The Gran Hotel Velázquez, on Sale for More Than 60 Million Euros

2 March 2016

The Salazar family continues its process of selling off hotels, one that began in 2014 with their eviction from the Hotel Ada.

Madrid’s hotel market is at a fever pitch. This Tuesday, the sale of the Villa Magna hotel, on the Paseo de la Castellana, to the Turkish Dogus Group was announced. Just 300 meters from the Madrid’s central avenue, another well-known property has come on the market. The Gran Hotel Velázquez is up “For Sale,” asking for more than 60 million euros.

Owned by the Corporación Hispano Hotelera (which is in turn owned by the Salazar family), the investors who have made offers for the property have been rebuffed by the family, which is nevertheless beset by debts. “They are asking for approximately 62 million euros”, sources in the real estate sector explained to 02B. Meanwhile, those same sources believe that a fair price for the asset would not exceed €35 to 40 million.

An old-fashioned property

Although the location and the building are very attractive, it would be necessary to adapt the building, bringing it up to modern standards. Some call it “old-fashioned.” Others added that the property could be called, “vintage, if not just old.” The 435,000 euros per room requested by the Salazar brothers would require significant additional investments to remodel the establishment.

At first, the owners of the Gran Hotel Velázquez confirmed that the property has been on sale “for a while.” However, other sources at the firm then stated that they had no information on the possible sale and that any statements to the contrary were “rumours.”

The hole of the Salazars

The Salazar brothers have been divesting themselves of their hotels since 2014. In May of that year, they left the Ada Hotel – currently owned by Único Hotels – evicted for failure to pay rent to Real Gran Peña. A year later, in March, the Hotel Maria Elena went to Hotusa while Asturias went to Platinum Estates in May.

The former owners of SOS Cuétara, the current Deoleo, are awaiting a court appearance regarding fraud allegedly committed in 2008. A €213-million loan ended up on the balance sheet of another the group’s company. For that, a judge confiscated their passports and imposed a fine of 93 million euros. Also, the magistrate seized its assets to guarantee a €360-million security.

A hotel bubble

The Gran Hotel Velázquez is just one example, but prices have skyrocketed in Madrid. “A bubble is forming,” warns Bruno Hallé, a consultant at Magma HC. “Threats of a possible moratorium generate uncertainty and consequently the value of real estate increases.” Also, growth is not commensurate with the pace of occupancy and prices in the capital.

Meanwhile, an investor says: “They’ve put this price on to see if someone bites.”

Original Story: Cerodosbe – Carles Huguet

Translation: Richard Turner

 

STR & Magma HC: Hotel Investment Continues to Rise in Spain

2 August 2018 – Hosteltur

The Spanish hotel industry has increased its interest in investment due to the strong growth in yields in several markets, and despite the fact that the political scenario in Cataluña has slowed down the performance of the country as a whole. That is according to analysts from STR and Magma HC, who explain that the investment boost has been largely driven by the strength of international demand, even during the financial crisis.

“The increase in holiday tourism, as well as in ‘bleisure’ (business with leisure tourism) has opened the market to numerous development opportunities, with several operators currently working on improving their products and services to satisfy the growing demand”, says Albert Grau, founding partner at Magma HC. Thus, in his words, the Spanish hotel sector “is continuing to boom, despite the challenges ahead”.

In this sense, it is worth remembering that, between March 2015 and March 2018, Spain registered 37 consecutive months of RevPAR (revenue per available room) growth. In recent months, by contrast, there have been marginal decreases, above all due to the slow down in Barcelona, which is home to the largest number of rooms in the country. Even so, according to data from STR, in most of the key domestic markets, including in Madrid, hotel yields are continuing their strong upwards trend.

“Vacation markets, primarily Gran Canaria, have experienced YoY decreases because tourist demand has returned to rival destinations such as Turkey and Egypt”, says Javier Serrano, manager at STR for Spain.

Barcelona

STR’s study shows that, in general, hotels in the Catalan capital have managed to keep their tariffs more or less stable, although there have been more notable decreases in recent times. Following the independence referendum last October, the occupancy rate of establishments in Barcelona fell considerably. During the first half of 2018, they fell by 5.2% with respect to the same period a year earlier, whilst the ADR (average daily rate) fell by 1.4% compared to 2017.

“Although it is still too early to make any kind of prediction about what will happen in the market in the end, it is likely that Barcelona will recover quickly once the situation stabilises”, says Serrano. “Hotels in Barcelona”, he adds “saw constant monthly RevPAR growth rates in the double digits in 2016 and 2017, when the market was still benefitting from strong international demand and demand diverted from destinations such as Turkey and the north of Africa. The recent instability in Barcelona slowed down those previous growth rates, with decreases in occupancy rates driven by the decrease in domestic and international demand, mainly from the USA. Nevertheless, if the market manages to keep tariffs stable, we should see growth to the extent that consumer confidence returns to Barcelona”.

Madrid

Madrid, with the highest RevPAR growth rate in all of Spain in 2017, has benefitted over the last three years from demand due to leisure and corporate business. As well as being one of the main weekend destinations for Europeans, it has also seen an increase in interest from several Asian countries and the USA, especially when it comes to group reservations (…).

