By James Wilkinson at the 2016 NYU Conference in New York
The CEOs of Marriott, IHG and Hilton are confident of further significant Asian outbound capital in hotel investments globally following Anbang’s attempted purchase of Starwood and the rush of money being invested in hotels across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Speaking to HM and a small group of media at the 38th Annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference in New York this week (June 6), Marriott International’s President and CEO Arne Sorenson, IHG’s CEO Richard Solomons and Hilton Worldwide’s President and CEO Christopher Nassetta all said further significant Asian investment could be expected globally.
After joking around that the company had an “episode with Chinese investors earlier this year” and “there was a lot of capital that was prepared to move it” in relation to Anbang’s bidding war that was eventually won by Marriott, Sorenson said he believes one of the main reasons for the significant global investments was “there is significant capital that has been built up in China”.
“I think many Chinese investors are ambitious about chasing a return [and] the hotel business in the United States and Europe is a very transparent that provides good returns,” he said.
“The real estate piece is quite compelling and I’m sure we will see tens of billions of real estate bought by Asians, Middle Eastern and other investors,” Sorenson said.
Solomons agreed, saying working with investors in China gave IHG a strong footing to do global deals with the same owners and “give them returns and encourage them to invest further”.
Nassetta said he believed this was the “tip of the iceberg” and the industry could expect “massive amounts of capital coming out of Asia”, while he was also cautious to say he didn’t expect all of the big deals to be out of going forward.
To hear more about the CEOs’ outlook, click on the exclusive video recorded by HM at the top of the page.
HM flew to New York with United Airlines, which flies three times daily from Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) to Los Angeles and onwards to New York City. HM recommends flying in Business Class, which features flatbed seats, inflight WiFi, premium Australian and American wines, hundreds of hours of entertainment on demand and excellent service. Visit www.united.com.au
