Hotels—The fifth food group?

Abstract

Traditional asset groups — office, retail, residential and industrial — hotels traditionally not regarded as an asset class — high operational costs in running hotels — volatility of income stream — lengthy timescale for development and construction of hotels — new trend emerging — hotel increasingly seen as main asset — wider pool of investors available — negative performance of equity markets and fall in commercial property yields — resilient tourism — sale and manageback transactions — UK REITs — all contribute to boosting the status of hotel into the mainstream.