Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels one of the foremost authorities on global hotel real estate, recently published a report entitled ‘Investment case for Brazil’. The report provided in depth analysis on the current Revenue per available room (RevPAR) figures as well as looking at the investment case for Brazil moving forward. JLL recognised that the exposure to the global financial crisis has affected the industry globally; Brazil was well positioned to suffer less and for a shorter duration, especially against the markets of North America and Europe.
Ricardo Mader the executive vice president for JLL Hotels in Sao Paulo said that “The devaluation of the Brazilian real (BRL) since September 2008 has prompted a favorable dichotomy for Brazilian hotels: it’s more expensive for Brazilians to travel abroad, while it’s less expensive for incoming foreigners. Thus, the country’s resort hotels have seen a boost in occupancy. Upper-tier urban properties that denominate their rates in U.S. dollars are also seeing a positive impact from the devaluation, because operators can now collect more BRLs per dollar earned” This coupled with a very low level of internationally recognised hoteliers in Brazil means that RevPAR in Brazil is set to continue to grow throughout 2009.
This last point is of particular interest, only 12% of hotels in Brazil are affiated with an international or national hotel brand, highlighting a tremendous opportunity to capture a considerable slice of this market.
Long-term the fundamentals continue to stack up; demand is driven by an emerging middle class, of which they now make up 52% of Brazilian households compared to 42% in 2004. There has also been an increase in the number of upper class households as well, accounting for 16% of the population.
To conclude Clay Dickinson, Executive Vice President for JLL Hotels said “The bottom line is that as the availability of private-sector debt gradually starts to increase again, investors will be able to achieve higher returns on their investments and their exit will have a lower execution risk due to the increased liquidity”.
Full report here: http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=13862