Marriott alleges Sonder tried to leverage guest safety for more funding
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — More education and guidance are required to guide hoteliers in the right direction regarding sustainability, with the discipline often promoted more in rhetoric than practice, especially in luxury hotels.
Sustainability is mandatory in the top segment — especially among younger generations — but the conversation is not always an easy one when guests are paying exceedingly high average daily rates, according to panelists at the Inspire: Luxury Hospitality Conference. Hoteliers also need to be in step with business travelers who would never book a hotel that was not aligned to their own ESG requirements and mandates.
In Europe, banks insist on sustainability in hotel projects, said Jeroen van Gils, development director for Europe, at WorldHotels, a collection of luxury and lifestyle independent hotels affiliated with global brand company BWH Hotels.
“Our job is to educate and influence. We need to guide hotels so that they are a commercial and sustainability success,” he said.
Irina Tomic, CEO and founder of True Hospitality and the 29-room Hotel Antica on Croatia's Hvar Island — which is affiliated with WorldHotels — said sustainability must be incorporated in every division in a hotel, brand or company portfolio. That comes with challenges in alignment, too, she said.
“In one hotel we have in Croatia, we have staff from 10 different nationalities, so language and understanding must be aligned. That leads to challenges in how [a hotel does its] reporting,” she added.
Otakar John, general manager at the 300-room Stages Hotel Prague, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, said sustainable policies and conduct need to be shared between a hotel's management, staff and guests. In the luxury space, hotel guests do care about sustainability, but they also have luxury expectations, which can lead to discrepancies in behavior, he added.
“Much of this is common sense, talking to your teams and leading by example. That will eventually lead to your P&L and a positive impact,” John said.
Stefan de Goeij, partner at Cushman & Wakefield and head of sustainability and environmental, social and governance for Central and Eastern Europe, said conversations with user groups started from a base of analyzing the decarbonization and de-risking of assets and the strategies that add value to them.
Angela Pinzón, marketing manager at Nalco Water F&B Europe, a division of Ecolab — and a former president of its global sustainability network leadership team — said water is the one resource that continues to be underrated and overlooked in ESG and that this also requires education.
Water efficiency is likely to become more important in sustainability goals once the hotel industry has energy efficiency under control, de Goeij said. He added he is starting to see premiums going up in Europe from clients willing to pay more for offices and other real estate that are sustainable.
Collaboration
It's up to the hospitality industry to drive the environmental and sustainability changes that are needed, Pinzón said. But clear guidance from regulators would help in this effort, she added.
“In June 2025, the European Commission formally put water at the center of the agenda. Corporations, society, NGOs should partner, which would be a huge sign of intention. Work with your neighbors to help mitigate risks. Water is a shared resource,” she said.
Hoteliers must influence each other in an industry that is a very transparent one, Van Gils said.
“We share data on revenue per available room [for benchmarking], so why not on sustainability numbers. We must challenge each other,” he said.
Balance and common sense have a role in that, John said.
“Things must make sense. If [messaging] goes over an edge, people do not like it anymore. It is easy to lose the meaning of it all if you force people to do something that they do not see as productive,” he said.
One industry standard to achieve green certification for the Stages Hotel Prague saw the P&L hit by energy prices that were between 30% to 40% more expensive, John said.
“We need to share these downsides, too. Stand up as an industry to say, 'No, we’re not going to use that,'” he said. “The option to skip housekeeping? Every hotel has that now, but at the end of the day the real impact for the hotel is non-existent as the hotel has prepaid.”
One thing John said the Stages Hotel Prague is offering is a non-cleaning rate at the original moment of booking.
“If this [rate] is booked, the guest knows [the room will not be cleaned] before the stay and this makes financial success. The future of sustainability is synergies. People appreciate the right to choose,” he said.
More data on hotel sustainability is needed, panelists said.
“Get the right data and showcase it,” van Gils said.
A thorough understanding of data in the hotel and general real estate environment is critical, de Goeij said.
“In hotels, you are partly depending on your guests, but you do have some control. The greener you are, the better terms you get, and this is the gist, but you have to be in control of the data,” he said.
He added in the luxury sector, enveloped in the high average daily rate that segment achieves, ESG is not showcased.
