Foreign Investment to Japan's Hotels Top $2 Billion This Year to Date
Skift Take
- Foreign investors like Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Blackstone have invested $2 billion in Japanese hotel deals this year, driven by a hotel business rebound and favorable exchange rates.
- Hilton plans substantial growth in Southeast Asia, introducing a new Hilton Garden Inn prototype and adding seven new hotels in Malaysia, including new brands like Curio Collection and Waldorf Astoria.
- Accor expands across Asia with 30 new hotels, focusing on markets like Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India, while also partnering to introduce the Swissotel brand to Malaysia with Swissotel Genting Highlands.
Bloomberg reported on the boom in hotel investment in Japan. We recently reported on the appetite Blackstone has for Japanese real estate, particularly hotels. The Bloomberg article expanded on that, saying foreign investors, including Goldman Sachs Group, KKR & Co, and Blackstone, have spent a combined $2 billion on hotel deals in Japan so far this year, the most compared with any other sector in Asian commercial property, according to MSCI Real Assets. The total for all of 2022 was $1.4 billion. The rebound in the hotel business in Japan, plus the weak yen, is driving interest. Visitors to Japan and hotel occupancies are still below 2019 levels, but the average daily room rate in the year's first half was 16% higher than rates charged in the first half of 2019. Last month a consortium formed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Singapore’s SC Capital Partners purchased a portfolio of 27 hotels for $900 mil
