M&A in 4–5* hotels and medi-spa, 2024–2026: deals, multiples, benchmarks

Deal volumes: recovery from the 2023 trough

The upper-tier hotel transaction market went through the 2022–2023 repricing of capital and returned to growth in 2025. Deal counts barely move while money volumes grow: capital concentrates in large lots, platform acquisitions and trophy assets.

Deal count in travel, leisure and hospitality fell 3.1% in 2025 (about 848 vs 875 a year earlier) while disclosed value rose from $28.2bn to $51.6bn. H1 2026 continued the pattern: 402 deals worth $39.6bn — count −7.6%, value +106.8% vs H1 2025.The 2024 count and the exact 848 come from report excerpts; the full text was not accessible.

Megadeals (above $5bn) make up 47% of consumer-markets deal value in 2026, vs 39% in 2025 and 23% in 2024. The sector is wider than hotels; the figure shows the general shift to large deals. being verifiedPublication page did not open; confirmed by an excerpt only.

Cost of money, spreads and debt

The 2025 turn came with positive leverage: hotel yields rose above the cost of debt. In US commercial mortgage-backed issuance of Q3 2025 the cap rate of hotel loans exceeded the coupon by 106 bp — the widest of any property type; in 2026 issuance the spread widened to 124 bp.

Debt risks remain. Delinquency of hotel loans in these securities was 6.61% in December 2025; in September 2026 the overall market rate reached 8.02% (the highest since 2020), hotels 6.18%.

The risk-free rate in Europe went up: the average 10-year French government bond yield was 2.97% in 2024, 3.37% in 2025, 4.00% in August and 4.44% in September 2026. With prime hotel initial yields unchanged, the risk premium narrows — capital accepts a thin spread for trophy stock.

The study also gives a $48bn maturity wall of hotel loans and 90% of 2025 maturities refinanced. We found no primary confirmation; other data put 2026 hotel loan maturities at about $18.7bn. being verified

Operating backdrop: US, Europe, Asia

US weakness sits in the lower segments. Luxury and upper upscale held 67.1% occupancy over the 12 months to April 2026, with ADR of about $278 and RevPAR of about $186. 2026 forecast: luxury RevPAR +5.2%, economy −0.6%, national +2.5%. In July 2026, the month of the football World Cup, US RevPAR was $119.77 (+8.2% vs July 2025).

New supply is scarce: room supply grew 0.7% in 2025 (the study wrongly says 1.3%). The shortage of new hotels supports prices of existing 4–5* properties.

Europe: average gross operating profit (GOP) margin of hotels for 11 months of 2025 was about 37%, about 42% in Southern Europe and about 33% in Western Europe. Japan: H1 2026 RevPAR +2.6%, GOPPAR +2.3% with ADR above $275 — growth slowed after 2025. In Australia, cap rates faced upward pressure in early 2026.

How an operating hotel is valued

A hotel is an operating business with daily rate changes, a high share of variable costs and a renewal cycle of its fixtures. The value of an operating property is therefore reconciled by three approaches: income capitalisation, discounted cash flow and comparison with sold peers. Deal multiples can only be compared once they are brought to one basis.

What moves the multiple

• Reserve for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E). In the US and Europe income for the cap rate is taken after a reserve of about 4–5% of revenue; if the seller skipped it, EBITDA is overstated. In Japan rates are quoted before the reserve and look 50–75 bp lower. research estimate, not confirmed by filings
• The brand's mandatory property improvement plan on a change of owner (PIP) — 10,000–40,000 dollars per room by the study's estimate; its cost is deducted from the price or added to it when the effective multiple is computed. research estimate, not confirmed by filings
• Deferred capital expenditure. Sellers fold it into the multiple: for example, a Houston hotel sold at 25.0x EBITDA counting $49m of capex the seller avoided (part 3).
• Pre-sale preparation 18–24 months ahead (clean accounts, brand requirements closed, direct-booking share) — by the study's estimate it keeps 1–2 turns of EBITDA in the price. research estimate, not confirmed by filings
• Exit cap rate in fund models carries a premium over entry: about +25 bp in primary markets, +50 bp in secondary, +100 bp in a downside case. research estimate, not confirmed by filings

Multiple and cap-rate corridors

The corridors below summarise industry reviews for 2025–2026. They are not deals but screening guides; deals with price and multiple are in part 3. Where reviews disagree with the study, both values are given.