One theme in the ILHA conference was the major influence of emotion in travel and hospitality. The panel agreed that ESG initiatives should be communicated to all with that same level of passion.
“Emotion and sincerity,” Tomic said.
“Add that to the technology already here to scale change. And add to that the shared experiences,” Pinzón added.
Amar Lalvani talks lifestyle truths
NATIONAL REPORT – Amar Lalvani sees too many self-identified lifestyle and boutique hotel brands that are not clearly defined and unable to execute on lofty promises at the property level.
The executive vice president, president and creative director of Lifestyle hotels at Hyatt Hotels Corp. since they acquired his Standard International hotel company in 2024, Lalvani told Hotel Investment Today it takes a lot of nurturing from everyone involved for guests to truly identify with a brand’s ethos.
Among the way you do that, he said, is by having a tight brand definition that is succinctly communicated and truthful.
In this latest On The Money interview, Lalvani talks about how to succeed in the increasingly crowded lifestyle space, how he is adjusting to life at a big public company, and what’s coming next in the space.
Complete video transcript
Jeff Weinstein: Hi, I'm Jeff Weinstein, editor in chief of Hotel Investment Today, and this is On The Money.
My guest today is Amar Lalvani, executive vice president, president and creative director of Lifestyle Hotels for Hyatt Hotels Corp. Amar joined Hyatt last year following its acquisition of Standard International, and now leads the lifestyle group headquartered in New York City.
He manages the business across key functions, including experience creation, design, marketing, programming, public relations, restaurants, nightlife, and entertainment.
Lalvani began his career in hospitality over 25 years ago with Starwood Capital Group, where he served on the acquisition team, as well as becoming the first assistant to Chairman Barry Sternlich. He later led the global development efforts for W Hotels.
In 2010, Lalvani collaborated with Andre Balaz on notable projects, including the Chiltern Firehouse in London, the Standard East Village in New York City.
In 2013, he led the group of investors in the acquisition of Standard Brand from Balaz, forming Standard International.
In 2015, he also led the acquisition of a majority stake in the Bunkhouse Group.
More recently, from 2021 to 2024, he served as executive chairman of Standard International, focused on creative initiatives, including the development and launch of the StandardX brand and the Manner brand, as well as leading the sale of the company to Hyatt.
Amar, welcome, and thanks for sharing your time with us today.
Amar Lalvani: Thanks, Jeff. It's a pleasure, it's great to see you.
Weinstein: Yeah, likewise. So, I ran into Catie Kramer about two weeks ago. She's the head of Hyatt luxury and lifestyle development, and she told me that you've been busy pulling apart and redefining Hyatt Lifestyle brands. She used the words distinct, ownable, executable, succinct, and truthful to describe the branding journey. Elaborate on that a little bit, on what you've been doing, and what those keywords mean.
Lalvani: For sure. I think as I look around the industry, and you go to these conferences and watch the news, there's brand after brand after brand being launched.
And to me, there's a difference between a name and a brand. And what it means to build a brand, to own a brand, to nurture a brand, to love a brand, takes a lot, and that's a big deal. And that's how I grew up. In the early days of W, we launched something very, very special, something different, something unique in the industry.
When I joined Andre, I found much the same, but a real soul to what he created and the Standard that I was able to take on and respect and nurture. I found the same thing when it came to Bunkhouse and what Liz Lambert created, and I was… had the honor to take that on as well. And what I found with those brands is that the people behind them, the founders and everybody within the organization marched to the beat of one drum.
And lived and breathed the soul of those brands to bring them to life for the benefit of our guests and to our owners.
And as I look at the industry landscape, that's different than what I see with a lot of the big companies. And, so what I'm bringing to Hyatt, I believe, is that passion, that energy, that creativity to create not just a name, but to create a brand, and the experiences that come along with it. So, as Mark asked me to join both to continue the growth of Standard and Bunkhouse, and to make sure that those stay in good stead, but to take a look at the entire lifestyle portfolio.
And it's a blessing to have these really amazing brands, things like JdV, Joie de Viv, which was started by Chip Conley, another legend in the industry; Thompson Hotels, which was started by Jason Pomeranz; and several Andaz, launched by Nick Pritzker and Steve Goldman with Mark Hoplamazian back in the day. So, to me, to take the DNA of what there is there, to mine them, to go deep and figure out what they actually mean, what they stand for.
