How owning hotels can still matter is not a nostalgic argument for balance-sheet bloat, but a live strategic question for an industry that may have overcorrected. For years, asset light has been treated as the default answer to almost every corporate challenge: capital efficiency, scalability, shareholder returns. Yet as European hotel markets enter a phase defined by higher-for-longer interest rates, regulatory-driven capex and operational complexity, the assumption that asset light is always superior is beginning to fray.
That tension will frame the opening panel at the Hotel Investment + Development Event on 12 February 2026 at the London Pullman St Pancras. The discussion focuses on the asset-intensive business model and asks a deliberately uncomfortable question: if asset light is so self-evidently optimal, why do some of Europe’s most resilient and consistently profitable hotel platforms still choose to own or lease at scale?
No Longer Ideological
The issue is no longer ideological. It is about where risk actually sits in 2026. Asset light models undoubtedly optimize return on invested capital for brand companies, but they do so by transferring real estate, capex and, increasingly, regulatory risk to owners. In a period when energy performance standards, decarbonization requirements and labor inflation are materially affecting cashflows, that transfer is no longer frictionless. Owners are being asked to fund rising capital expenditure while operators continue to prioritize largely fixed fee streams, raising questions about alignment and long-term value creation.
The panel brings together voices from across that divide. From the brand perspective, Hyatt’s Felicity Black-Roberts represents a group that has mastered asset light growth but is increasingly selective about where it retains capital exposure, whether through key money, joint ventures or leases, particularly in complex or strategically important markets. That nuance reflects a recognition that pure fee models can struggle to deliver control and consistency when assets require heavy repositioning or sustained investment.
From the owner-operator side, Essendi’s Martijn van der Graaf and Whitbread’s Mark Anderson articulate why control still matters. For large, integrated platforms, ownership or long leases are not about empire-building, but about execution. The ability to make rapid operational decisions, align refurbishment cycles with brand standards and internalise efficiency gains can create an integration premium that is difficult to replicate through management contracts alone. In volatile markets, that control can also provide resilience when demand softens or financing tightens.
Ronen Nissenbaum of Fattal’s Leonardo Hotels sits between these poles, illustrating how opportunistic ownership and leasing can accelerate growth during periods of dislocation. In fragmented European markets, the ability to acquire, convert and reposition assets quickly is often dependent on having both capital at risk and operational capability in-house.
The Capital Markets Perspective
The capital markets perspective, provided by Principal Asset Management’s Graeme McCormack, brings the debate back to fundamentals. As debt costs rise and underwriting assumptions reset, investors are scrutinising whether fee income deserves the same premium it once did relative to real estate-backed cashflows, and whether long-lease or owner-operator models may offer more predictable risk-adjusted returns.
Crucially, the panel is not about declaring asset light obsolete. It is about identifying where it breaks down, where asset intensity outperforms, and what hybrid structures might better align interests between brands, operators and capital providers. For an industry long inclined to consensus, the session promises something more useful: a serious examination of when owning hotels becomes a competitive advantage rather than a liability.
Find more information about the conference at: www.hid-event.com. Investors can purchase half-price tickets by emailing [email protected].
Subscribers to the THP Newsletter can obtain a discount by using the code: HIDE26thpTicket when booking via the website.