I started buythathotel.com without having any experience with buying hotels.

That's dumb, I know. But it was a great hack to learn very quickly about how the market works in Portugal.

In the traditional world you needed many years to understand some local market. But these days, the map analysis tools and AI are a cheat code for buyers.

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Here are some surprising things I've learned in the last months about the Portuguese market:

• 💸 Overpriced Listings: Many hotels for sale in Portugal are listed at unrealistic prices, often by sellers who aren’t serious about selling and just want to test the interest (you just need 1 buyer, right?)
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• 🧐 Hidden Issues: Properties on popular real estate websites like Idealista/Sapo often have hidden issues, such as missing licenses or expensive technical problems that aren't disclosed upfront. 🎓 Inexperienced Agents: Most sellers use agents who lack expertise in selling hotels. These agents focus only on basic real estate metrics and miss the business aspect of valuing hotels.
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• 🤑 Everything is for Sale: Any hotel listed on Booking.com or Airbnb could be for sale, especially if the business is underperforming. Successful properties might also be listed because owners want to capitalize on a good performance that can be temporary.
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• 🤫 Ego and Secrecy: Many hotel owners avoid listing their properties for fear of appearing as if they are failing. They also worry about the impact on their reputation with guests, competitors, and employees.
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• 📝 Licensing Issues: Licensing is a major hurdle, especially for small hotels owned privately. Licenses of privately owned properties don't transfer to new owners, and obtaining new ones can be time-consuming or even impossible.
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• ⌛ Long Market Times: Hotels often sit on the market for years, frequently being reposted with different agents. These tend to be overpriced and not good deals.
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• 🏨 Mid-Sized Hotels: Hotels with 25 to 50 rooms are hard to sell—too expensive for individuals and not interesting to institutional buyers (private equity, hotel chains, investment funds)
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• 🏗️ Construction Quality: Hotel construction quality in Portugal is often lower, particularly in older hotels built in th 70s and 80s by non-professional builders
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• 🔎 Due Diligence: Buyers should hire experts to assess the property's construction and legal aspects to ensure there are no hidden liabilities.
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Most of these observations probably apply to any market, not just Portugal. But it's just an assumption, I don't really know...