Call for collaborative asset management at IHIF Asia

The old model of asset management is unsustainable, with investors and operators calling for a more collaborative approach, attendees of IHIF Asia heard.

The comments were made during a panel discussion chaired by Global Asset Solutions’ CEO Alex Sogno, featuring Prospect Hotel Advisors’ Rohan Gopaldas, Eric Siegel from EQT Group and Hilton’s Gisle Sarheim, on Lifecycle Management: Planning for Optimal Asset Performance.

Sogno said:

What we’ve heard here is that lifecycle management is less about reacting to issues and more about anticipating each stage of a hotel’s journey — from development to exit. Success lies in aligning ownership, operators, and investors around a clear long-term strategy, while having the discipline to execute on short-term performance. Hotels are living assets, and the most successful ones are those nurtured with foresight, accountability, and adaptability.

He said that the previous model of asset management should be replaced with a fresh, less confrontational approach, leaning on expert knowledge, with all parties working alongside the hotel’s operations. Asset management groups should be independent and global and look to share knowhow with owners, with the goal of building sustainable asset management platforms for them to operate their own asset management teams.

Looking to the current position of the market, Sogno said that owners were doubling down on proactive asset management - repositioning, brand/manager selection, and tech-enabled margin improvement - to capture the current upcycle.

He said:

Owners are no longer just building; they’re engineering performance—from operating model selection to data-driven revenue and targeted capex.

Investors and owners were also increasingly open to flexible operating structures, including third- party management, hybrid models and joint ventures to sharpen ROI and accelerate projects to market.

The panel came against a backdrop of increased investor interest in the luxury and lifestyle hotel sectors in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly from institutional and private equity capital. Region - wide pipelines were at or near records, with notable acceleration in luxury and lifestyle projects and growth in new brands coming into the market.

Luxury and upscale assets accounted for almost 85% of the total hotel investment in the Asia Pacific region during 2024 and the first half of 2025, according to the latest research from Global Asset Solutions. The company’s Asia-Pacific Hotels Transactions & Market Snapshot for full-year 2024 and first half of 2025 reported that an increase in liquidity driven by the strong dollar had helped to bolster deals.

For all hotel deals exceeding $20m, the total transaction volume in the region during 2024

reached $11.2bn, with 139 transactions, and 56 worth $5bn so far this year.

The study found that Japan was the most in-demand hotel market, with a weak yen and near zero interest rates, meaning that the country accounted for over $4bn in hotel transaction volume, nearly 40% of the total for the year.

Global Asset Solutions has recently expanded in the Asia-Pacific region, opening an office in Singapore and adding a portfolio of luxury and upper-upscale hotel assets in the Asia-Pacific region, across Marriott and Hyatt brands.

Global Asset Solutions is the leading independent hotel asset manager in hospitality asset manager and advisor in EMEA and APAC. This year, the company provided its 360º Performance Optimisation Review for the Peninsula Hong Kong and the Peninsula London. Assets under management include the award-winning upper luxury hotels such as the Rosewood Phnom Penh and the Four Seasons Madrid.