Between 9 and 11 October, more than 400 decision makers from across the hospitality industry will head to Lisbon for the Resort and Residential Hospitality Forum.
This year’s speakers include senior representatives from Hotel Investment Partners (HIP), Brookfield, Pestana Hotel Group and many more.
The following interview is part of a series aimed at bringing you a flavour of the conversations you can expect on stage, highlighting some of the big-picture trends and themes ahead of the event.
Register now to make sure you don’t miss out.
Hospitality Investor: HIP has been a big investor in the resort space over the last few years, where do you see the opportunities?
Felipe Klein: Resorts in Europe have undergone a massive transformation in recent years increasing its level of segmentation. One of the clearest examples has been the upper-upscale/luxury all-inclusive product. However, I still feel there is a lot of room to develop the non-room revenue line, both in terms of income and overall guest satisfaction. In order to develop a more holistic experience in a resort, you need to be located in a consolidated destination in terms of demand and infrastructure but with enough size of plot and right shape of building to be able to implement a more sophisticated experience. The main touristic destinations in the Mediterranean provide perfect ingredients for this new era of resorts.
Hospitality Investor: Is there much coming to market at the moment?
Felipe Klein: Not really. Today’s environment is very challenging for transactions to happen. On one side, sellers are experiencing all time CF records and thus expecting valuations to increase; on the other side, some buyers are struggling with financing conditions both in terms of LTV and cost which should drive prices down. This situation widens the gap between sellers and buyers’ expectations. Having said that, we are already seeing long-term and full cash investors approaching the resort market, this interest may unlock relevant opportunities in the upcoming years.
Hospitality Investor: What kind of segments or niches are you keeping a close eye on?
Felipe Klein: I believe an interesting trend to keep an eye on would be how the lifestyle segment is to be developed in resorts. As described earlier, the potential both in terms of revenues and experience is massive in this area.
Hospitality Investor: What is your asset management strategy?
Felipe Klein: Owning more than 22,000 rooms, mainly resorts, and under Hotel Management Agreements, allows us to have a huge exposure to information and best practices (we work with more than 10 different first class operators in 4 different countries). With all this input, we have a very active approach to Asset Management trying to bring to the table productive discussions with our different partners in order to maximize the value and performance of our assets.
Hospitality Investor: The tagline of this year’s event is “leisure to the core” and long-term investors seemingly now have an increased appetite for resorts. What makes a property or portfolio attractive to these types of owners?
Felipe Klein: I believe the key is the huge barriers of entry of these markets and how irreplaceable these assets are. A hotel located front line in Mallorca, Corfu, Sardinia, Tenerife, Algarve or Marbella to name some of the regions where we are present, it is almost impossible to build from scratch nowadays. Moreover, travel and leisure has become and will become even more a top priority in the way people will spend their savings. Both elements together makes a long term approach to this asset class very appealing.
Felipe Klein, managing director investments and real estate, at Hotel Investment Partners (HIP) will be speaking on a panel entitled: "Operating Leisure: Finding the Right Management Partners for your Needs" at this year's R&R Forum.
Stay tuned for more preview interviews and if you still haven’t registered yet, you can do so here. You can also view the latest programme, here.