Asset management for boutique and lifestyle hotels
Boutique and lifestyle hotels are our core segment, not a sideline.
Independent and small-group properties of roughly 25 to 245 rooms, three to five star, in Spanish and Western European cities and resort markets: this is the asset class the firm was built around, and it is where most of our fifteen mandates to date have sat. These hotels do not behave like branded box product. There is no chain revenue system doing the heavy lifting, no regional asset manager checking the P&L, and no group procurement holding costs down. Rate growth in the segment has been strong, but so has the cost base, payroll and energy in particular, and the gap between a well-run boutique hotel and an average one now shows up in GOP conversion far more than in ADR. That gap is what owner representation is for.
What owners ask us
Hotel Asset Advisors has advised on 15 hotels totalling more than 2,000 rooms, with a combined asset value of over €1 billion. We work on a small number of mandates at a time, each led personally by a partner. Boutique and lifestyle assets in the track record include Casa Bures 5* Barcelona (80 rooms), Hotel Suecia 4* Madrid (123 rooms), Hotel Galatzo 4* Mallorca (208 rooms) and Aparthotel Malaga 3* (177 rooms).
What counts as a boutique hotel for you?
Independent and small-group properties of roughly 25 to 245 rooms, three to five star, including lifestyle-branded hotels, aparthotels and resort assets. Below about 25 rooms the fee base rarely justifies external asset management; above 245 the asset usually sits with a chain.
We only own one hotel. Is that too small a mandate?
No. Single-asset owners are our core client. We work on a small number of mandates at a time precisely so that a one-hotel owner gets partner attention rather than a junior analyst.
Should we stay independent or take a soft brand?
It depends on your feeder markets, your direct booking share and what the brand actually costs you all-in. We model both routes on your own numbers before recommending either, and we hold no brand or operator relationships that would bias the answer.
Can you work alongside our existing operator?
Yes. Most of our asset management mandates sit on top of an incumbent operator. We represent the owner's interest in budget, capex and performance discussions.
Where do you work?
From four European offices in Barcelona, Lugano, Hamburg and London, across Spain and Western Europe. Mandates and reporting are delivered in the owner's working language: Spanish, English or German.