In Italy the growing interest in resorts, and the strong focus on design in new hotel projects, emerged at a round table organized by the PKF hospitality group. 

Resorts are performing twice as well as urban hotels

With average hotel rates growing in all market segments, and resorts performing practically twice as well as urban hotels, inflation, energy costs and rising commodity prices are not hindering the development of the hospitality industry in Italy, which is set to exceed 2019 figures this year.

"The post-Covid recovery is a concrete fact," comments Luca Cerretani, PKF’s new director Italy. "The most important data highlighted by an analysis from STR Global shows that average rates are on the rise, not only in the luxury segment, where the growth rate is still higher, but also in the midscale and economy segments.”

The STR research shows that hotel rates in Italy increased on average by 25% at the end of 2022 and the start of 2023 compared to 2019.  

“Hotel room prices can be adjusted to the higher cost of living”

"Last year the leisure sector led the recovery, showing greater buoyance than city hotels," adds Giorgio Bianchi, business development PKF. "The main international brands, from Hilton to Radisson, from Accor to IHG and Meliá, are carrying out operations in Italy and the interest in resorts is not just for seaside properties, but also for mountain areas as witnessed by the Club Med project in Sansicario, Piedmont.”  Rising inflation is favouring investments in hotel assets, added Cerretani,  - because unlike office or residential properties, room prices can be adjusted to the higher cost of living. Over the course of the year we will see many openings.  While there is not the same level of transactions as in the past, there is a lot of demand, supported by the growth in arrivals and overnights.” 

Italy’s art cities are much in demand as are secondary destinations

The survey conducted by PKF shows that the three essential ingredients for a new hotel project are location, funding sources and capital expenditure. The best opportunities are resorts (25%) and the highest performance is in the leisure and resort market. Tuscany, Puglia, Sicily and cities such as Rome, Milan and Florence are in demand as are secondary destinations such as Bologna, Turin, Naples, Bari, Trieste and Palermo. 

Leisure is the business model of the new Radisson Collection Hotel Santa Sofia, which has just been inaugurated in Milan.

Milan’s new leisure vocation

Mauro Vinci, business development manager Italy 

“In designing the Radisson Collection Santa Sofia we focused on the new leisure vocation of Milan, creating 1,240 sqm of multifunctional F&B area, which can also be transformed into meeting and conference rooms,” said business development manager Italy, Mauro Vinci. The leisure vocation becomes even clearer in the nearby Radisson Collection Hotel, Palazzo Touring Club Milan with 89 rooms on 7,000 sqm. “We started with the idea of dedicating the entire left wing to congresses but, thanks also to the effects of the pandemic, we then converted the rooms into lounge bars.” 

The Santa Sofia has two panoramic terraces

The new Radisson Collection Hotel Santa Sofia, between Piazza del Duomo and the Navigli district, has 159 rooms, extensive F&B facilities and two panoramic terraces, one with an outdoor swimming pool and a lounge bar. 

The hotel investment market in Italy is in a state of flux since the abrupt slowdown in the last quarter of 2022 that closed below the previous year's level (€1.4 billion according to the Pambianco Observatory. Ed.). High inflation rates and financing costs seem to be stalling capital which is waiting for better times despite the boom in tourism arrivals.  Soaring occupancy and average room rates are failing to completely win the hearts of investors who, with their long-term logic, are baulking at the high prices and even more at the excessively high interest rates. 

A recent analysis by Thrends' hoteltransactions.it platform showed that in the first quarter of 2023 there were only eleven traceable hotel transactions in Italy for €116.1 million, compared to 31 transactions for €288.2 million in the same quarter last year.  The average room remained stable, rising from €155,000 to €157,000. Yet auctions hit record numbers, doubling between January and March 2023 over the same quarter in 2022: 18 auctions for €50.1 million, compared to nine for €20 million in 2022.  

One of the most important transactions in the first quarter of this year was the sale of the Wyndham Rome Midas, a 4-star hotel with 349 rooms, to real estate developer and asset manager Zeitgeist Asset Management. Followed by the 127-room 4-star Principe di Lazise Hotel & Spa on Lake Garda which was sold by Bain Capital to the Fattal Hotel Group for €25 million.

Massimiliano Sarti
Journalist

Five Bluserena resorts are involved in a series of restyling works costing €55 million.

The company was taken over by a Spanish fund in 2021

The Bluserena resorts undergoing restyling are the Calasarena in Sardinia, Serenè in Calabria, Serenusa in Sicily, and GranSerena Hotel and Torreserena in Puglia, following the acquisition of the company by the Spanish fund Azora European Hotel & Leisure at the end of 2021. The operator has a new logo, consisting of a B that echoes the waves of the sea where the company's 12 hotels and resorts are located, and the curves of the ski slopes of the Vialattea ski area, the location of Bluserena’s mountain hotel.

Marcello Cicalò CEO Bluserena

An advertising campaign featuring the resorts

“We are beginning a new chapter in the history of Bluserena, – says CEO Marcello Cicalò  - We are pleased to start the rebranding of the company, with an important restyling of some of tge Bluserena resorts. We are also launching a new and more modern logo, and our first advertising campaign that showcases the unforgettable moments that guests can experience during a stay in our properties and which can be treasured and taken home once the holiday is over."

