Blackstone, Starwood, Other Big Hotel Investors Prep for Dealmaking Rush Later This Year
Photo Caption: Lobby at Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza. Omni has funded its recent property growth out of cash flow. Source: Omni.
Skift Take
When every investor in a sector says they're "cautiously optimistic," watch out.
Military planners describe moving equipment and personnel into a region where they plan to fight a war in as "setting the theater." One might also apply the metaphor to hotel investment in 2023. Giant players like Blackstone and Starwood Capital Group are right now "setting the theater" for financial conquest, lining up capital and short-listing assets they want to buy in case optimal conditions fall into place later this year.
That was a recurring takeaway from panel talks at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles that ended on Wednesday.
Some of the biggest investors said they're waiting for a proverbial thunderstorm to clear the air. Today's uncertainty about U.S. economic markets may remain for at least a few months. Once there's clarity about the direction of equity and debt markets, then the big players will pull the trigger on billion-dollar hotel portfolio deals.
Blackstone, a private equity firm that historical
