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1. Spain's total hotel transactions reached €3.3 billion in 2024
Hotel transaction volume in Spain in 2024 reached €3.3 billion ($3.46 billion) in 2024, according to a report from business advisory Christie & Co. Approximately 59% ($1.98 billion) of that transaction volume came from domestic capital and 51% ($1.68 billion) was spent on urban hotels and markets. Barcelona and Madrid continued to be the main players in the urban segment, while the Balearic Islands dominated the vacation segment.
Hotel firms were responsible for 38% of Spain's 2024 investment volume, while “investment managers and firms were more conservative compared to the previous year, making up 32% compared to 82% in 2023,” the report said.
“From an operational perspective, the sector expects another year of record results in all indicators, following the trend set in 2024,”
said Alberto Martín, Christie & Co.'s associate investment director for Spain and Portugal. “This upward trend in the sector and the fall in interest rates will intensify investment interest in hotel assets, so the €3.3 billion volume we saw last year is expected to be repeated.”
2. VIC Properties announces €1.7 billion Portugal project
Lisbon-based Valuable Investment Capital Properties plans to develop a €1.7 billion project named Pinheirinho in Comporta, Portugal. The development will include two luxury hotels, branded residences, villas, townhouses and apartments, plus an already-built 18-hole golf course and an array of amenities.
VIC Properties said the development, located on the Atlantic Ocean coast 40 miles south of Lisbon, “is to be the last development of this size in Comporta given recent changes to building regulations in the area, restricting coastline development.” It also is the company’s first project outside of the Portuguese capital. Founded in 2018, VIC has more than €1 billion of assets under management, with a focus on “residential and hospitality-led mixed-use communities.”
3. Invel invests €200 million in Italian hotel firm YellowSquare
Channel Islands-based public-equity firm Invel Real Estate has founded a partnership with Rome-based hybrid-hotel operator YellowSquare valued at €200 million, according to a news release. YellowSquare has three properties in operation in Florence, Milan and Rome, now “aiming to invest in acquiring, developing and managing properties across Italy and other key cities in Southern Europe, with a target of managing over 5,000 beds.”
The agreement has created an investment vehicle, 100%-owned by Invel, that will acquire and develop new YellowSquare-managed hotels in Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal. The release added that “Invel will subscribe a capital increase in YellowSquare, becoming a key shareholder in the company. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2025.”
4. Feel-good economy boosts Spanish investment, lowers joblessness
With an estimated gross domestic product growth of 3.1%, Spain is in buoyant mood thanks to “tourism, investment and immigration,” according to The Wall Street Journal, which added unemployment in the country has dropped below levels seen before the 2008 global financial crisis.
Approximately 94 million tourists came to Spain in 2024 and “income from foreign visitors topping €126 billion. Tourism jobs were 3.8% higher in December 2024 than the same month of the previous year,” according to the Journal. While Spanish joblessness is still at a rate lower than the European Union average of 6.3%, the article added, it has fallen in four consecutive quarters from 11.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 10.6% in the same period last year.
5. PPHE posts revenue gains, doesn't raise full-year guidance
Ahead of its full-year 2024 results next month, hotel owner, operator and developer PPHE Hotel Group said its 2024 total revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization will be in line with market expectations. The company's trading update said reported rooms revenue increased in 2024 to £317.2 million ($395.7 million), a 5.5% increase from full-year 2023 revenue of £300.1 million.
PPHE has its own brands but also is the master franchisee for Radisson Hotel Group’s Park Plaza brand in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The Amsterdam-based company said reported revenue per available room for 2024 decreased by 0.3% to £120.30, “which reflected the impact of the phased openings of the new hotels.” Like-for-like RevPAR increased 1%, “driven by a sustained increase in occupancy throughout the year [up in 2024 to 75.8% from 2023’s level of 72.4%.] … These occupancy increases were achieved across all operating markets, with Germany showing the most notable increase.”