On Saturday 20 February 2016, UK Prime Minister David Cameron dropped the bombshell that there would be a referendum on the UK's future in Europe. On Friday 24 June 2016, the Brexit-bomb exploded and the world shuddered.

This period of heighten uncertainty was exacerbated by further terrorist attacks in France, Germany and Belgium, a new Prime Minister in the UK, an attempted coup in Turkey and the confirmation of Donald Trump as the Republican Nominee for POTUS.

Hotel performance data shows that the region was indeed affected by events and several markets in Europe have dropped away materially in the first half of this year (London, Paris, Istanbul and Milan). The Middle East has also seen some dramatic declines in RevPAR, blamed primarily on low oil prices, but also perhaps due to the onset of oversupply concerns (Dubai, Muscat and Riyadh).

Despite the uncertainty, the transaction market has been busy, with Accor leading the way: completing on FRHI, acquiring multiple sharing-economy bookers (Squarebreak, Oasis Collections and Onefinestay), buying back dozens of its hotels (including 85x with Eurazeo in Europe for €504m), and in turn being a target for Jin Jiang (China). Interesting to note the number of aparthotel deals completed so far this year, signalling a clear progression in this asset class's maturity. Our pick-out transaction of the last six months has to the sale of Simonstone Hall (UK), where in March 2015 Jeremy Clarkson hit a producer and Top Gear changed for ever.

Our final-page feature is a digest of recent research undertaken by Triptease as they attempt to quantify the loss of income to hotels through OTA undercutting strategies and identify solutions to improve parity.

About WhiteBridge Hospitality

Whitebridge Hospitality is a specialist advisor to investors, developers and operators in the hospitality industry around the globe. We provide investment, operational and planning advice, and guidance in respect of the entire hospitality spectrum, including: hotels, mixed-use developments, conference and exhibition centres, spas, leisure facilities, casinos, visitor attractions and sporting venues. Our uniquely qualified team can provide services throughout an asset's life cycle, from site selection and acquisition, through master planning and feasibility studies, to operator selection, operational and asset strategy advice, to sale and agency services.

Philip Camble
Director
+44 20 7195 1482
Whitebridge Hospitality

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