Many of the high-end and name brand pre-construction condo hotels that you’ve been reading about the last couple of years are now fully operational and actually being sold on the resale market.

 

• If you’re interested in seeing which condo hotel projects are now available for resale and what they’re selling for – click here to gain unlimited access!
  
  
• If you’re interested in listing your own condo hotel for resale and want to make sure tens of thousands of condo hotel buyers view your property – click here.
  

History of the Condo Hotel Concept & Locations You’ll Find Them

Condo hotels can be found in some of the finest destinations on earth.  Ski resorts, tropical settings, wine country, major cities around the world and more.

 

Condo hotels have been around for nearly three decades.  It all began in South Florida back in the early 1980’s.  The very first condo hotels sprung up in Miami Beach, and to this day, the largest concentration of condo hotels can still be found up and down the Florida coast.  In the early 1990’s, condo hotels began to appear in other regions of North America with greater frequency.  However, it wasn’t necessarily the beach destinations where most were showing up.

 

Many condo hotels were built in ski resorts.  Luxury destinations such as Aspen, Whistler, Vail, and Tahoe had immediate success with the introduction of condo hotels.  As we move forward through the first decade of the new millennium, condo hotels have begun to appear everywhere.  The strongest trend, of course, is the urban condo hotel.  With top luxury brands now getting involved, they’ve set their sites on major urban destinations such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

 

Of course, no matter where condo hotels are built, you can still count on them appearing in locations that have several common traits.  First and foremost, because the primary purpose of a condo-hotel is to maximize revenue year in and year out, you can always expect to find them in high occupancy areas that have high nightly hotel rates.  If there’s a place in this world that has a nice mixture of high yearly occupancy and high yearly nightly rates, expect to find a condo hotel there within the next few years, if there isn’t one already. 

 

Condo Hotels as a Hassle Free Vacation Property

Condo hotels can be the perfect second home.  Rather than be tucked away from all of the fun at some home or condo that’s far removed from all the action, a condo hotel allows you to own at a top resort destination that comes complete with fine dining, spas, nightlife, shopping, and swimming pools.  Additionally, you can usually get tremendous pre-arrival arrangements and special onsite “owner’s perks,” as well.

 

When owners aren’t staying at the resort, they can put their unit back into the hotel’s rental program.  Most owners find this to be a much more desirable option than owning a second property that sits empty year round.  Additionally, most condo hotel owners like the idea of having a world-class management company renting out and managing their property as opposed to doing it themselves or having a local “mom and pop” company handle the rentals.

 

Visit our Condo Hotel University for in-depth information on Condo Hotels. 


In the meantime, here’s a quick overview:

 

Condo Hotel Overview & Basic Information

As an owner, you take fee simple title.  So, you own it outright, just like you would own the home in which you currently reside in.  To reiterate, condo hotels are a whole ownership form of real estate.  It’s your very own place that you, and only you, have outright ownership in.  It’s not timeshare, nor is it some sort of fractional. 

 

The biggest difference between a condo hotel and some other vacation property that you may be considering buying is that most condo hotels are not meant for long-term residency.  In fact, many of the branded condo hotels do have stipulations on the number of days that an owner can stay.  These stipulations are in place to ensure that the property maintains its standard of being a hotel and not a place of residential living.  With that said, quite a few condo hotels do allow year round permanent residency.  It all depends on the specific project.  It should be noted that most people do not buy condo hotels with the idea of residency in mind, so this restriction rarely affects any potential buyer.

 

Financial Benefits of Owning a Condo Hotel

One area of conversation that always comes up when discussing condo hotels is the possibility of rental revenue and appreciation.

 

The rental revenue is shared with the professional hotel management company.  You pay no upfront fees for this management.  Instead, the management company takes a portion of the rental income that is generated.  Although the revenue splits between owner and management company do vary from project to project, most hover around the 50/50 mark.

 

Most condo hotels are strategically located in luxurious resort settings and premier urban destinations, which command top dollar for the nightly stays and are almost always marked by high year round occupancy rates.  This combination of high nightly rental rates and high year round occupancy rates make it possible for some condo hotels to have a very desirable cash flow outcome.  With that said, rental revenue is at the complete mercy of guest travel patterns.  One should never buy a condo hotel with the expectation that a certain level of rental revenue is guaranteed.

 

As previously mentioned, condo hotels have been around for 30 years and many have gone up in value in that time.  Some have suggested that condo hotels are the best area of real estate to get involved with, short of commercial development.  To back up this statement, they point to hard evidence that is readily available – historical appreciation comparisons.  It’s not uncommon to find the property values of branded condo hotels appreciating at a greater rate than the traditional real estate in the same market.

Of course, this isn’t always the case and you simply can’t assume that just because some condo hotels have been successful that all will be successful.  There have been more than a few instances of depreciation, especially in markets of over-saturation, such as Las Vegas and Florida.  As with any type of real estate, never think a property is guaranteed to go up in value.

 

Luxury Hotel Brands are Increasingly Involved with Condo Hotels

In the last decade, all of the 4 and 5 star luxury brands have embraced the condo hotel concept.  Just a few of the better known brands actively offering condo hotels are Four Seasons, Trump, Westin, Hilton, W, Ritz-Carlton, Rosewood, and Hard Rock Hotel. It’s quite evident that the best in the hospitality industry have adopted the condo hotel as the future of vacation property ownership.

 

This trend of quality hotel brands taking the lead in the condo hotel boom should not be surprising.  The business model of condo hotels are a natural fit for a company looking to minimize risk and maximize revenue.  By selling off ownerships in the hotel in a pre-construction phase, developers are able to more easily acquire favorable construction financing from banks.  This can save hotel developers millions and millions of dollars and shave the number of years it takes them to pay back their loans to the bank.

There’s not a shortage of ultra high-end condo hotels that are currently available for sale in the marketplace.  There is, however, a massive shortage of information available on the condo hotel industry and there aren’t too many people that have taken on the role of trusted advisor.

 

We at Premium Condo Hotels have written the industry’s first book on condo hotel real estate – offering a truly comprehensive and unbiased insider perspective into the world of condo hotels.  The book is available as a free download or you can simply visit our Condo Hotel University feature and read everything online.

 

If you ever have any questions about the condo hotel industry or want a bit of insight on a particular development, please don’t hesitate to contact us.  We’ll gladly assist you.

 

Have an Experienced Expert Represent you in Your Purchase

Not all condo hotels are the same.  Just as in traditional real estate, an experienced agent can assist you in your purchase and ensure that you make an intelligent buying decision.  When considering a condo hotel purchase, make absolute certain that you have the very best representation.

 

If you’d like, we can assist you.  It costs you absolutely nothing to be represented by Premium Condo Hotels.  The developer selling the property pays all of our fees.  So, if you’d like peace of mind and ensure that you get the best representation possible, give us a call.

 

Among our services:

•   Provide you with detailed information on any and all properties you’re considering
•   Prepare property and market comparisons
•   Provide insight into the developer, the management company, and the hotel’s brand
•   Ensure you receive the best possible price and selection
•   Ensure the buying process is straightforward and without any hassles
  
  

Contact Tara Peterson at (760) 920-3982 or Info@PremiumCondoHotels.com