And how do they… how do they resonate for the next decades? It's super interesting.
And Catie mentioned those words, which has been kind of a framework that I came up with to say, how do we… how should brands be defined? So, they were distinct. You need to be distinct and different from each other, so that people can tell them apart. When I came to Hyatt, people were… there were questions even internally, what's the difference between Thompson and Andaz? And to me, those differences were clear, but they hadn't been distinctly… they hadn't been made distinct and articulated.
Second, brands need to be able to be communicated in a very succinct fashion. I find too many, too much agency work, too much brand work, large decks, a lot of the same buzzwords over and over again that actually become meaningless and don't mean anything to guests or customers. So, make sure that you have a tight definition, they're different from each other, succinctly communicated.
That they're ownable, meaning that we do something different with these brands than anybody else does, or anybody else who claimed that space would be, it would not hold true.
Next, they need to be truthful. There's way too much, there's way too much over-promising in this business. There's way too much, too many words that sound great, but are not executed on property. And in this business, it's even worse to do… it's really, really bad to do that in any business, but in this business, you have these aspirational qualities and all these… all this stuff that sounds great, and you walk in the door.
And it's like Mike Tyson said, everything… everybody has a plan to get punched in the face. You walk through the door, and it comes true. It's not true. You lost that customer for life.
So, I hammer home, whatever we tell the guests, whatever we tell our customers, whatever we talk about our brands, they must be truthful.
And lastly, as we try to do this around the world, they have to be executable. We just opened a Thompson in Shanghai. Many of the people have never been to a boutique hotel, a lifestyle hotel, let alone been to a Thompson hotel. So, our brands must be written in a way, communicated in a way, trained in a way, that they're actually executable across the world at many different time zones of people who have never experienced the hospitality like we create.
Weinstein: Very good. It's a lot to absorb there and think through, but it's an interesting opportunity for you to really kind of step back and look at what boutique and lifestyle really should mean, and how… and especially how they're executed.
Lalvani: It's an exciting challenge.
Weinstein: So, about a year in now at Hyatt, it's a big move to a much bigger corporate environment, a brand structure. What are your biggest learns, any aha moments or revelations, discoveries?
Lalvani: For sure, for sure. I think it's been incredible how our team has been embraced by the Hyatt organization. That's been really wonderful, and that comes from the top, that comes from Mark Hoplamazian's leadership and his empathetic and leadership were… It's really built on trust, and business is personal at Hyatt, from Tom Pritzker to Mark to the whole organization. And so I think you really feel that at Hyatt.
It’s a purpose-driven company, and it's real. The culture of care, the caring for people speaking to be their best, that's felt throughout the entire Hyatt organization, and that's something… it's not just talk… They walk the talk. So that's been a real revelation that a company of that size that is a public company can still feel like a family-run business, where the word is the bond, and that there's a purpose of care. So that's been wonderful to experience.
I think the other aha moment was that what we built with Standard International, with Standard and Bunkhouse, is really special. And the way we approach the brands, the way we approach experiences, is different than, I think, many in the industry.
And I'll tell you, Jeff, one of the reasons is every single project, when we were a small private company, every single project felt like do or die for us.
When I took on the brand from Andre, there was a lot of questions. Can Standard live on after Andre's gone? And so, I treated every project as I had something to prove. It was a do or die. What we did London had to be better than anything that we had ever done before. We did Bangkok, had to be better than anything we'd ever done before. I put that pressure on myself, I put that pressure on the team, but a lot to live up to. I wanted to make sure we did it. If we didn't, there wouldn't have been a company.
Same thing when we took on Bunkhouse. We had to make sure that St. Augustine was better than anything we'd done before. We had to make sure that San Fernando was better than anything. Otherwise, people would have said it died with the founder leaving, and that we couldn't let that happen. I saw what happened to Morgan's Hotel Group when Ian Schrager left, or what happened to W Hotels when Barry Sternlicht left, or what happened to Ace Hotels when Alex Calderwood sadly passed away. And it was my duty and my challenge to make sure that we could live on beyond the founders and honor their legacy but create a real lasting enterprise.