The Director-General of STR, Robin Rossman, believes that “there is enormous potential for Madrid’s hotels to continue pushing up rates”. In his opinion, “to the extent that demand continues to grow and the hotel supply market continues to evolve with the arrival of more high-end properties, we can expect to see increases in the ADR”.

Overall, the analysts at STR expect that corporate demand in Madrid will continue to increase thanks to the celebration of international events and the relocation of the headquarters of several companies from Barcelona to the Spanish capital. As such, they forecast ADR growth of close to 3% in Madrid by the end of 2018.

Original story: Hosteltur

Translation: Carmel Drake

Banco Santander Puts Hotel Koral up for Auction

6 December 2017 – Levante EMV

Banco Santander has put Hotel Koral, located on the beachfront in Oropesa del Mar, up for auction for €7 million. The establishment has 210 rooms and a swimming pool. The auction is open until 11 December.

The bank took ownership of the property as the result of a debt that it had granted to the previous owners, amounting to €2,127,677. Moreover, the property has another charge over it in the form of an unpaid loan amounting to €700,000 from Cajamar, according to sources close to the operation. The investor that offers the highest bid will acquire the property free of charges. All of the information about the bid is available on the BOE’s auction website.

The electronic auction opened on 21 November. The value of the auction is €7,082,465 and interested parties must pay a deposit of €354,123. According to information provided yesterday on the BOE’s auction website, no bid has yet been formalised for the property.

The building is located on the new promenade in the Tosalet de Oropesa area. The hotel is a ten-minute walk from the centre of Oropesa. The establishment offers 210 rooms with views of the sea or the pool, which is located in a garden area with sun beds and parasols.

The bank has put the property on the market at a time when there is a great deal of investor interest in hotels. Hotel profitability has grown by 32.5% in Valencia due to the strength of international tourism and the recovery in domestic consumption, according to a report by the consultancy firms STR and Magma Hospitality Consulting.

The growth in hotel profitability in the Community of Valencia is much higher than in Madrid (18.6 %), Málaga (15.38 %), Barcelona (14.6%), Marbella (14.5 %) or Sevilla (14.4 %). The strong performance in terms of profitability is being seen despite competition from tourist apartments, which are being marketed through online platforms such as Airbnb.

The barometer from STR and Magma HC is based on data from 145,000 rooms in more than 800 hotels located all over Spain. Data corresponding to the first half of 2017 shows a very positive trend with double-digit growth for the main indicators in key destinations and a general upward trend in terms of average revenues per available room (RevPAR) and in the average price per occupied room.

The good context for divesting has led other banks to follow the same path. Banco Sabadell has just sold its hotel manager HI Partners for €0.63 billion to the US fund Blackstone. That operation included a portfolio of fourteen hotels worth almost €0.7 billion, including the Abba Acteón in València and the Melià Villaitana in Benidorm (…).

Original story: Levante EMV (by Ramón Ferrando)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hotel Investors Switch Their Focus To Spain’s Second Cities

20 July 2017 – Expansión

Hotels have become of the star assets of the real estate sector with Socimis and investment funds lining up to buy them. And the forecasts show that these actors are set to consolidate their presence in Spain, gaining ground on the hotel groups – which will continue their commitment to a strategy focused increasingly more on management and less on ownership – and will analyse new secondary locations, in light of price rises and the decreasing yields in prime cities.

According to the Hotel Asset Management 2017 report, prepared by Magma HC, three-star hotels captured the attention of investors last year, given that they represent the most attractive asset for implementing repositioning models and improving prices. Specifically, 38% of the transactions closed in 2016 involved three-star hotels, 28% related to four-star properties, 24% to low-cost establishments and the remaining 9% to five-star hotels.

Albert Grau, Managing Partner at Magma HC, explained yesterday that the transaction market will shift its focus to the holiday segment, over the next few months, due to the (high) value of assets in prime urban destinations, such as Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, San Sebastián and Palma de Mallorca, which are at levels that compromise their future profitability.

Although in previous years, the urban hotel market was the most sought-after by investors, in 2016, it accounted for just 33% of operations, whereas the holiday segment increased to account for 66% of the total. “Prices in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona have peaked, and purchases to generate wealth or profitability are complicated given the numbers”, said Grau.

By contrast, he considers that Spain’s secondary cities offer “great opportunities” for investors thanks to the significant potential that they hold and the fact that there are well-located assets there at “very attractive” prices.

However, the partner at Magma HC considers that the sector is a long way from a bubble, thanks to the greater professionalisation and the new requirements in terms of indebtedness levels.

Moreover, the report highlights that the Spanish hotel sector can expect to see new operations between hotel groups, such as between Starwood and Marriott, Fairmont and Grupo Accord and the purchase of Sidorme by B&B Hotels.

Commitment to rent

In terms of the business model, the most popular formula is still rental. Grau underlines that, given the strong performance of the market, owners who took the decision to bet on variable rentals are now receiving greater returns. In addition, the partner at Magma HC believes that the period of rent renegotiations, seen in previous years, is now over.

According to Magma HC’s report, hotel groups own 37% of their assets, lease 33% of them, manage 18% and operate 13% as franchises.

Grau explains that “more Anglo-Saxon” operations – management and franchising – are not growing, but continue to have a specific weight in the market and there is a growing trend to adopt them increasingly more, in line with international standards.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake