More than one third of them intend to buy hotels in Europe, according to the consultant’s latest publication, Hotel Investor Beat. And despite the pandemic’s impact on the tourism segment, only 10% of those investors put their plans on stand-by and only around 21% of them admitted reducing their investment on the hotel segment.
For Gonçalo Garcia, Director of Hospitality at Cushman & Wakefield, «the great willingness to acquire hotels once again shown by investors suggests they are already considering post-COVID19 scenarios with no travel restrictions and with whole leisure and hotel industry fully active».
For most respondents, tourist resorts are the most attractive type of asset, with 70% of investors considering them more interesting now, than before the pandemic.
The “serviced apartments” also became more attractive, with 60% of respondents highlighting the resilience, high performance and adaptation to change in mid to long-term rentals on this type of asset.
On the other hand, business hotels, oriented towards conferences and events and the ones located near airports, lost their attractiveness, due to the sudden change in work patterns and the resistance towards organising big events in the near future.
Iberian Peninsula and Portugal with a positive highlight
The United Kingdom and Ireland are the preferred geographies for investment, followed by Germany, the Iberian Peninsula, France and Benelux. If we consider the most attractive cities, Barcelona leads the ranking of most preferred by investors, followed by London, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich. Lisbon is placed in 9th , ahead of cities such as Dublin, Vienna or Prague.
Gonçalo Garcia commented that «the conclusion is clear, following the sentiment survey of the main market players (investors, owners and operators) within multiple geographies, is that Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula stand out, thus consecrating the touristic nature of these destinations and the confidence in tourism’s recovery in the short-term».
More than 50 big investors active in the European hotel investment market, responsible for €26 billion euro in investments during the last 5 years, having acquired 664 hotels (127.642 rooms), representing approximately a quarter of all the segment’s transactions.
