Correspondence: Elana Bader, HVS – London Office, 7–10 Chandos Street, London, W1G 9DQ, UK. Tel: 020 7878 7710; Fax: 020 7878 7799; E-mail: ebader@hvs.com

¹is an associate with the London office of HVS, specialists in hotel valuation and consultancy in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She joined the firm in September 2005 after completing a BSc in hotel administration at Cornell University.

²is an associate with the London office of HVS. She holds a BA (Hons) in tourism management and is a part-qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

³is a market intelligence analyst with the London office of HVS. Cristina holds a BSc (Hons) in International Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Received 17 March 2008; Revised 17 March 2008; Published online 18 June 2008.

Abstract

As part of our series of quarterly papers, which aim to observe the latest trends in key hotel industry sectors, this edition presents a snapshot of current trends in the market concerning values, acquisitions and disposals, as well as funding and development. The snapshot is drawn from two of HVS's core annual articles. HVS's European Hotel Valuation Index (written by Elana Bader) is an annual review of European hotel value trends. The survey shows that hotel values achieved a fourth consecutive year of growth, increasing by 2.6 per cent in 2007, compared with an increase of 9.0 per cent in 2006. Values per room largely exceed the peak values of 2000. HVS's European Hotel Transaction Review (written by Cristina Balekjian and Elke Geieregger) analyses the single asset and portfolio hotel transactions that shaped 2007. The review highlights the increase in the volume of portfolio transactions and analyses the impact of the economic slowdown on hotel investment. After going into 'orbit' and achieving record levels of investment in 2006, 2007 maintained high levels of investment, demonstrating a slowdown towards the end of the year as we 'weather the storm' of the credit crunch.