Hotels, the institutional market grows

17% of hotel rooms in Milan are held by institutional investors. Luxury structures are growing: +48% 5-star hotels and +12% 4-star hotels. But above all, private operators and investors hold over 70% of the rooms in the main cities. This, in brief, is the analysis of the hotel sector trend drawn up by World Capital Group and which will be presented tomorrow during ITHIC - Italian Hospitality Investment Conference, the reference event for investments in the hotel sector currently underway at the Hotel Villa Pamphili in Rome. It is a focus on the 12 main Italian cities: Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice, Verona, Turin, Genoa, Bologna, Naples, Bari, Catania and Palermo.

The analysis shows that the hospitality market in Italy is undergoing a profound transformation: it is no longer a sector concentrated exclusively on large cities and increasingly sees the entry of institutional capital. If, on the one hand, investment flows are more widely distributed, also involving capital cities and secondary locations, on the other, there is a growing presence of institutional investors in the ownership of hospitality facilities. Milan, in particular, represents an emblematic case: here 17% of hotel rooms are owned by institutional investors, confirming how the sector is evolving towards a more mature and structured dimension, capable of attracting professional operators and long-term capital.

Looking at the overall picture, Italy today has more than 265,000 accommodation facilities, but only about 11% fall into the hotel category. Within this segment, 12% of hotels are concentrated in the 12 major cities, or over 3,500 facilities. In these locations, from 2018 to 2024 the sector showed steady growth, with an increase of +14% in the number of facilities, +15% in rooms and +18% in beds.

In addition to volumes, the qualitative structure of the offer has also changed. On a national level, over the last six years, growth has been driven by medium-high hotels: 5-star establishments have recorded an increase of +48% in the number of hotels and +32% in beds, while 4-star hotels have recorded an increase of more than 10% in both facilities and rooms. In contrast, 3-star hotels were more or less stable, while the lowest categories (1 and 2 stars) showed significant contractions, in some cases exceeding 10 per cent.

The trend shows a growing focus on the luxury and upper upscale segment, particularly in large cities, where five-star hotels have reached growth peaks of +75% in terms of number of establishments and over 30% in terms of rooms.
On the ownership side, the majority of rooms in the cities surveyed are owned by operators (41 per cent), followed by investors (35 per cent), institutions (7 per cent), corporations (5 per cent), financed entities (4 per cent) and individuals (8 per cent). A similar picture can be seen when looking at the ownership of facilities, with natural persons accounting for 19 per cent in this case.