Hospitality analysts are divided on whether rising inflation and the risk of recession are already hitting investment in the sector.
Borivoj Vokrinek, head of strategy advisory and research at commercial real estate service provider Cushman & Wakefield, told a webinar hosted by hospitality data analyst STR and commercial real estate consultancy CoStar: “There is a wall of capital.”
He argued: “The increase in interest rates will make some things more difficult, but deals will still happen. We’re not facing a situation like 2008-09 when financing stopped.”
Marriott International chief operating officer for Europe Gonzalo Aguilar agreed, saying: “We continue to see private equity raising capital [although] there are constraints around more traditional financing.”
However, Sophie Perret, senior director at hotel consultancy HVS, argued: “The environment is shifting daily. Inflation and interest rates are increasing. The president of the European Central Bank has said low inflation ‘is a thing of the past’.
We’re struggling to get visibility, [but] we’re in a bad place. It’s difficult to say how this will impact.”