2024 European Hotel Transactions
- GAS
- Mar 27
- 14 min read
Updated: Mar 27
Market Overview: Upper Scale and Luxury
The European hotel investment market in 2024 sent a clear message: prime, luxury hotel assets remain not only resilient but increasingly in demand. With €10.95 billion transacted across 137 deals, the year underscored an undeniable reality—high-end hospitality investments continue to flourish, even amid shifting market dynamics. From iconic five-star resorts to exclusive four-star properties, demand for premium assets is fuelling exceptional transaction volumes, as investors compete to secure the most valuable properties in Europe’s leading destinations.
At Global Asset Solutions, we are the experts at the forefront of this transformation. Our deep expertise in hotel asset management enables us to unlock untapped potential in every investment, skilfully navigating market complexities to maximise returns. With decades of industry leadership, we’re not merely observing the trends—we’re helping to shape them (as seen, for instance, in Madrid).
In this white paper, we will present an overview of all significant hotel transactions within the 4-star and 5-star segments. Explore this report for an insider’s perspective on the latest transaction trends, key investor movements, and our distinctive approach to enhancing high-end hospitality assets. Discover how we continue to set the benchmark for excellence and redefine what’s possible in hotel investment.
The Big Numbers Of The Year:
Total transaction volume for 2024 reached €10.95 billion, with 137 hotel transactions recorded. The average deal size stood at €79.9 million, among 4-star and 5-star properties. Over the course of the year, 23,561 rooms changed ownership, with the average price per key exceeding €465,000, reaffirming the strong valuations attached to high-end hospitality assets. For context on the price per key, countries like Portugal, France, and Italy exceeded €600,000 per key, while others such as Sweden, Poland, and the Netherlands were below €250,000 per key.
Quarterly Trends
Transaction activity fluctuated throughout the year, reflecting investment cycles, macroeconomic conditions, availability of assets and seasonal demand. Breaking down the year by quarter provides a clearer picture of how the market evolved.
Total Transaction Volume and Rooms Transacted
Capital deployment followed a similar trajectory, with notable peaks in Q2 and Q4. The number of hotel units transacted fluctuated, reflecting the scale of deals in each period.
Q1 2024: Total transaction volume reached €2.03 billion, with 4,130 rooms transacted.
Q2 2024: Activity surged, with €3.17 billion in total volume, and 6,491 rooms changing hands.
Q3 2024: The market softened, with a total volume of €1.93 billion, and 4,239 rooms transacted.
Q4 2024: The strongest quarter of the year, recording a total volume of €3.82 billion, and a record 8,701 rooms transacted, demonstrating a significant year-end push.
Transaction Amount and Average Transactions
The number of transactions varied across the year, with Q1 starting cautiously before momentum picked up in Q2 and peaked in Q4 as investors sought to close deals before year-end.
Stars do come with a Price
This report focuses exclusively on 4-star and 5-star hotels, highlighting their role in the hospitality investment market. The following analysis presents a comparison of 2024 transactions by hotel category, showcasing how star ratings impact deal volume, transaction values, and price per key.
Total Volume of Transactions: Hotel Category
Number of Transactions and Average Transaction per Hotel Category
This confirms that while 5-star hotels had fewer transactions, they attracted the majority of the total investment volume, highlighting their premium valuation and investor preference for high-end assets.
Price per Key and Total Rooms Transacted
5-Star Hotels: €865,334 per key | 7,001 rooms transacted.
4-Star Hotels: €295,339 per key | 16,560 rooms transacted.
Key Takeaways
The data clearly demonstrates the premium value of 5-star hotels, which commanded a significantly higher average transaction size and price per key than their 4-star counterparts. This also reflects their higher replacement costs and the greater barriers to entry associated with developing similar assets.
Despite having nearly half the number of transactions, 5-star hotels generated a higher total transaction volume, reinforcing their status as high-value investment assets. This does not automatically translate into a higher ROI, as luxury assets require active asst management to maximise performance.
4-star hotels saw more frequent transactions but at a lower average deal size, reflecting their broader accessibility to investors seeking stable returns at a lower per-room cost.