So, I think taking the culture of the purpose of care Hyatt has with our creativity and passion and do-or-die mentality, that is something I've been saying at Hyatt. One plus one equals three, and that's how I really feel.
Weinstein: As you mentioned, there's so many lifestyle brands out there now. What isn't a lifestyle brand? Even the economy brands that come out today, you know, claim to be lifestyle in one form or another because the space has gotten so crowded up and down the spectrum. In your opinion, where's the bigger opportunity in lifestyle today?
Lalvani: Well, to start with the question of what makes it a lifestyle brand or not. You know, one of the things when we were doing the transaction for Standard International – I told Mark I would take on this new role under a few conditions is a strong word... What I needed to make this successful and make it work were a few things. One was that I wanted to keep our whole team together because I've never been in hotel operations. I'm not a designer. I'm not specialist in any of the areas, functional areas. I've never worked in a restaurant. I'm able to… for some reason, I'm able to orchestrate this well, and lead this, but I can't do anything without the team, and I couldn't inherit it. And I wanted to bring as many people as wanted to join the cause from Hyatt. I needed to keep the whole team together.
So, to me, if a brand doesn't have a team behind it that cares passionately and deeply and works on it every single day with that level of intensity, that's not going to be a great brand.
Second thing I asked Mark was that if we're gonna do this, I would like to take our existing brands and the brands that we're… that I'm taking on, and move them outside of Chicago to our hubs in New York and Austin. Chicago's an incredible place, but it's possible to get absorbed into a mothership with all the best of intentions and lose the soul of the brands. So, Mark agreed to that. So, we moved Thompson and Andaz and Dream Hotels to New York City. And we moved JdV, Joie de Vivre, JDV by Hyatt, to Austin, Texas, and to consolidate with Bunkhouse and the operations there. So, I wanted to take the best of what had been built, but bring the soul to these brands from the team that we had in creative hubs like New York and Austin.
And third, I said it was very important to me that I report directly to Mark, and make sure that we have a seat at the table, that we don't get subordinated in some fashion with, again, all the best of intentions, that we get the support we need, and have a seat at the table to talk about what I think it means to create great brands.
So, those three things, for me, were the ingredients to making this successful. And I think if I didn't have those ingredients, I can't speak for other companies, if I didn't put the right structure in place, and the right people in place, and in the right places, this wouldn't come to fruition.
Weinstein: So, within lifestyle, experiential's been the big buzzword. Everybody's got to have some sort of adjacency, or some kind of really cool programming inside the hotel. That's been going on now for four or five years, I'd say, maybe longer. Where does experiential go next?
Lalvani: It's a very interesting question, and I think the idea of trying to do everything within a hotel, like we used to do in the old days, bring it all together, is getting more and more difficult, because there's been this democratization, I say, of culinary and culture, and you go to cities all over the place, and there are people doing interesting things when it comes to retail, when it comes to F&B, when it comes to restaurants and bars and nightlife and wellness, and so it's really hard for the hotels to be the best at everything.
So, to me, it's a little bit back to the basics. Provide people with an amazing stay, understand the service culture that you're delivering, know your guests extremely well, and deliver what they need at any given time, in any given place, as opposed to trying to do everything in the coolest way possible for everybody. We can't be that good.
I think the second thing that's a really big deal for myself and lots of people these days, is wellness. It's an overused word. But the idea that your non-alcoholic wine list is someday going to be as long as your alcoholic wine list, or your mocktail list is going to be as long as your cocktail list, I think that's a real thing. I think the integration of wellness into people's lives is an enormous opportunity, and it's not even an opportunity, it's a necessity.
We have two great brands within Hyatt that I think were leaders and will be leaders again, Miraval and Alila. I think leaning into those brands as something that takes care of your mind, body, and soul is a big deal, and using those learnings across our brands, whether it's… I don't care if it's luxury, or lifestyle, or whatever segments you want to call them, or economy, or… I'm not good at those industry segments, but that infusion of how people live, and how people take care of themselves, I think, is a place where we as an industry are behind, and the customers are ahead of us, and we need to catch up.
Weinstein: One last question, Amar. What are you learning about yourself as a professional as your journey continues?
