Private Credit, Hotels’ Savior No Longer
Blue Owl Capital’s redemption halt signals potential collapse of the $2 trillion private credit market that has financed hotel refinancing since 2008. The development represents more than a single firm’s liquidity challenge. It raises questions about the stability of the credit structure that has supported hotel deals when traditional lenders retreated.
Private credit emerged as hotels’ primary refinancing source after the financial crisis, offering speed and flexibility that banks couldn’t match. If that market contracts or becomes unreliable, hotels face significantly reduced financing options at a time when many properties approach refinancing deadlines. Read the analysis →
European Hotel Transactions Reached €27 Billion in 2025
European hotel transaction activity reached €27 billion across more than 1,050 hotels in 2025, marking the strongest investment year since 2019. The data shows investors returning to the sector after several years of cautious positioning.
The transaction volume suggests improving clarity around valuations and financing conditions. While still below pre-pandemic peaks, the momentum indicates capital is finding acceptable risk-adjusted returns in European hospitality assets again. Read the data →
The Operational Tax Hotel Groups Don’t Realize They’re Paying
Hotels waste months of labor annually on repetitive tasks like rate updates and reporting. One group saved 312 working days by automating rate code management alone. The analysis frames manual processes as an invisible tax that compounds across properties and departments.
Most hotels track hard costs carefully but fail to measure time spent on administrative tasks that software could handle. The operational tax isn’t visible on P&L statements, but it drains productivity and limits what teams can accomplish strategically. Read more →
Agentic AI Goes Live in Hotel Operations
Apaleo and THE FLAG brought agentic AI into live hotel operations with autonomous task creation. The system processes guest reservation comments and automatically creates operational tasks in housekeeping systems. The implementation currently generates 30 tasks daily and saves 3.5 hours per week at THE FLAG Zürich.
This represents the shift from AI as assistant to AI as operator. The system doesn’t suggest tasks for humans to review. It creates, assigns, and tracks them autonomously based on guest data and operational logic. Read more →
Signals
Sleep tourism positioned as infrastructure. The sleep tourism market, valued at $640.9 billion in 2023, positions rest as hotel infrastructure rather than amenity. The analysis argues hotels should address guest needs for recovery, clarity, and connection through designed sleep experiences.
Soft-branded platform launched. Aparium introduced Aparium For, an operating platform targeting soft-branded properties needing operational expertise while preserving hotel identity. The move expands beyond Aparium’s owned portfolio into third-party management.
Agentic distribution education began. Meyer Jabara Hotels will educate executives on how AI agents are reshaping hotel booking behavior at its March leadership conference, focusing on the digital infrastructure required to remain visible in agent-driven search.