The price per key for 5-star properties—over three times higher than for lower-tier assets—highlights the premium investors associate with luxury. However, this perception of higher demand and exclusivity doesn't always translate into superior performance, as more affordable, higher-volume assets can often deliver stronger cash flow and higher ROI.
Largest Deals
The following illustrates the largest hotel transactions of 2024, based on confirmed information, property valuations, and market intelligence. While some figures have been publicly disclosed, others are estimations derived from industry sources. Exact amounts are not disclosed in this paper.
Highest Value Transactions
Park Hyatt Zurich - Zurich, Switzerland
In April 2024, the Park Hyatt Zurich, one of Switzerland's premier five-star hotels, was acquired by a private equity firm based in the Middle East, partnering with a European institutional investor. The transaction was valued at approximately €500 million, making it one of the largest hotel deals in Switzerland that year. The deal includes the hotel’s 142 luxurious rooms and suites, as well as a collection of high-end dining facilities and event spaces. This acquisition stands as a key example of the increased appetite for luxury assets in Switzerland, especially in Zurich, one of Europe's most stable and high-value real estate markets.
The acquisition was driven by several key factors: the Park Hyatt's prime location in Zurich's financial district, its high-end brand appeal, and its reputation among international business and leisure travellers. Despite global economic uncertainties, Zurich remains an attractive hub for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), particularly due to the stability of the Swiss economy and its global financial significance. The buyer group views the Park Hyatt Zurich as a prime asset in their portfolio, with the potential for long-term capital appreciation and sustained revenue generation from both the luxury and corporate segments.
Key Takeaways
Strong Demand for Luxury in Zurich: The Park Hyatt Zurich acquisition demonstrates that Switzerland remains a top-tier destination for luxury hotel investors, driven by its economic stability, global business appeal, and high-net-worth tourism. Zurich, in particular, continues to attract substantial international capital.
Cross-Border Investment Trends: The involvement of Middle Eastern and European investors in this transaction reflects the growing cross-border flow of capital into the Swiss luxury hotel sector, underlining Zurich's status as a prime investment destination.
Operational Excellence Drives Returns: The asset management strategy focuses on maintaining the Park Hyatt Zurich’s premium brand positioning while improving operational efficiency and capitalizing on Zurich's strong corporate demand. Investors will likely see strong returns from both business and leisure segments as these initiatives take effect.
Long-Term Capital Appreciation: Given Zurich’s status as a financial hub with sustained demand for luxury accommodations, the Park Hyatt Zurich is well-positioned for capital appreciation, ensuring a solid return for investors who are focusing on long-term growth.
Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel - Paris, France
The Pullman sale reinforces Paris’s status as a magnet for hotel investment. It came as Europe’s hotel transaction volumes were rebounding sharply – high-profile deals like this helped push H1 2024 investment to its strongest level in five years.
The transaction also exemplifies the ongoing rotation of assets from traditional owners to global investors. In this case, a domestic institutional owner (Amundi) monetised a large asset at a hefty price, while an international buyer group stepped in, drawn by the hotel’s unique location and Paris’s robust market fundamentals. The circa €330M price – about €767k per key – reflects premium pricing for prime Paris real estate. Such valuation is underpinned by the property’s irreplaceable views of the Eiffel Tower and the city’s high barriers to new supply.
Notably, this deal occurred on the eve of the 2024 Olympics, indicating investors banking on strong near-term performance and long-term tourism growth. It also highlights increased cross-border and newcomer participation: a U.S. financial giant partnering with a nascent French firm to invest in French hospitality. This kind of collaboration underscores the intense competition for assets; in 2024, even lesser-known local firms (like QuinSpark) can team with global capital to successfully bid on marquee hotels.
In summary, the Pullman Tour Eiffel acquisition fits a broader pattern of surging investor confidence in Europe’s upscale hotel sector, the strategic swapping of assets between different types of owners, and the willingness to pay top dollar for hotels in cities where demand – from both guests and investors – consistently outstrips supply.
