Press Releases

International hotel property adviser, Christie & Co, has published an update of its “Portuguese Hotel Market” report, published for the first time in 2016.

Portugal has experienced remarkable tourism growth in recent years, reaching more than 12.7 million arrivals of international tourists in 2018. Demand has experienced an accumulated growth of 3.7% between 2016 and 2018, driven both by the domestic (+4.7%) and international (+3.3%) tourism. The hotel sector has also shown quality improvement in hotel supply, evidenced by the 4.7% increase in the number of 4 and 5-star hotels from 2015 to 2018. Improvement in supply is one of the main drivers of the sector's profitability, which has grown by 4% in 2018 compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, overnight stays have also increased throughout the country, registering 57.6 million overnight stays in 2018, with the largest portion accounted for by the international segment (71% international vs. 29% domestic tourism).

In 2018, Portugal maintained a total of 1,372 hotels (101,946 rooms), 18% of which were 5-star hotels, 46% of which were 4-star hotels and 24% of which were 3-star hotels, with only 12% from lower categories. Taking the total number of hotels in the country as a reference, Portugal reached a RevPAR of €52.2 in 2018 (+4.0% compared to 2017), an ADR of €79.8 (+5.7%/2017) and 65.4% occupation, which is the only indicator that has decreased compared to the previous year (-1.7%).

In addition to offering an overview of the country’s hotel sector , the report also analyses the areas of Portugal which enjoy high levels of tourism demand, including two urban destinations (Lisbon and Porto) and two resort destinations (the Algarve and Madeira), and considers the supply and demand levels, strengths and weaknesses, and key performance indicators of each.

Lisbon’s profitability is remarkable. Recording occupancy levels of almost 76% in 2018, an ADR of €103.3 and a RevPAR of €78.3, Lisbon leads the ranks among the four areas, although it is not the area with the highest number of hotels (275 hotels registered in 2018). Identified as the area with the largest hotel supply (351 hotels) Porto registered the highest RevPAR growth in Portugal, reaching €46.0 in 2018 (+9.0% with respect to 2017). It also obtained notable growth in ADR, reaching €71.7 (+8.7% versus 2017), while occupancy levels experienced a light increase, reaching an average of 64.2% (+0.3%/2017).

Regarding the resort destinations analysed in the report, the Algarve exceeds Madeira in terms of ADR (€83.0 against €69.0), as well as RevPAR (€54 versus €51). However, Madeira registered occupancy levels are higher than those of the Algarve (74% and 65% respectively) in 2018. In relation to hotel supply, Madeira had 85 hotels registered in 2018 whereas the Algarve accounted for 156 hotels.

Joan Bagó, Market Analyst at Christie & Co and author of the report, comments: “Demand growth and the improvements in the quality of the hotel supply have allowed the country’s main urban destinations to increase ADR, leading overall hotel performance growth. On the other hand, resort markets, penalised by the international demand drop, have registered lower occupancy levels than the previous year.” 

Complementary to previous reports, the report offers an outlook on the coming years for the hotel sector in Portugal. With a positive economy and rising operating levels, the Portuguese hotel market can look forward to strong conditions which will attract foreign investors to the country, presenting the potential for investment growth similar to that seen in Spain over recent years.

International hotel property adviser, Christie & Co, has released its new analysis of hotel investment in 2018, which shows a new record year in investment in the sector in Spain with €4,860 million.

Following the report preview on January 24th at FITUR, the international tourism fair in Madrid, and in collaboration with the Asociación Empresarial Hotelera de Madrid, Christie & Co has now published the full report, in which it offers the global figure of hotel investment estimated in 2018 in Spain. and the report also provides the ‘Perspectives 2019-2020’, which predicts that Spain will continue to attract investment interest in a more volatile and competitive environment.

