, Vienna and Prague.
Gonçalo Garcia says that the “conclusions are evident after canvassing the intentions of the main players in the market (investors, owners and operators) which invest in different geographical areas and Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula come out positively because this area has many tourist destinations and there is confidence that tourism will rebound in the short term.”
The study quizzed 50 large investors which are active in the European hotel investment segment and which have been responsible for €26Bn of investment over the past 5 years, buying up 664 hotels (127,642 rooms), which represents around one quarter of the total turnover of transactions in the sector.