Key Takeaways
Big-Deal Liquidity in Gateway Cities: This transaction signals that investor liquidity for large hotel assets in cities like Paris is very strong. Even for a €330M deal, buyers emerged readily – a sign that global capital is keen to invest in well-located, cash-flowing hotels in top European metros.
Portfolio Rebalancing Creates Openings: The Pullman sale exemplified how European institutions (e.g. REITs or funds) are pruning portfolios, creating opportunities for new entrants. Amundi’s sale to Morgan Stanley/QuinSpark reflects a broader trend of legacy owners capitalizing on high valuations, while new investors step in believing there’s further upside. For hotel asset managers, this shows the importance of timing – selling or buying – in response to market cycles and portfolio strategy.
Local Expertise Matters: Partnering with a local operating expert (QuinSpark) was crucial for Morgan Stanley’s success here. It highlights a lesson for investors: in complex markets like Paris, having on-the-ground knowledge and operational capability can be a deal-winning advantage. The JV structure allowed efficient due diligence and will facilitate execution of renovation and management initiatives post-close.
Upscale Segment Appeal: The asset is a four-star, not an ultra-luxury, yet it commanded a very high price – underlining the appeal of the upscale segment when it has unique attributes (like iconic views). Investors shouldn’t overlook high-capacity, upper-upscale hotels in prime locations; as this case shows, such assets can be institutional-quality targets, offering stable returns and branding flexibility in the luxury-lite space of hospitality.
Rosewood Bauer Venice
The historic Bauer Hotel on Venice’s Grand Canal, set to become Rosewood Venice. The Bauer Hotel in Venice, a storied five-star 190 key property on the Grand Canal, was acquired in late 2024 by Mohari Hospitality in partnership with Omnam Investment Group.
The seller, King Street Capital, bought the property from Austria’s Signa Group in April 2024 when they fell into insolvency, before selling the asset on to Mohari. The purchase price was reported to be around €300 million, and the new owners plan to invest an additional €150 million in an extensive modernisation of the hotel, reducing the key count to 120+ luxurious rooms and suites. This significant capital outlay will support the property’s transformation and rebranding – upon completion of renovations, the hotel is slated to reopen in 2025 as Rosewood Hotel Bauer.
The Bauer is an iconic 19th-century Venetian palace-turned-hotel, renowned for its gothic-style façade and its location just steps from St. Mark’s Square. Prior to closing for refurbishment in 2022, it offered around 190 rooms and suites across interconnected historic buildings. Signa had acquired the Bauer in 2019 from the local Bortolotto Possati family and begun restoration plans (including the creation of 90 new luxury suites), but work stalled amid Signa’s financial collapse. Mohari’s acquisition thus not only transfers ownership but revives a project to return this landmark to its former glory.
In summary, this deal stands out as one of 2024’s largest European hotel transactions – a complex distressed sale turned value-add investment involving a marquee Venetian asset that will soon re-emerge as Rosewood’s latest ultra-luxury address.
Key Takeaways
Distress Can Yield Treasure: The Bauer case demonstrates that today’s market challenges (like an owner’s bankruptcy) can present rare opportunities. Investors who are prepared to move on distressed situations can acquire flagship assets at potentially favourable terms. The key lesson is to monitor for “forced sellers” of high-end hotels – in this instance, a financial crisis at Signa opened the door for Mohari to grab an iconic Venetian property that might never have traded otherwise.
Ultra-Luxury Investment Confidence: Committing roughly €450M (acquisition plus renovation) to a single hotel is a bold play that underlines confidence in the ultra-luxury hospitality segment. Mohari’s willingness to outbid even luxury conglomerates, and to pour capital into redevelopment, signals a belief that experiential luxury hotels in globally beloved destinations will generate strong returns. This bodes well for the future of heritage hotel revitalizations – we can expect more investors to follow suit in chasing “once-in-a-generation” luxury assets.
