With everybody cutting back on their spending, luxury hotels seems to be heading the way of the commercial real estate market.
Bloomberg reports that more than 1500 hotels with a total outstanding balance of $24.5 billion may be in danger of default as once loyal customers cancel or stay away. Examples include a $90 million loan secured by the Four Seasons San Francisco. That's 90 days delinquent and foreclosure proceedings have begun. The Dream Hotel, a 220-room hotel on West 55th Street in New York City that features 300-thread count Egyptian bed linens and iPods, is collateral for a $100 million loan is at risk of default. These hotels were financed aggressively on the oxygen of debt during the boom and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
This is serious and dangerous. As the Atlantic Monthly's Daniel Indiviglio points out, this could devastate the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market and that will damage the US economy even further.
There is only one answer here. Smart operators are likely to bring in terrific discount deals for travel. Because the luxury hotel market is not expected to rebound that quickly, we can expect some pretty cheap deals for plush accommodation coming through. For those who could still afford to travel.
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