The Muraless Art Hotel, the first European hotel dedicated to street art, has opened in Verona. 

The façade is by the US artist Mr Brainwash

With 94 keys and public areas the Muraless Art Hotel has been created by over 50 street artists from Italy and beyond. The Muraless Art Hotel’s façade is by Mr Brainwash, and is the American artist’s debut masonry work in Italy.

"Years of construction, fifty artists and a major economic investment have allowed an unusual territorial redevelopment and the creation of a unique work," says owner Gianmaria Villa.

Styles from figurative, to abstract, to hyperrealism

The operation has given new life to the former Cristallo Hotel, through expressive characteristics of art: a journey from spray paint to stencils and freehand painting, with different styles and forms of expression, from lettering to 3D modelling, graphics to digital photography and comics to illustration. And they feature various modern artistic expressions from figurative to abstract and from hyperrealism to anamorphosis.

For a business and bleisure clientele

The Muraless Art Hotel Verona is a 4-star art hotel, aimed at a business and bleisure clientele. Its proximity to the motorway, the Verona fairgrounds and the city’s historic centre make it the ideal choice for business travellers who want to extend their stay and take time to visit Verona.

La Roqqa, in the municipality of Monte Argentario, will be the name of Swedish entrepreneur Conni Jonsson’s debut structure in Porto Ercole.

The hotel, built by Erqole, will open in summer and will have 55 rooms and suites, as well as a private beach club, panoramic terrace, restaurant and cocktail bar.

“The hotel is in an old factory near Porto Ercole’s docks”

“The story of Erqole begins a few years ago – says managing director, Flavio Bucciarelli – when, looking for a summer residence the Jonsson family discovered and fell in love with Monte Argentario. Inspired by the beauty of the area and wanting to give something back they bought the abandoned ex-Cirio factory close to the Porto Ercole docks which was integrated with other nearby premises. The opening of La Roqqa, previously the Don Pedro Hotel, will turn this little town into a unique destination where visitors can rediscover the authenticity of the Maremma area.”

An authentic experience for guests

“In response to the specific request of the client to regenerate the space, we renovated not only the building but also the experience for the guests who will stay here at La Roqqa,” say Ludovica and Roberto Palomba, of the Palomba Serafini Associati studio who were called in to follow the project.

Rocco Forte is expanding in Sardinia, managing the former Le Palme Hotel in Porto Cervo.

After redevelopment the resort will open in 2024

Thanks to an agreement with Sixth Street, Rocco Forte will take over the management of the former Le Palme hotel in Liscia di Vacca, Porto Cervo. Completely redeveloped by the Italian-English group, the resort will feature 64 rooms and suites, a spa, three restaurants, a panoramic rooftop bar, and spaces for meetings and events. It is scheduled to open in 2024.

The project uses natural materials and local craftsmanship 

Sixth Street acquired the property in January 2022, jointly with Eidos Hotel Capital Partners as the operating asset manager. With interior design by Patricia Urquiola, the project uses natural materials and local craftsmanship.  The Porto Cervo resort will join Rocco Forte's Italian properties in Rome, Florence, Sicily and Puglia, as well as The Carlton Milan and the Rocco Forte House Milan which is scheduled to open in 2024.

Minor Hotels takes aim at Portopiccolo's tourism business management, in the port complex near Trieste.

The Minor Hotels interest is based on rumours 

It could be the Minor Hotels group (we still don't know which brand) to take over the management of the tourist activities of the Portopiccolo complex, in Sistiana, near Trieste. This is according to rumours published by Trieste’s daily newspaper Il Piccolo. They emerged after the city’s civil court rejected the appeal by the company Trieste 2040, the new name of Ppn Hospitality which was managing the 58-room five-star hotel Falisia Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, as well as 203 luxury flats, 110 berths and the nearby Castelreggio public beach.

Falisia Luxury Collection Resort & Spa was taken over for €36 million

Trieste 2040 is in financial difficulties and, due to defaults has received an executive eviction from Portopiccolo's owners, Hig Realty Partners and Rilke. Hig Realty Partners, the real estate investment division of the international fund Hig Capital, took over the tourist complex in 2020 for €150 million, of which around €36 million for the five-star property. This was in collaboration with the asset management company InvestiRe. Rilke, a subsidiary of the Rizzani de Eccher group which sold, but retained a minority stake.

HNH Hospitality's turnover for the 2021-22 financial year was €71.4 million, with a 5% profit, nearly double the €34.8 million of the previous year. 

HNH has the largest number of managed properties in Veneto

“In 2022 we consolidated the strong rebound of 2021, but with continuity in sales that covered almost every month, and which made it possible to achieve and largely exceed the growth objectives,” says HNH’s managing director Luca Boccato. City hotels performed well, going from 31% in 2021 to 47% in 2022, while corporate and MICE hotels were stable going from 27 % to 28% and resorts dropped from 42% to 25%. The highest revenues, of €41 million, were posted by the hotels in the Veneto region, where HNH also has the largest number of managed properties.

“Our 2023 revenue forecasts are €98 million”

HNH’s position was further strengthened with the 2022 opening of the Almar Giardino di Costanza Resort & Spa, and the reopening of the Venice Mestre – The Quid at the end of its rebranding process. “Our 2023 revenue forecasts are €98 million, well above pre-pandemic levels, with an occupancy rate of 70%.”