Cushman & Wakefield has identified the Iberian Peninsula, Italy and France as the leading targets for European hotel investment in 2025, according to the commercial real estate services firm's latest outlook, headlined "European Hotel Investment To Ramp Up In 2025."

The New York-headquartered firm, which tracks transaction volumes across EMEA hospitality and publishes quarterly capital-markets reports, frames 2025 as a year of accelerating deal flow concentrated in southern Europe rather than dispersed across the continent.

Why these three markets?

The Iberian Peninsula — Spain and Portugal — pairs a deep resort base (Mediterranean coast, Balearic and Canary Islands) with primary-city undersupply in Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona and Porto. That combination has long appealed to institutional buyers seeking both yield and trophy pricing.

Italy offers scarcity of trophy stock. Venice, Rome, Florence and Milan trade at structural discounts to Paris or London equivalents, a gap that private equity and family offices (closely-held investment firms serving wealthy families) routinely attempt to arbitrage.

France retains scale. Paris and the Côte d'Azur anchor Europe's largest inbound-arrivals market, a depth that gives investors liquidity — the ability to enter and exit positions without major price concessions.

What does it mean for travel sellers?

Concentration in three markets tightens where new inventory, new brands and new operators will surface. For OTAs, tour operators, bedbanks and DMCs (destination management companies), the consequence is supply clustering rather than optionality.

The trade read-through breaks down by channel:

• OTAs and bedbanks (wholesale hotel wholesalers) face denser competitor counts in Iberia, Italy and France. Brand-direct loyalty deepens as Marriott, Hilton, Accor and IHG plant additional flags.
• Tour operators and DMCs gain a thicker operating base in the named markets — more properties to contract, more meeting space to block, more attrition protection in supply.
• Travel advisors sourcing upscale product find deeper luxury inventories in Paris, Venice and the Amalfi Coast, while contract rates harden as more capital competes for prime assets.
• Corporate travel managers running RFPs (requests for proposals) with global TMCs (travel management companies) should track 2025 closings for new-build completion dates tied to those pipelines.

Where the data trail goes next

Capital flow and travel demand are not the same animal. Investors deploy on yield, entry cost and exit liquidity, not on forward bookings. The Cushman & Wakefield outlook therefore signals where rooms will multiply, not where occupancy will peak.

The firm has not published deal-volume figures alongside its title headline. Its hospitality capital-markets team typically releases transaction tallies, cap-rate ranges (the yield buyers accept on property income) and investor-survey details inside its EMEA Hotel Investor Beat quarterly.

The next data point arrives when the firm publishes second-half 2024 transaction results. That baseline will determine whether the 2025 ramp the firm forecasts materializes, and how aggressively brand-side distribution teams should staff Iberia, Italy and France through 2026.