Hotel Assets Aren’t Going Back to Lenders
Capital is entering the space, which is helping maintain values.
February 10, 2021 | Les Shaver | GlobeSt.com
While the hotel sector has been hit hard by the pandemic, lenders haven’t been in a rush to take back assets.
“The only asset sales that we’ve made for lenders to date have been deed in lieu, where the borrower has essentially handed back the keys and released it from their ownership,” Bob Webster, vice chairman and president, CBRE Hotels Institutional Group, said on CBRE’s “The Weekly Take” podcast. “But in a forced liquidity trade, which is a trade where the lender has to fight for the keys, that hasn’t happened yet.”
A primary reason there hasn’t been more fallout during the pandemic is that there are companies out there providing lifelines, in the form of capital infusions, to owners who are in a difficult liquidity position. “I’ve been very surprised at the magnitude of the liquidity in the space, looking to acquire hotels and looking to help with the liquidity distress in the ownership side of our business,” Webster says.
