From covering conferences in the Caribbean and Prague to news from the United Kingdom and Dubai, CoStar News Hotels has its pulse on the global hotel industry.
Below is a roundup of recent CoStar News Hotels coverage from outside the United States.
Americas
CoStar News Hotels' Natalie Harms traveled to Willemstad, Curaçao, to cover the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit.
Hannah Smith, senior analyst at STR, said there's been some stabilization in the Caribbean region in 2025 after years of sustained growth following the pandemic. While some markets are seeing a continuation of this strong hotel demand, others are seeing occupancy and pricing power slow.
"We're no longer in that really high-growth environment where, no matter what hotels did, people were going to come and they were going to pay a couple of years ago," Smith said. "Now we're in kind of that mature phase of we need to think a little bit more about who are these guests we're bringing in. Do we need to change our strategies to bring them in?"
Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago are the only three hotel markets to see a decline in average daily rate year to date, though.
The upper-upscale and upscale segments in the region grew occupancy by 3.1% and 1.3% year to date, respectively. Luxury occupancy is down 2.4% year to date, but its ADR is up 3.9% over the same time period.
Hotel supply has remained strong in the region, especially on the high end.
"In terms of the rooms under construction right now, if all of them were to open tomorrow, it'd be about 10% growth in upper-upscale scale and 12% growth in luxury," Smith said.
Experts also discussed the development opportunities for all-inclusive hotels in the region.
"I think most people still don't understand the U.S. customer — a big percentage [of them] haven't vacationed in an all-inclusive place," said Paula Cerrillo, vice president of development in the Caribbean for Marriott International. So, once hotels "start opening properties under the American brands, because right now it's still very little, we start bringing more properties in the Caribbean."
Asia-Pacific
On a recent episode of the CoStar News Hotels podcast, STR's Jesper Palmqvist joined CoStar News Hotels' Sean McCracken to chat about the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific in Singapore.
Palmqvist said one of his main takeaways from the conference is that it seems that investors are ready to make deals but performance margins are tighter.
“The spread is interesting,” he said. “For a neutral, it makes the conference more interesting because it’s less about everything is awesome or everything is gloomy.”
Singapore, Japan and the Maldives are the markets with the most interest among hotel investors, he said. Investors in Japan are taking a closer look at operational costs — the country has a new prime minister, and the country has seen food prices rise 7%, the highest increase in 40 years.
“You have a new reality where all these costs need to be flushed out to the hotel guests ultimately, so if that big revenue increase didn’t happen, you’d have not a crisis but a much different scenario,” Palmqvist said.
Europe
In more recent conference coverage, CoStar News Hotels' Terence Baker covered the Inspire: Luxury Hospitality Conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
Hoteliers and designers at the conference talked about the emotions behind luxury hotel design and the challenges in prioritizing sustainability at these properties.
Henning Matthiesen, founder and CEO of Matthiesen Hotel Project Management & Consulting, said renovating or updating a luxury hotel requires careful considerations that start with an understanding of the building's history.
“Identifying the history can lead to materials and design that will be timeless. We want the situation where guests ask, 'Where did you buy this bed, this lamp?' And those questions from people who might own five homes,” he said.
Hotels in Europe, especially in the luxury segment, are required to check certain boxes when it comes to sustainability. Irina Tomic, CEO and founder of True Hospitality, said this comes with difficulties when it comes to alignment across a portfolio.
“In one hotel we have in Croatia, we have staff from 10 different nationalities, so language and understanding must be aligned. That leads to challenges in how [a hotel does its] reporting,” she said.
In hotel brand news, Virgin Hotels Collection has begun its search for a new CEO after James Bermingham departed the company. Joe Margison, chief commercial officer and board member at Virgin, will serve as interim CEO for the next 12 months while the company deliberates on Bermingham's successor.
Accor debuted its luxury brand Emblems Collection in the 49-room Lucknam Park, Emblems Collection in the English county of Wiltshire. There are six Emblems Collection hotels in development set to open over the next two years, and there are plans to open 60 properties by 2032, said Maud Bailly, Accor's brand CEO for Sofitel, MGallery and Emblems Collection.
“The need for franchised luxury is there, and it came from the market. There are thousands of unbranded hotels, wonderful properties that are adamant they do not lose their identity. They want to shine,” Bailly said. “Brands are mortal, luxury is not. Attitude and culture are luxury. Product, excellence and service are luxury. Dilution and discrepancy are the opposite of luxury.”
Middle East
IHG Hotels & Resorts opened the world's tallest hotel on Nov. 17 in the 1,237-foot Ciel Dubai Marina, Vignette Collection by IHG Hotels & Resorts, CoStar News Hotels' Baker reports. It surpassed another Dubai hotel, the 1,169-foot Gevora Hotel, to hold the title. Dubai-based Immo Prestige Holding is the owner of the property, and First Group Hospitality is the operator.
Baker also reported that a trial in Turkey ended with 11 people sentenced to life in prison after a January fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Bolu that killed 78 people and injured another 137. The owner, general manager and several board members were among those sentenced on charges of "killing with possible intent," according to newspaper Turkish Minute. The property's fire alarm didn't work on the night of the fire and some of the gas equipment wasn't up to code. According to CoStar data, the hotel had 163 rooms and opened in January 1998.