China’s Hotel Investment Surge Isn’t Just a Distress Sale Story

Mainland China emerged as the fastest-growing hotel investment market in Asia Pacific during the first half of 2026, with transaction volumes surging 224% to $1.5 billion, according to JLL. Behind the surge is a structural shift that could reshape how China’s hotel assets are financed, valued, and traded. At the end of 2025, Chinese regulators expanded the country’s Real Estate Investment Trust (C-REIT) framework to include commercial real estate. That makes hotels eligible for public securitization for the first time. “We view this as a historic inflection point for China's hotel industry as it moves toward broader asset securitization and capitalization,” Julien Naouri, head of investment sales, Asia at JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, told Skift. C-REITs had existed since 2021 but were limited mostly to infrastructure like toll roads and industrial parks. The rule change gave hot