HotelsMag September 2023 | Page 64

PERSPECTIVE

Office asset valuations have declined . Are hotels next ?

Contributed by DOUGLAS HERCHER , ROBERTDOUGLAS

The real estate trades have been abuzz with stories of unprecedented valuation declines for office assets and the resulting office building loan defaults and foreclosures among even the bluest of blue-chip borrowers . Given the 500-basis-point surge in interest rates that began with the first fed funds rate increase in March 2022 , combined with the credit crunch precipitated by the regional bank crisis in March 2023 , it ' s prudent , if not worrisome , to ask now : Will the hotel market suffer the same kind of distress ?

The good news for hotel investors is that fundamentals remain
64 hotelsmag . com September 2023