Hotel investment in the Balearic Islands was 541 million euros in 2021, with a major role in the holiday category and at the national level it reached 3,180 million, according to data from the Hotel Investment Report prepared by Colliers, which considers establishments in operation, properties for conversion and land for hotel use.

Investment activity has been progressively reactivated throughout the year, concentrating 65% of total investment in the second half. The pipeline of ongoing operations, with volumes exceeding 1,500 million euros, suggests that the trend will continue during the first part of 2022.

Last year a total of 127 hotels and 22,249 rooms were transacted in Spain compared to the 68 hotels and 7,228 rooms in 2020.

The study recalls that only on two previous occasions (2017 and 2018) have hotel investment figures been recorded in Spain above 3,000 million euros, which highlights the extraordinary of this figure (26% higher than 2019) , in a context still marked by the pandemic and which is explained by the confluence of factors such as the significant cash drainage suffered by hotel operators, the high investment appetite coupled with an excess of liquidity in the market and the progressive recovery of the demand, especially in international destinations with a marked holiday nature, such as Spain.

Holiday and urban destinations

In addition to the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands concentrated an investment volume of 633 million euros as a holiday destination. Individual transactions stand out, such as the sale of the H10 Punta Negra to Blasson Property for its conversion to the ultra-luxury segment, and portfolio transactions led by RIU or Grupotel.

Barcelona and Madrid, for their part, were once again the leading urban destinations with 760 and 468 million euros, respectively, concentrating about 39% of the total and showing the clear prominence of Barcelona vis-à-vis the capital for the second consecutive year.

Operations as relevant as the sale of the Hotel Sofía and Expo – within the sale of Grupo Selenta to Brookfield -, the NH Collection Gran Calderón acquired by Lasalle Investment, or the Grand Hotel Central and the former Tryp Apolo, both acquired by Schroders, are only part of the 23 transactions registered this year and that have led Barcelona to reach its annual all-time high to date.