This article reflects insights from lender-side conversations carried out as part of a strategic review of a UK-wide hotel portfolio in H1 2025. Interviews were conducted with a cross-section of lenders — to test appetite, indicative pricing, covenant structures, and refinancing criteria. All findings have been anonymised and aggregated to reflect current lender thinking and underwriting behaviour; equity-side perspectives were not included in this review.

In today’s fragmented and fast-evolving hospitality landscape, selecting the right markets for hotel investment and operation is both a strategic imperative and a complex challenge. Unlike other asset classes, the hotel sector lacks a unified, transparent dataset for total returns — making it harder to assess performance, compare opportunities, or build diversified portfolios with confidence.

The data as published in the report is based on the economic forecast by Deloitte Access Economics for the June 2025 quarter, historical hotel performance from STR as of June 2025, as well as historical tourism data available as of March 2025, including forecasted domestic and international visitation from Tourism Research Australia (TRA) as at December 2024, which has been adjusted by Horwath HTL.

While some hotel markets celebrated their best July in years, others faced a significant drop in demand. Find out which factors separated the leaders from the laggards in our latest hotel performance review.

The tourism sector, recognized as one of the most dynamic industries, is highly vulnerable to economic, political, and social shifts. The tourism sector faces an ongoing challenge – the fragility of destinations during periods of crisis. Destinations that adopt a strategic and diversified approach achieve greater resilience and maintain their competitiveness even in adverse scenarios. The key lies in building a “mix” that integrates various attractions and capabilities, reducing dependence on variables such as price, specific events, passing trends, or niche markets.