Lalvani: It's a great question. I think I had a lot to prove and deliver for myself and for our shareholders. There was a time… many people don't know this, but we were out of money at Standard. We had $19,000 in our bank account, and we couldn't make payroll. And the company was going to be dead. And I took money out of my bank account, everything I had, and put it into the company. No one even knows that, except probably Amber Asher, who was the general counsel at the time. I did that, and kind of guilted the other investors to put money in. That was the depths of where we were.
We got ourselves back on our feet. We did the Standard London, we did Bangkok, all the projects I said, remembering where we were at those depths and making sure that we built and nurtured the company and the team, and built incredible projects around the world. But really brought us back from the brink.
And after getting the sale done to Hyatt, I really have nothing left to prove professionally, I've kind of realized that. So now it's about everybody else. And nothing gets me more excited than nurturing the team, finding roles for people around the world, and letting the next generation of talent rise and shine.
And for me, what I want to do is fulfill my obligations to Hyatt, have an impact on the company, have an impact on the industry, not for my sake, but for the sake of the team and the legacy that I've inherited.
Weinstein: A noble cause for you, and a noble opportunity moving forward. So, congratulations on all your successes.
Lalvani: Thank you so much.
Weinstein: Amar Lalvani, president and creative director of Lifestyle Hotels for Hyatt Hotels Corp. Thanks for being with me today.
Lalvani: Good to see you, Jeff.
Mexico, D.R. still LATAM’s hottest markets
https://www.hotelinvestmenttoday.com/Regions/Latin-America/Mexico-DR-still-LATAMs-hottest-markets?By Jeffrey Weinstein
INTERNATIONAL REPORT – Lodging Econometrics recently reported the Latin America construction pipeline stood at 751 projects and 116,480 rooms at the end of 3Q25, representing year-over-year (YOY) increases of 17% in projects and 11% in rooms. However, Hotel Equities Juan Corvinos, who has spent 12 years developing in the region, said those numbers are loaded with dead projects and it is time to clean up the LATAM pipeline data.
“In short, it’s a bubble,” he told Hotel Investment Today as parent company The Burba Hotel Network prepare for ALIS CALA 2026, April 28-30, at the Loews Coral Gables Hotel, Coral Gables, Florida. “When you look at the data, there’s a lot of projects that were signed during 2018-2020 but have not started. So, yes, the pipeline continues growing, but the brands haven’t terminated. A lot of the agreements are not moving.”
Corvinos said there needs to be “a flushing of the pipes” on the data. “There’s a lot of projects in there that need to be either terminated or removed from the from the pipeline for us to really know if there’s growth and signings versus opening.”
He continued that the bigger brands sign about 135 projects in Latin America every year, while opening around 20 hotels. “There’s no correlation between signings and openings when there normally should be,” he said.
“We need to reset expectations about the growth,” Corvinos added. “There is growth, I agree, but we need to establish a baseline of projects that are basically dead or inactive for us to establish the real growth.”
In response to Corvinos’ comments, Lodging Econometrics Senior Vice President, Director, Global Business Development Bruce Ford said they have cancelled or postponed more than 25,000 rooms from the Latin America pipeline in the last 12 months, thus removing them from the active pipeline. “We do actively work the projects every month to keep the pipeline as clean as possible,” he said.
On another note, Ford said projects that have signed in recent quarters are entering the pipeline with longer timelines to begin and actually reach the construction phase. “The timeline has lengthened in every region of the world for new projects that are announced,” he added.
More LATAM data
Lodging Econometrics’ Q3 report also provides insights into the region’s hotel pipeline by chain scale. Notably, the luxury and upper upscale chain scales hit record-high project counts at Q3. The luxury chain scale closed the quarter at 143 projects/27,387 rooms, while the upper upscale chain scale reached 124 projects/22,420 rooms, and the upscale chain scale reached 144 projects/20,904 rooms.
Geographically, Mexico reached an all-time high with 264 projects/40,412 rooms, accounting for 35% of both the total project count and room count. Brazil followed with 123 projects/16,272 rooms, up 19% by project count YOY. The Dominican Republic continued its strong growth trajectory with 81 projects/17,351 rooms, representing a 37% increase in project count and 20% increase in room count YOY. These three countries combined account for 62% of all the projects and 64% of the rooms in Latin America's construction pipeline.
