Factors influencing hotel investment decision making

Purpose - Given the stature of international tourism, hotel properties are an important property investment sector. The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of a range of financial, location, economic, diversification and relationship factors in influencing hotel investment decision making. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reports the findings of a survey of major hotel investors and hotel owners/operators in Australia regarding the factors influencing hotel investment decision-making. The AHP multi-criteria decision-making methodology is used to assess the weights attached to each of the 30 factors influencing hotel investment decision-making. Findings - The main factors influencing hotel investment decision making were financial (weight of 37.0 per cent) and location (29.9 per cent) factors. These were followed by economic (14.5per cent), diversification (12.0 per cent) and relationship (6.6 per cent) factors. This sees three levels of importance in the factors influencing hotel investment decision making. Differences were also found between the priorities for hotel investors and hotel owners/operators. Originality/value - Only limited research is available concerning the hotel sector. This paper rigorously assesses the hotel investment process and assists hotel investors in prioritising the significance of 30 key factors and sub-factors in hotel investment decision-making.