Brand fees, labour and margin

The multiple depends on operating leverage. In full-service hotels rooms bring about 60% of revenue, food, beverage and banqueting about 30%; in select-service rooms bring up to 90%. US full-service GOP margin is 25–35% (33.5% in 2024 vs 36.9% in 2019), upscale select-service 40–50%.

Brand fees come off the top line: for Hampton by Hilton, a 6% royalty and a 4% programme fee on rooms revenue. being verifiedFrom summaries of the franchise disclosure document; the document itself was not opened.

Labour cost per occupied room is $20.34 in economy and midscale limited-service hotels vs $9.31 in extended-stay hotels (2023 data; the study wrongly assigns the first figure to a “traditional” hotel). Property insurance, per the study, rose 17.4% in 2024.

Host Hotels & Resorts acquisitions in 2024

The largest US hotel REIT discloses the price, EBITDA multiple and cap rate on the year's forecast results for each large deal. It is a rare open set of 4–5* hotel deals with full arithmetic. The multiples below are the company's calculation on a forecast and are labelled as company data.

Turtle Bay is a buy with a low entry yield for later growth: the resort was converted to The Ritz-Carlton brand with Marriott key money; the company expected 10–12x EBITDA on stabilised 2027–2029 results. The study wrongly calls the stabilised $44m and 14x EBITDA — they are net income and the multiple of it.

1 Hotel Central Park: 2024 forecast — RevPAR $545, total revenue per room $735, EBITDA about $102,500 per key; opened in 2015, a five-key penthouse added, no near-term capital spending required. The high entry yield for New York reflects an all-cash deal and no capex. company data

Host Hotels disposals and the gap with the stock market

The company calls the Four Seasons sale multiple “significantly higher” than its own trading multiple. The gap between single-asset prices and public hotel REIT valuations encourages buybacks and REIT take-privates. The study's “4 turns higher”, 5.9% cap rate, the Houston strike and occupancy falling to 58.9% are not found in the company's materials.

Europe: trophy hotels and portfolios

Corrections to the study: Banco BPM's €495m financing belongs to a 2022 deal on a Milan project (Palazzo del Toro), not to Six Senses Rome; the “continental Europe record” is confirmed only as a Rome record; The Ritz London's “150-fold value rise in 50 years” is not supported (it was bought for £75m in 1995, so about tenfold); the hotel's 2018 operating profit was £15m on £47m turnover (the study says £7–13m); the KKR and Baupost deal is December 2024, not 2025.

In Asia the average luxury hotel price rose 24% in 2025 to ≈ $585,000 per key; upscale hotels in Singapore traded at about $636,000 per key. company data

Platform deals: brands without walls

In 2024–2026 global chains bought brands and management platforms rather than real estate: it expands the loyalty system without capex. The typical structure is a fixed price at closing plus contingent payments as the network grows.

In June 2025 Hyatt sold Playa's real estate (15 resorts) for $2.0bn. About $555m was effectively left for the management business; the company expects stabilised adjusted EBITDA of $60–65m in 2027 — about 8.5–9.5x. company data

The study's 10.0x / 9.2x / 8.1x multiples are an analyst's price target basis for Playa shares, not a deal multiple. being verified

Hilton's partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World: in 2025 SLH passed 650 hotels in 90+ countries; SLH says the partnership helped its own revenue grow 18% year on year (not member hotels' revenue, as the study says). company data

Trading multiples: brands vs owners of walls

Asset-light brand owners trade higher than owners of resorts and casinos: franchisors earn a high return on capital and carry no building upkeep. Values below are 2026 orders of magnitude; the basis (trailing or forward, adjusted or reported EBITDA) differs between calculations, so all are labelled as estimates.

Wellness real estate: market size

The global wellness economy was about $6.8tn in 2024 (+7.9% year on year, about 6.1% of world GDP); the forecast is about 7.6% a year and close to $10tn by 2029. The fastest-growing sector within it is wellness real estate (homes, resorts and properties designed around health).

In 2025 wellness real estate grew 23% to $876bn while global construction grew about 3%. The largest market is the US ($254bn), the fastest Asia-Pacific ($350bn in 2025 vs $278bn a year earlier). The forecast is over $1tn in 2027 and $1.8tn by 2030 (about 15% a year).

Capital in medical wellness resorts

In 2023–2026 family-run operators of medical resorts bring in institutional capital: minority rounds, joint ventures with developers and sovereign funds, project finance for new properties.

