REIA - The Real Estate Investment Academy

With over 10 hours of video content, this course offers a deep dive into the world of hotel investing. Designed and taught by Steffen Klüners, a real estate private equity professional with 15 years of experience (including at Blackstone), the course combines theoretical foundations with a hands-on financial modelling case study of a real hotel acquisition by a large private equity firm.

Who is this course for?

This course is ideal for:

• Investment professionals and real estate brokers seeking to deepen their understanding of hotel investments, financial modelling and valuation techniques.
• Students and early-career professionals preparing for roles in real estate private equity, hospitality investment, or asset management 
• Anyone looking to gain practical insights into how institutional investors underwrite hotel transactions.

Course Format

• The course is delivered via structured, high-quality video lessons divided into two chapters: a theory-based section and a hands-on financial modelling case study.
• Chapter 1 Fundamentals of Hotel Investing: includes 9 lessons covering the key concepts, theories and analytical frameworks of hotel investing.
• Chapter 2 Financial Modelling Case Study: an in-depth modelling case study based on the real acquisition of a flagship hotel in central London by a major private equity firm.
• All lessons are supported by downloadable Excel models and additional presentation materials, making the course highly practical and application-focused.
• Students can progress at their own pace, with lifetime access to all materials.
• Various short quizzes are integrated throughout the course to test your understanding and reinforce key concepts, creating a more engaging and interactive learning experience
• A personalised certificate of completion will be issued at completion, which can be added to CVs, LinkedIn profiles, or professional portfolios.

Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Hotel Investing

This chapter covers the theoretical foundations and key concepts used by institutional investors in hotel real estate.

• Lesson 1: Overview of Hotels
   Introduces the hotel asset class and explains how hotels differ from traditional real estate investments, highlighting their operational complexity, daily pricing, and variable income streams.
  
  
• Lesson 2: Why Hotels Are Unique
   Explores key characteristics such as seasonality, volatility, cost structure, and the central role of the operator in influencing performance and risk.
  
  
• Lesson 3: Hotel Investment Strategy and Guest Segmentation
   Focuses on how investors identify a defensible market position through strategic differentiation, targeting specific guest segments (e.g., leisure vs. business, budget vs. luxury) and aligning product, pricing, and service accordingly.
  
  
• Lesson 4: Branding in Hotels
   Explains how brands reinforce positioning, drive guest expectations, and impact pricing power. The lesson includes an overview of major international and lifestyle brands and how investors use branding as a value lever.
  
  
• Lesson 5: Ownership and Operating Models
   Compares asset-light and asset-heavy approaches and explains the structure and economics of leases, hotel management agreements (HMAs), and franchise arrangements—highlighting the trade-offs between control, risk, and upside.
  
  
• Lesson 6: Revenue Management and Pricing Strategies
   Covers dynamic pricing, segmentation, distribution channels, and how hotel owners and managers optimize RevPAR through effective revenue management techniques.
  
  
• Lesson 7: Hotel P&L and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
   Breaks down the hotel income statement with a focus on departmental revenues, cost structures, GOP, and flow-through—equipping learners to interpret and forecast hotel performance.
  
  
• Lesson 8: Hotel Valuation Methods
   Introduces institutional approaches to valuing hotels, including relative valuations using benchmarking, discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, and leveraged buyout (LBO) models tailored for operational assets.
  
  
• Lesson 9: Value Creation in Hotels by Private Equity Firms
   Details the tools private equity investors use to unlock value—such as brand repositioning, CapEx planning, operational improvements, and strategic re-leasing—within the broader context of business planning and exit strategies.

Chapter 2: Hotel Financial Modelling Case Study

This chapter walks through a full case study of a value-add hotel investment, applying the frameworks from Chapter 1 in a real-world context.

• A step-by-step case study based on the acquisition of a large flagship hotel in central London.
• The transaction was led by a top-tier private equity firm and involved a complex value-add repositioning strategy.
• Full P&L breakdown and performance forecasting using real-world assumptions.
• Development of a detailed financial model including unlevered and levered returns.
• Sensitivity analysis on key assumptions such as exit cap rate, RevPAR growth, and operating margin.
• Final investment committee-style summary and return metrics (IRR, equity multiple).
• Excel file included for full hands-on modelling alongside the instructor.

Recommended Prerequisites

The case study is Excel financial modelling heavy and it is recommended learners take the Applied Financial Modelling courses beforehand but this is not a prerequisite. 
 
Refund Policy

You will be entitled to a full refund within the first 72 hours of signing up this course. Just send an e-email to [email protected].