After several months of slow activity in hotel transactions, there has been a noticeable increase in market activity in the second and third quarters of 2021. While acquisitions for alternate uses have increased, sales of traditional hotels have also increased. Capital has been available for acquisitions for some time but, until recently, there was limited inventory available.
Notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19, pricing has been surprisingly strong overall. The impact of weaker results due to COVID has been largely negated by strong investor demand for better quality assets in good markets.
It is beginning to seem as though the Canadian hotel market may finally be emerging from the struggles brought on by the pandemic, with much optimism for the future. While the winter period will surely experience some fluctuations in demand and in many markets will still be below normal levels, recovery expectations are strong for 2022.