According to Savills, international buyers are boosting the majority of hotel investment in European cities, seeing more profitable opportunities in this type of business.
These are the cities which grow the most, apart from Bucharest, Budapest or Prague, which saw the number of arrivals at their airports increase in the last 3 years. The interest from tourists has also increased, and that has been «widely reflected in the hotel market’s operational performance».
Alexandra Gomes, Senior Analyst at Savills Portugal’s Research Department, attests the sector’s dynamic in Portugal, commenting that «in 2018, Portugal received more than 21 million domestic and foreign tourists with revenues reaching around 3.6 billion euro (+6%). Lisbon keeps scoring points and taking home several internationally recognized awards».
The analyst notes that «investment on the sector is reflected not only on the opening of new hotels, but also on the growing investment in upgrading and modernising already existing hotels, in order to continuously improve the tourism offer and create new differentiating concepts».
Savills highlights, during last year, the sale of hotels Intercontinental Palácio das Cardosas and Penha Longa Hotel & Golf Resort, for a total of 155 million euro, which represented a new historical record price per room (higher than 500.000 euro), «confirming the Portuguese market’s high attractiveness and its growth potential».
Richard Dawes, Hotels Agency Director for Savills comments that «our latest research show that the European hotel market is now a much more mature and liquid class of assets than it was a decade ago, with one of the largest buyer groups in real estate. As yields continue compressing in many of the main markets, such as Paris, Amsterdam, London and the larger German cities, those who are willing to take a chance on emerging touristic cities and non-leased operational structures find an attractive revenue solution», he explains.