In the face of the first wave of the pandemic, many hotels around the world were forced to close their doors, making the sector one of the worst hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

In many countries, this was a matter of legal instruction. But even where closure was not mandated, people’s desire to travel, whether it be for business or leisure, plummeted. As an asset class, hotels proved to be perhaps the least resilient to the pandemic.

At first glance, therefore, investing in hotels at the present moment seems to be something of a fool’s errand. After all, the pandemic is far from over, with the Delta variant that first emerged in India now dominant in the UK and spreading fast in much of the EU, as well as North America. Most parts of the developed world are making good progress with their vaccination programmes, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that it will take years to inoculate the world.

However, there are good reasons to invest in hotels at