Importance of the Right Partners: This transaction highlights the importance of aligning with experienced partners for complex hotel projects. Mohari teamed with Omnam for development expertise and selected Rosewood as the operator – a trio of financial strength, development skill, and brand prestige. For investors, the takeaway is that the successful execution of a major repositioning (especially in historic properties) requires assembling a team with complementary strengths. The result can be a significantly de-risked project and a product that meets the highest standards.
Broader Implications for Heritage Hotels: Lastly, the Rosewood Bauer Venice underscores a broader industry implication: many historic grand hotels in Europe are entering a new cycle of life via transformative investment. As seen here, there is growing institutional interest in preserving these landmarks and enhancing them for modern luxury travellers. This trend will likely continue, meaning more iconic properties (in Venice, Paris, London, etc.) will see rejuvenation. For the hospitality sector, this infusion of capital and fresh stewardship into legacy assets is raising the bar in terms of quality and innovation at the top end – and it reinforces that, when it comes to high-end hotel real estate, legacy and luxury go hand in hand.
Largest Hotel Deals by number of keys
Where is the money being spent?
Geographic Analysis of Europe’s Hotel Investment
The following presents a ranking of European countries by total hotel transaction volume in 2024, followed by an analysis of key differences in transaction size, unit counts, and price per room.
The United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Italy emerged as the most active hotel investment markets in 2024, collectively accounting for over half of the total transaction volume across Europe.
Most of the transactions were registered in just 5 countries: France, UK, Spain, Italy, and Germany.
Switzerland commanded the highest average transaction size and also highest price per key among the European countries. This is largely attributed to the fact that only five-star properties changed hands in Switzerland, resulting in a markedly higher average compared to other markets.
Who got the Biggest Slice?
The total hotel transaction volume across Europe in 2024 amounted to €10.95 billion, with significant variations in each country’s share.
The United Kingdom (16.3%) and France (16.1%) led the market, collectively accounting for nearly a third of all transactions.
Spain (13.8%) and Italy (12.9%) followed, reinforcing Southern Europe’s continued strength in hospitality investments.
Meanwhile, Germany (8.7%) and Switzerland (7.7%) maintained more robust transaction levels among other central European countries.
Rooms Transacted in Europe:
Ranking Average Price per Key per Country
Switzerland achieved the highest average price per key, at €1.6M, more than double the second-highest market; reflecting the high barriers to entry for luxury operators but based on a small number of transactions. No 4-star hotel transactions were registered there in 2024. Otherwise, Portugal, France, Italy, Czech Republic and Ireland led the chart, all being above €600K as an average price per key across 4-star and 5-star hotel transactions.
The United Kingdom, Spain and France led in total rooms transacted, totalling almost half of the hotels transacted in Europe.
Countries such as France, Italy, and Germany balanced both strong price per key valuations and high unit transactions.
Portugal ranked high in price per key (€685K) despite a lower number of keys transacted (513), suggesting that deals in the region focused on high-value assets rather than volume.
Most active locations in Europe
Paris and London have emerged as the two most dominant cities in hotel transactions, each accounting for more than 10% of the total European hotel transaction volume.
Paris, with €1.38B in transactions, led the market, while London followed closely with €1.27B. Their combined share of over 24% of the total €10.95B volume underscores their status as the primary hubs for hotel investments. The high transaction values in these cities reflect strong investor confidence, a robust tourism sector, and an enduring demand for prime hospitality assets in both leisure and business segments.
Share of Total Investment Volume per City
(only including most active cities = locations that attracted the most volume of investment)
Ranking Total Transaction Volume per City
Number of Transactions and Average Transaction per City
Rooms Transacted per City:
Most active cities ranked by average Price per Key:
2.Ibiza – €841,641
3.Prague – €714,988
6.Rome – €398,791
8.Edinburgh – €233,919
9.Lyon – €222,628
London and Paris had the highest number of rooms transacted, 2,120 and 1,473, respectively.
Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome remained key investment cities, balancing high transaction volume and a competitive price per key.
Paris led in average price per key (€936K) among the higher volume markets, followed closely by Ibiza (€841K), while Edinburgh and Lyon had the lowest price per key (€222K), indicating a more cost-effective investment landscape.
