invaluable advantages: an existing structure and a viable location.

The common thread across both strategies is the need for realism. Too often, investors talk themselves into overly optimistic narratives assuming margin expansion where none exists or projecting rate growth unsupported by demand. While a well-run hotel can achieve RevPAR indices approaching 200, this performance is typically driven more by stronger occupancy than outsized ADR gains.

REINVESTMENT: THE MOST RELIABLE PATH Reinvesting in an existing asset offers the highest probability of success and the most attractive risk-adjusted returns. After

years of deferred maintenance and operational shortcuts, many hotels are overdue for renewal, both physically and operationally.

Hotel performance isn’ t limited by strategy; it’ s limited by discipline. Too many owners underinvest in guestrooms, constrain payrolls and defer maintenance, slowly eroding both the guest experience and the asset’ s long-term value.

Given the broader market constraints, reinvesting in existing assets is often the most compelling strategy. This advantage will only grow over time as demand continues to outpace supply and fewer hotels step forward to improve their product. The result will be a widening gap: Fewer well-run hotels serving an increasingly

mobile and discerning guest base. Not tomorrow, but the demographic trajectory is clear.

WHERE TO BEGIN If 2026 is the year operational reinvestment becomes the most reliable strategy, it starts with clarity. Owners should begin by answering three questions:

➊ What experience are we trying to deliver and what will it cost to sustain it?

➋ Where has the asset quietly fallen behind the comp set?

➌ Do we have the discipline, systems, and leadership to execute the plan— not just approve it?

A well-run hotel can generate strong returns for decades. A starved hotel, by contrast, has numbered days.

There is no single right

investment strategy; only the one that aligns with your capabilities and discipline. Development and repositioning can deliver outsized returns, but are constrained by opportunity and execution risk. Reinvestment, while less glamorous, offers broader availability and more reliable outcomes.

The challenge is not finding assets; it’ s finding teams willing to do the work.