The cities with the largest pipelines in Latin America include Mexico City with 28 projects/3,273 rooms, Lima with 16 projects/2,206 rooms, and Riviera Maya with 16 projects/2,088 rooms.
Corvinos said he expects the data on Mexico to prune itself, but added when he looks at the rooms coming into the Dominican Republic he’s “scared.”
“I actually just told an owner, against my interest, please don’t develop this hotel [in the Dominican Republic] because there’s too much inventory coming in and we’re not going to be able to do well when if all this product is developed,” Corvinos said.
What Corvinos does like is luxury development with residential in market like Mexico City, as well as conversion opportunities for focused service in Mexico. He likes the recoveries going on in Peru, Chile and Colombia after their new presidential election. He likes some sustainable development on Caribbean islands like Curacao.
Looking at more organic growth, Corvinos said he is seeing a lot of affiliation brands coming up and mentioned Best Western, Small Luxury Hotels, Design Hotels and Best Western-owned WorldHotels.
Opportunities, challenges
When asked about the sustainability of the growth momentum in the LATAM region, Grupo Posadas Vice President of Development Mauricio Elizondo said they are seeing more conversions as ground-up has been more challenging. “We do see Mexico and the Caribbean as the fundamental strong markets due to steady airlift,” he added.
John McCarthy Sandland, executive chairman, Leisure Partners, Los Cabos and Mexico City, added, “The region’s pipeline growth reflects both pent-up demand and renewed confidence in long-term fundamentals: strong demographics, rising intra-regional travel, and sustained global interest in leisure and mixed-use hospitality. While financing and permitting timelines vary widely across countries, I believe this momentum is sustainable, especially in markets with stable tourism policy and private-sector leadership.”
We also asked sources to name their favorite markets with Elizondo touting Los Cabos, Mexico, and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Looking ahead, he added that the Dominican Republic may keep growing as some newer destinations launch.
McCarthy added that Mexico remains his clear favorite — particularly Los Cabos, Nayarit, and Mexico City, each offering very distinct demand drivers and a mature development ecosystem. “I also have great admiration for the Dominican Republic, where a consistently pro-investment attitude and coordinated government support make the environment particularly attractive,” he added.
Mexico’s scale, brand presence, and infrastructure keep it at the top of the regional pipeline, according to McCarthy, and he expects that to continue. “However, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Costa Rica are emerging as strong up-and-comers, each balancing tourism growth with a pragmatic approach to investment and sustainability,” he said.
Rogerio Basso, principal at Miami-based Impactum Capital Advisors, said Mexico’s scale, diversified destinations, and well-established operator ecosystem ensure it will likely remain at the top of the regional development pipeline. He added, however, that the Dominican Republic, despite Corvinos’ warning, stands out as the region’s strongest up-and-comer, driven by a pro-tourism government agenda and a robust local financial system that has long supported the sector.
“The D.R. continues to lead the Caribbean in new supply and airlift expansion, with more than 177 new or reinstated regional routes and several international brands under development — including W Punta Cana, St. Regis Cap Cana, and Four Seasons Tropicalia,” Basso said. “The government’s consistent investment incentives and pro-business stance, coupled with the strength of domestic lenders such as Banco Popular, Banreservas, and BHD León, continue to attract both regional and international capital. New destinations like Miches and Pedernales are diversifying the tourism map, complementing the established Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, and Romana-Bayahibe clusters and reinforcing the D.R.’s position as one of the Caribbean’s most dynamic investment environments.”
As for the segment with the most potential, Posadas is present across all segments, according to Elizondo, so they have a balanced portfolio and have projected openings and further pipeline ranging from economy to luxury.
Luxury continues to lead, according to McCarthy, driven by international brands seeking experiential destinations and affluent domestic travelers trading up. “That said, the economy and midscale segments still present compelling long-term opportunities in secondary cities, especially when tied to industrial corridors and airport expansions,” he said.
Not surprisingly, conversions are dominating the pipeline with Elizondo stating 70% of Posadas’ work has been with existing product.
