LVMH to sell California hotel for $82m

LVMH is selling the Belmond El Encanto hotel in Santa Barbara, California for $82 million.

Sold to a partnership of Culver Capital and brothers Tyler and Justin Mateen, who was a also a co-founder of Tinder, the hotel located at 800 Alvarado Place comprises 92 units including 22 suites, an outdoor pool, a spa and wellness centre and an on-site bar and restaurant.

The sale amount represents a per-key price of about $900,000 a room.

The property is the only hotel in the French luxury company’s portfolio, and was acquired in 2018 as part of LVMH’s $2.6 billion purchase of the Belmond hotel group. 

Why it matters

The involvement of the Mateen brothers suggests an increasing interest from investors in other sectors - in this case tech - in hotel investments, continuing to indicate a growing trend of diversification where more and more non-traditional hotel investors are entering the space.