Corrections to the study: the legal, financial and real estate advisers of the Lanserhof round acted for AltamarCAM, not Lanserhof; Paul Hastings advised Amaala Company, not the clinic; SHA Emirates with developer IMKAN is a project at AlJurf (Abu Dhabi, announced in 2019), not an “island”; Capella in the BDMS project is the residential partner, not a clinical wellness partner; Max Gottschalk joining the Clinique La Prairie fund in October 2025 is not confirmed.

Oakmond's loan-to-cost of about 56% is our arithmetic (145 of €260m); the company did not publish it. research estimate, not confirmed by filings

Medi-spa: consolidation and multiples

Stand-alone aesthetic medicine clinics are the main arena of the buy-and-build strategy of private equity. The market is fragmented, about 90% of patients are women, payment is direct without insurers, and a large share of revenue comes from repeat treatments and memberships.

There are more than 10,000 medi-spas in the US (10,488 per an industry review; the association said “more than 11,000” in 2024). The study's growth “18% from 8,899” and the 81% share of single-site clinics are not confirmed. sources disagree

LaserAway (US, 219 clinics as of May 2026; owners — founders, Ares Management since 2021 and Seidler Equity Partners since 2018) reportedly began exploring a sale in June 2026 at a valuation of more than $2bn; annual EBITDA is about $150m. being verifiedBusiness press report; no deal yet.

SkinSpirit: in October 2022 KKR bought a minority stake (31 clinics at the time); GreyLion remains a minority owner since 2018; the 39th clinic came in 2023 through the Truth + Beauty acquisition. The staff growth from 112 to 625 is not confirmed.

Forecasts of the global medi-spa market in 2026 differ: $25.9bn (a 2022 forecast), $26.2bn and $28.4bn in newer work. sources disagree

Wellness in a hotel: revenue vs profit

An industry classification splits hotels into three groups: “major wellness” — wellness and leisure revenue above $1m or above 10% of total revenue; “minor wellness” — below those thresholds; “no wellness”. The spa has its own metrics: treatment room utilisation and revenue per available treatment room per day.

Full-year 2025 reversed the picture: minor-wellness hotels for the first time outpaced major-wellness ones in ADR, RevPAR and GOPPAR growth, and full-year GOPPAR was $99 vs $89. In the US minor-wellness GOPPAR rose 6.1% while major-wellness fell 14.7%: staff and energy costs grew faster than revenue.

UAE: in luxury, “no wellness” hotels outpaced both wellness groups on all metrics including profit in 2025, although major and minor wellness GOPPAR grew 12.1% and 12.2%. The study explains it by owners leasing spas and clinics to specialist operators: clinical revenue and doctors' payroll leave the hotel accounts, the hotel gets rent.

For specialist resorts with mandatory multi-day programmes the study estimates RevPAR at about 2.5 times that of regular resorts of the same class. research estimate, not confirmed by filings

Wellness centre zoning in asset due diligence

In a technical audit of a wellness resort consultants check the zoning, because guest return and room utilisation depend on it. Typical requirements: separate active zones (street and sports clothing) from passive ones (robes, transfers between treatments and relaxation); separate a semi-public part for day guests from the private core for residents; make the wellness reception no smaller than the main lobby; put consultation and diagnostics rooms right behind it; the clinical block adjoins the spa but is physically separate; branded residences sit next to the wellness centre with their own entrance. research estimate, not confirmed by filings

US clinic deals: corporate practice of medicine and the MSO model

In many US states (most strictly California, Texas and New York) a person without a medical licence may not own a medical practice, employ physicians for clinical services or take a share of medical revenue. Funds and hotel companies therefore buy not the clinic but a services organisation that manages it under contract.

Order of the cash flow

• The practice collects all patient revenue in its own account.
• Physicians and clinical staff are paid first.
• Then the practice's direct expenses (rent, subscriptions, suppliers).
• From the remainder, the agreed fee of the services organisation.
• The services organisation pays its own costs and distributes profit to investors; anything above the fee stays with the practice under the contract.

The fee is not tied to patient numbers or a percentage of medical revenue — strict states treat that as illegal fee-splitting. It is fixed or cost-plus and backed by an independent fair market value opinion. Deals value the services organisation's normalised EBITDA (the founder physician's pay is brought to market level), and the founder often keeps a rollover stake for a second payday when the platform is resold.

Data needed to monitor deals

Most single-asset 4–5* hotel deals and private clinic-chain deals close without a disclosed price. The M&A section therefore collects data continuously and cross-checks it across several kinds of material; below is what each kind gives.

Observations

Observations are conclusions from the facts above, without judging specific companies.