As we move past the pandemic, hotels have been experiencing a sharp upturn in performance, almost reaching 2019 levels. The march and rise of the brands and branded hotels seem inevitable however. The question remains; however, how many brands is too many and how good are we as an industry at explaining to the clients what each stands for? Portugal’s potential as a global tourist destination is now clear to all, and proof of this is found in an improvement in tourism statistics, which in turn translates into greater interest from international investors. International branded hotel supply is increasingly significant, far outstripping the national offer and showing a need for greater diversification by local chains.

Madrid’s hotel market is undergoing a significant transformation, particularly in the luxury segment. The city’s international visitor numbers now make up nearly half of the total tourists, leading to a surge in upscale and luxury hotel openings.

The 2022 edition of the “Spain Hotels & Chains Report” provides a detailed analysis of the Spanish hotel industry, highlighting its strong recovery post-pandemic and the evolving dynamics within the market. This report captures the state of the hospitality sector, focusing on the growth of hotel chains, the emergence of new brands, and the changing landscape of hotel investments.

A very warm welcome to this latest country edition of the Hotels & Chains report which provides a snapshot of a fascinating moment in hospitality. Will we see the direction of the industry change forever? When we wrote the last edition, we had no idea that global events would cause such chaos in a market that had seen unprecedented success in 2019. Needless to say, the events of the last 20 months have thrown the ownership and performance of the hotel industry into sharp focus, exacerbating friction between owners and operators, putting pressure on lenders, making development debt something of a mirage and laying waste to the best-laid plans of many giants in the industry. International hotel chains and brands have turned their attention to Portugal focusing primarily on Lisbon and Porto as the main urban destinations. The pipeline is almost exclusively centred on 4* and 5* hotels improving the overall positioning of the country’s hotel supply.

Horwath HTL has analysed over 1,300 hotel owning companies to identify the characteristics of the main players in the market and how the ownership landscape is structured. Foreign investment has been growing significantly, but most hotels are still owned by Portuguese companies. Recent years have seen a growing trend. Most of the acquisitions were by international institutional companies, which indicates a future transformation of the Portuguese ownership landscape, resulting in greater consolidation of the market.