Hotel Analyst Pod 18th May 2026

We start this episode by combining two big themes emerging from the first-quarter reporting season from the global hotel majors: the impact of the Iran conflict on trading patterns, and growing evidence that the industry’s long-running “two-speed” recovery may finally be broadening beyond luxury. We then move on to Kempinski’s highly unusual decision to acquire a hotel in Prague and what that says about the future direction of luxury hospitality models. And finally, we look at a cluster of recent European hotel transactions that suggest investors are increasingly diverging on where hotel value actually sits: in the real estate, the operations, the brand platform, or the income stream.