Aman Resorts' New Funding Set to Boost Its Niche Status in Luxury Travel
Photo Caption: A rendering of a villa corner terrace at the upcoming Aman Beverly Hills in California. Source: Alagem Capital Group.
Skift Take
The Aman brand is not your billionaire father's ultra-luxury hotel. But can the brand retain its appeal with a rising generation as it scales to the size of Waldorf Astoria?
Aman Resorts has been in the headlines this month after it received a $900 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Cain International, a UK-based real estate investment firm. The deal valued the Swiss company, owned and run by Vladislav Doronin, at $3 billion.
Aman this month also debuted a Manhattan location, which has an 83-suite hotel and 22 branded residences.
The deal raised questions. What's Aman's strategy? Why are investors confident? Will they ever make a profit? While an Aman executive didn't respond to an interview request, some industry observers offered educated guesses as to the answers to these questions on background.
The peril is that growth may cause Aman to become too successful. Scarcity is an important driver in luxury sales. In the past, few ultra-high-net-worth individuals had been to an Aman. But as the brand's network grows, the more vulnerable its coveted premium status will be. Aman today has 34 properties, with nine under construction. Can it retain its cachet as it scales?
Some analysts point to recent luxury brand transactions where valuations were about 15 to 20 times earnings before interest, taxation, amortization, and depreciation. If one assumes the latest Aman investment was done at about 17 times expected earnings for this year, the company might throw off around $170 million in margin this year. Is that adequate?
Estimating the cost of equity and cost of debt for hotel, resort, and residence projects across more than 20 countries during a time of rising inflation, interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainty is a considerable challenge. The latest investment may be premised on Aman increasing its historical annual revenue growth and operating margin even further. That may be hard.
Many eyes were drawn to Saudi’s new stake. The state-owned $1 trillion fund officially said the investment fits its 2021-2025 strategy of diversifying its investments in non-oil sectors such as tourism. Relatedly, the fund has a pipeline of more than 130,000 hotel rooms in
