Quotes of the Week: IHG, Olympia, Gencom, Hyatt

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“All else equal, the cost to build a hotel could be ~5%-10% higher now (on top of the 20% tariff that was already in place for goods sourced from China). More key money could help fill some of that gap for developers to make the math pencil, but the more likely outcome is that fewer projects will get signed and started over the near term, in our opinion.” – Michael Bellisario, R.W. Baird   Read story

“While these brands bring exciting growth opportunities, their relative unfamiliarity can create hurdles in securing funding. Our goal is to help owners overcome these challenges and get their hotels built, open and operating successfully. It fills a critical market gap at a time when demand for financing solutions is growing.” – Lori Tirado-Celniker. IHG   Read story

“The niche for us is really on that mid- to small-school side, where the school is going to own the asset and they need the hospitality expertise, either in development or operations, and that’s why we will continue to chase private development opportunities on college markets.” – John Schultzel, Olympia Hospitality   Read story

“To drive gross operating profit today, you need a top-down revenue mindset. Sales teams must lead with selling premium rooms and experiences that create demand – especially during compressed booking windows. When done well, these experiences deliver what I call the trifecta of value: magical value, meaningful value, and surplus value. The guest is surprised, served, and delighted beyond expectation — and that’s what brings them back.” Edward Mady, Edward Mady LLC   Read story

“We continue to be opportunistic. We’re spending a lot of time in Europe, even further out past Europe in some cases. We’re not quite there yet, but we hope to have more transaction volume in those parts of the world. We’re excited. We’re going to stay optimistic and stick to what we know.” – Alessandro Colantonio, Gencom   Read story

“Now we can provide owners an option to have a nice property and still make money. Because if they can’t grow their reserves and they can’t reinvest in the property, it’s all tied together. It gives you a chance to keep those owners.” – Dan Hansen, Hyatt Hotels Corp.   Read story

“Japan has been one of the strongest markets in Asia but unlike in the rest of the world, interest rates there are actually increasing [impacting borrowing costs]. It’s also very competitive to buy an asset there.” – Gerald Lee, Far East Hospitality Trust   Read story

“European hotel investment is likely to ramp up in 2025, with significant growth in the proportion of investors planning to deploy at least as much capital, if not more, in the year to come.” – John Hubbard, Cushman & Wakefield   Read story

“There was significantly greater activity in Africa last year, both in deal-making and in properties opening – but we do need more. The development pipeline averages about 10 per country on the continent, and the opening of hotels and resorts last year averaged just over one per country. Both metrics are about one-tenth of global averages. We’re getting there, the number of hotels and resorts that opened in 2024 was double the previous year’s figure, and I think that could double again this year.” – Trevor Ward, W Hospitality Group   Read story