If we thought H1 2023 was tough from a financial perspective, H2 2023 brought much of the same and the added spice of another regional conflict within EMEA. Such wars and the ensuing uncertainty do not help the deal making environment and are impacting new development in many countries. Persistent high inflation in many markets is keeping interest rates high and banks cautious, adding further treacle to the business of buying and building hotels. With 2024 shaping up to be a highly politisied year (over half the world’s population will vote this year), who knows where we will end up by January 2025.

Most markets showed continued growth in revenues and GOP, with the only markets showing signs of capping out or even heading down the curve being a few in the Middle East, namely: Doha (GOPPAR -55%) and Bahrain (GOPPAR -7.6%). By contrast the star performer in euro terms was Cairo (RevPAR +77% and GOPPAR +83%).

Construction costs overall remain high and have increased again in many markets, even though many pipelines have shrunk in the last year or so.

The slowdown in the deal space is reflected in this edition of our Monitor, with the Transaction Tracker listing less than the normal deal count. This is also in part due to deal makers being unwilling to share information publicly, thus limiting the number of deals we can mention. Come on Europe, be more open and give us some data.

Related