Hotel Analyst Podcast

Reasons to be cheerful, as those in the UK hotel market look beyond recent, and current market challenges. IHG and Accor, both with a heavy stake in the Chinese hotel market, look forward to the upside of Asia’s reopening. And online bookings soar - good for leader Booking.com - but they continue to pay an awful lot to advertise their inventory.

A conversation with Joe Stather, VP market leader for operational real estate at Questex, ahead of the International Hospitality Investment Forum taking place 15-17 May in Berlin. The event’s theme is “Fortune favours the bold” - so where should investors look for the best opportunities in the market, after the pandemic?

Big beasts Hyatt and Marriott lead the pace of hotel group recovery. Airbnb’s stock rose after a solid 2022 with growing profits, but where’s the next opportunity for the platform? And we wonder what franchise specialists Choice and Wyndham will buy next, as they generate cash.

A chat with Simon Allison of HOFTEL, ahead of the Gulf & Indian Ocean Hotel Investors' Summit 2023. Why has Dubai performed so strongly, where are new hotels in the region popping up?

What's likely to happen over the next few months, as investors with cash wonder how best to deploy it, or whether to sit on it, and those with borrowings wonder how to approach refinancing. Against a gloomy outlook, hotel businesses continue to deliver cash - and it can't be long before private equity is active in the sector once more. And third party managers rev up to sign up more branded hotels, as owners wake up to the value within their assets - and the brand groups prefer franchises.

New brands - Spark from Hilton and Handwritten Collection from Accor - but who are they actually for? We mull over the leading hostel brands, and wonder who will buy into this successful niche over the coming year. And thoughts from a recent HOFTEL hotel owners conference in Madrid, dogged by economic uncertainty.

2022 saw hotel deal volumes drop almost a third in the UK - what’s the outlook for 2023? As several UK hotels are hired by the National Health Service to speed up hospital patient discharges, what about the opportunity more broadly of health tourism? And thoughts from Christie’s review of the market, how pricing might shift when and distressed opportunities may appear.

China opens up for travel once more - are we back to post-pandemic normality, finally? The UK’s student housing market looks to be maturing, and it’s a hotel investor who’s jumping in. And alternative accommodation providers embrace regulation, as they argue they’re not creating a housing shortage.

Hotel owners and investors are starting to focus more on the green credentials of their properties, and their targets - and there’s more pushback, too on regulation. More tax and regulation for the UK hospitality sector - but it’s not all bad. And we’re seeing major landlords shifting their approach to tenants, as French giant Covivio takes learnings from its substantial hotel portfolio, and create a fresh approach to its flexible workspace offering.

The curious conundrum of new investors coming into the market, as established players halt further investment. Chains of pubs with rooms are growing, backed by private equity - but are they really a challenge to hotels? And what's actually changed, long term, after the pandemic?