The Main Key Players in Hospitality Transactions
The following provides analysis hotel transactions based on investor type, highlighting their total investment volume, average transaction size, and their share in the 2024 hotel transaction market. Institutional Investors and Owner-Operators collectively accounted for almost 50% of the total hotel investment volume in 2024.
Share of total investment volume per Investor Type
Total Investment Volume per Investor Type
Institutional Investors dominated the market, accounting for 27.6% of total transaction volume; followed by Owner-Operators with 21.2% of the total volume, indicating their strong presence in large-scale hotel acquisitions.
Private Equity firms accounted for 19,7% of total transactions, highlighting their continued strategic investments in the hospitality sector.
Number of Transactions per investor Type
Average Transaction Size per investor Type
Momentum into 2025
Early indicators from January 2025 suggest that strong investment appetite for luxury hotel assets continues, with 11 transactions recorded in the first month alone.
The numbers from January 2025
The total transaction volume for January reached €1.2 billion, with an average deal size of €109.09 million—a 36,5% increase compared to the 2024 average of €79.9 million.
During the same month, 1,841 hotel rooms were transacted at an average price of €652,000 per key, reflecting a 40,2% increase from the 2024 average. This substantial jump in deal size signals a focus on larger-scale acquisitions and sustained confidence in premium hospitality investments.
This early momentum suggests that investors remain confident in the stability and growth potential of high-end hospitality assets, setting the stage for another active year in hotel transactions across the European region.
Global Asset Solutions Insights
Uncovering the Strategic Layers Behind the 2024 Numbers
At Global Asset Solutions, we don’t just track and analyse data—we interpret market signals and translate them into strategic actions for our clients. Several clear trends emerged from the 2024 European hotel investment landscape, reinforcing the importance of experienced asset management partners in navigating a complex sector:
1. Trophy Assets Command Premiums, but Execution is Key
The high transaction prices of landmark properties like the Park Hyatt Zurich and the Pullman Paris underscore investor appetite for prime assets. However, beyond acquisition, ensuring long-term value requires expert operational oversight, strategic CAPEX planning, and revenue optimisation—areas where Global Asset Solutions delivers proven results.
2. High demand for Resorts
Whilst an entirely separate area for research, the high costs of development, and environmental pressures limiting potential for new build, the demand for high quality resort assets remains high and likely to remain so.
3. Cross-Border Capital Flows Drive Competition
Middle Eastern, U.S., and Asian investors are increasingly active in Europe’s hospitality market, often partnering with local players to gain operational insights. GAS acts as a bridge—offering global investors independent, expert guidance grounded in decades of European market experience.
4. Heritage Assets Demand Specialist Repositioning
Complex deals like the Rosewood Bauer Venice reflect the growing trend of investors seeking value-add opportunities in historic assets. Our team’s expertise in overseeing large-scale repositioning projects ensures that these iconic properties realise their full potential without compromising heritage value.
5. Strategic Timing of Exits and Entries Pays Off
2024 illustrated the benefits of proactive asset management—knowing when to sell, restructure, or reinvest. With strong institutional and PE activity, GAS supports owners in seizing the right market windows to maximise returns and future-proof their assets.
Conclusion
The 2024 European hotel investment market reaffirmed a critical truth: success in luxury hospitality is no longer just about location—it’s about precision, expertise, and execution. As competition intensifies and deals become more complex, investors need a partner who understands not just the market but the operational realities that drive returns.
Our team deliver more than reports. We work side-by-side with investors to unlock hidden value, mitigate risks, and position assets for long-term success. Our independent, owner-aligned approach ensures that every recommendation is made with your best interest at heart.
GLOBAL ASSET SOLUTIONS is the leading Hotel Asset Management Company serving Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. The Asset Management and Advisory division provides a comprehensive range of hotel services. Contact us for more info on how we can help you make the soundest investment decision and grow your asset value.
Authors
Alex Sogno
Chief Executive Officer
Robert Walters
Chief Investment Officer
Juan Manuel Gea
Corporate Business Manager