McCarthy added that while conversions are growing, especially in urban markets, new builds remain the main driver — particularly in leisure destinations and integrated resort projects where brand standards and design DNA are central to value creation.
Even with the enthusiasm for LATAM development, construction costs and financing remain challenges.
“The greatest challenge remains the availability and cost of capital, combined with regulatory delays,” McCarthy explained. “Yet, with well-structured projects, strong operators, and credible local partners, the appetite from both domestic and international investors is clearly there.”
Basso added that across the Caribbean, project economics are being tested by escalating construction costs, rising insurance premiums and limited coverage, and ongoing vulnerability to natural disasters. Yet the most pressing constraint remains the availability and cost of capital. He said traditional bank financing is concentrated among a small number of regional lenders, many of which face exposure caps to large hospitality borrowers.
“To sustain growth, the region needs broader financial-instrument optionality and access to new investor pools — including family offices, institutional investors, pension funds, and insurance companies — that bring longer investment horizons and diversified risk appetites,” Basso added. “The introduction of sustainability-linked financing, blended capital, and potential tokenization of real-estate assets could further expand liquidity and help de-risk project pipelines. The long-term outlook remains positive, but capital efficiency, resilience, and innovation will define the next growth chapter for Caribbean hospitality.
“Despite some near-term headwinds, the Caribbean’s fundamentals remain solid. The next wave of growth will hinge on how effectively the region expands its capital base and develops a more innovative financing toolkit to meet the evolving needs of hospitality developers.”
Transaction momentum
From a transaction’s perspective, all was moving along – in typical Caribbean/Mexican fashion – until Liberation Day in early April, according to Berkadia’s Miami-based Managing Director Fernando Garcia-Chacon. “We were marketing a handful of resorts and part of our brokerage team was in New York pitching the deals when Trump announced the tariffs. The market came to a standstill and did not move for the next two months. One of our PE clients commented that if he was to bring a deal to his investment committee, he would be fired on the spot, regardless of the economics of the transaction.”
Fortunately, Garcia-Chacon continued, the market has softened slightly (in a good way), and at least clients will take their calls now. “Nevertheless, just as you are seeing here in the U.S., there is still a gap between buyers and sellers. Many of the 9 to 10 caps that we were used to quoting on resort pricing is no longer applicable given the increase in interest rates. And owners are reticent to accept a lower price.”
Garcia-Chacon called the Playa-Hyatt deal a real positive for the market, certainly for the all-inclusive segment. “That was a real vote of confidence for the space as historically, institutional investors have shied away from these types of resorts,” he said. “But now, with KSL stepping in, it does provide reassurance that this is a true investment category. And everyone is ready to pour over the filings once the transaction closes (hopefully be year-end) and more detailed financial parameters are shared. I believe this will help plant a flag in the land of pricing.”
One area of interest for deals is the Dominican Republic, according to Garcia-Chacon. “We have seen the emergence of local pension funds that have an appetite for hotel product,” he said. “They don’t move fast, but under the right circumstance, they will acquire existing hotels.”
He also pointed to the Dominican Republic government’s pro-tourism stance, pushing the development of several new destinations inside the island (i.e. Pedernales) as well as existing ones (Puerto Plata). “The truth is that the entire island has truly evolved – a new St. Regis opened this year, a Four Seasons is under construction, and I believe a Rosewood is being planned. The country has sure come a long way from the land of the 3-star, cheap all-inclusive resort,” Garcia-Chacon said.
Another emerging trend Garcia-Chacon cited is a lack of truly capable third-party operators, despite what has seemed like a big move into the region from U.S.-based players.
“In the all-inclusive space, Playa was the leading player, and you could see how they franchised different flags with Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Wyndham,” Garcia-Chacon said. “They understood how the U.S. brands functioned but at the same time, could deal very effectively with the tour operators and wholesalers, both of which remain an important distribution channel for all-inclusives. However, with them being absorbed by Hyatt, there is real absence of capable operators.”
He added that some groups are trying to get into the space, but thinks it needs more specific expertise.
“We are also seeing something similar in the select-service space. You have some U.S.-based management groups entering the region but, while they have the relationship with the brands and the necessary systems, entering new markets has its challenges. It will take some time,” Garcia-Chacon said.
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