According to the data available to Christie & Co, the total hotel investment in Spain in 2018 was €4,860 million, in a total 223 transactions (surpassing the 185 transactions registered in 2017), which represents an average price per room of €128,000 and an increase of 24.6% of the total volume of investment versus 2017. This positions Spain in second place, behind the United Kingdom (where investment is estimated to be £6,500 million), but before Germany for the first time (where €4,000 million has been estimated for the total investment in 2018).

In terms of investor profile, the report highlights the importance of investment firms as the largest source of capital in 2018, representing 53% of the total investment, with more than €2,560 million (increasing its percentage versus 2017, in which they represented 42%). Hotel companies, with 24% of the total investment figures (vs. 20% in 2017) are in second place, and REIT companies are again in third position with 15% (vs. 16% in 2017). Furthermore, regarding origin, it is noted that investment from national origin has decreased in comparison to the previous year (35% in 2018 vs. 51% in 2017), surpassed by the increase of US investors (40% in 2018 vs 23% in 2017) and the entrance of new investors from Thailand (8%) and México (4%).

The report also emphasizes how the estimated investment figures have been greatly increased by portfolio transactions and significant assets, which represented more than 60% of the investment volume in the whole country. Blackstone, which was the main player in 2017 with the purchase of the HI Partners portfolio (€630 million), has been the main protagonist in 2018 with the purchase of 48 hotels from the Hispania REIT portfolio, for €1,900 million. Likewise, transactions like the purchase of the Atom Hoteles portfolio, the joining of the Chinese group Gaw Capital and the increase of the participation of Omega Capital in Hospes hotel chain, the nine urban hotels Silken portfolio acquired by CBRE Global Investment Partners and Pygmalion Capital Advisers LLP, the takeover of NH Hotel Group by Minor International, and the purchase of Hotel Villa Magna by the Mexican REIT RLH Properties for €210 million (with a record price per room of €1.4 million) caused the total volume transacted in Spain in 2018 to once again beat all previous records.

Christie & Co, as in the report "Hotel Investment Overview - Spain 2017" published in February 2018, highlights again the interest aroused by secondary destinations, generating 23% of the total investment, with a 65% increase in comparison to 2017 (in which investment in secondary locations was 14% of the total investment volume). This percentage reflects that three out of ten rooms that changed ownership were not located in the main Spanish urban or holiday destinations.

With regards to the investment volume in primary locations (over €3,700 million), resort destinations continue to outstrip urban destinations as they did in 2017 (64% of investment in resort destinations compared to 36% in urban destinations). In 2018, investment both in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands represented more than 50% of the total volume (vs. 40% in 2017), causing a slight decline in urban destinations whose investment continues to be led by Madrid (12% of total investment in 2018 vs. 16% in 2017), followed by Sevilla (which enters the podium with 4.5%) which surpassed Barcelona (3.5% in 2018 vs. 9% in 2017), and Malaga (which in 2018 dropped to 2.9% vs. 4% in 2017).

Finally, the analysis shows how almost 93% of transactions carried out in 2018 (vs. 90% in 2017) were concentrated again in the same six Spanish regions than in the previous year: the Canary Islands (29.6%), the Balearic Islands (21%), Andalusia (16.5%), Community of Madrid (12.9%), Catalonia (6.8%) and the Valencian Community (6.3%). Regarding the average price per room per region, the Canary Islands led the ranking in the resort market, with €140,000 per room, while the Community of Madrid led in the case of urban destinations with an average price over €200,000 per room.

Inmaculada Ranera, Managing Director at Christie & Co Spain & Portugal, comments “The Spanish hotel industry continues to prove its resilience to the economic and political uncertainties that drive the global agenda and, despite noticing the effects of the recovery of Mediterranean resort destinations, the main coastal destinations in Spain maintain stable KPIs (occupancy, ADR and RevPAR). Urban destinations have proven to be solid markets resisting uncertainty related to security issues. Therefore, it is not surprising that the positive evolution of a sector which remains key for Spanish economy and continues to attract investment appetite, especially from foreign investors.”