ALIS
parroted Maalouf, vexed by wigwag performance from late 2024 into 2025. Noble’ s Q4, he said, was up 7 %, which carried over into January 2025, when they were up 8 %.“ I was wildly optimistic,” he said. Then came DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative by the second Trump administration to modernize information technology, maximize productivity and cut excess regulations and spending within the federal government.“ It took a significant amount of government travel out of the system almost immediately,” he said.“ Then the Canadians started disliking us and then there was Liberation Day and a record government shutdown.”
Even against forces outside his control, Shah remains bullish on the prospects of travel.“ I continue to believe that the secular trends out there bode well for travel in general and for global and domestic business.”
Beyond U. S. borders, CEOs cheered the apparent, though still tepid, China comeback, both on the travel and development sides of the ledger, with Tony Capuano, president & CEO of Marriott International, pointing to optimism about growth moving forward.“ Even in an environment like that, we signed more deals in China [ in 2025 ] than we have in any year in history, even against the backdrop of weak performance,” he said.
BUY, BUILD OR SELL All of this is against a backdrop that makes building new hotels and buying older hotels difficult, laborious projects. While the consensus is that this year will be better than last, there remain structural issues and pressure points up and down the hotel investing spectrum, including a prolonged gap between seller expectations and what a buyer is willing to pay for an asset. This gums up deal flow, which continues to be a laggard to the consternation of not only property seekers, but third-party management companies that rely on and grow when assets transact and owners seek out new management. Meanwhile, as Shah pointed out, there is a vast swath of hotels in need of Covid-deferred CapEx.
Bucking the trend, however, Shah said Noble had its largest transactional year in 2025 in its 32-year history as a company. Hospitality, he said, is an eight-cap business where buyers can finance deals at SOFRplus 200. The Fed at its most recent meeting decided to hold the Fed funds rate steady at a range of 3.50 % to 3.75 %. Lower interest rates decrease the cost of debt, which is a catalyst for increased investor competition and, subsequently, higher property prices that compress cap rates. As
A boardroom panel at ALIS featured, from left, Tony Capuano, president & CEO of Marriott International, Elie Maalouf, CEO of IHG Hotels & Resorts, and Mit Shah, CEO of Noble Investment Group.
10 hotelsmag. com Mar / Apr 2026