The hotel bills more per place (RevpAR from 125,4€ at 2025) but loads a fixed personnel structure that eats the margin at low season but keeps more of every euro thanks to lower work costs and medium-long stays that smooth the valley. In an example of cascade, a gross income of 30.000€ leaves a NOI of 37% (11.100€), and that's where the channel commission is the largest leak. He wins his parthotel in defence of his margin and his hotel at an absolute gross income.
Two assets compete for the same capital euro and the same guest, and the developers sell them with the same hook: "hotel profitability." But hotel and aparthotel are two different business models with two different cost structures. Those who decide only by looking at the Rrevpar of the announcement buy the gross income and forget about the only thing that matters at the end: how many euro get to the NOI after they pay for the operation.
That article compares the two formats by which they are actually separated - the labour costs structure, low season margin defence and cascade from gross to net - with verifiable market figures and with no round promise. The goal is to get you out knowing what an asset fits your risk profile, and not what's got the most beautiful photo.
The starting point: The hotel bills more per room
Let's start with what the hotel does best. A complete service hotel monetizes the guest by several means: room, restaurant, bar, spa, parking and events. That accessory income diversification (F & B and extras) increases the mean income per square above that that that can capture an apartment with its own kitchen and without restoration.
El benchmark del formato hotel en España en 2025 fue un RevPAR de 125,4 € (+5,5%), con un ADR de 166,1 € y una ocupación del 75,5% (Barometer STR-Cushman & Wakefield, 2025). They are hotel sample figures, and they are not census figures: INE gives a minor revpar (89,7 € at 2025) because it measures a bigger universe. The difference isn't a contradiction but two ways to count the same market.
The aparthotel, with no restaurant or hotel services, usually moves under by entrance per available unit. If the comparison were to end here, the hotel would gain. But gross income's the first line of the account, but not the last.
Where Tortilla turns: The Cost Structure
The hotel pays its upper income with a heavy cost structure. Reception 24 hours, kitchen, living room personnel, maintenance of spacious common areas, daily room cleanliness: all of this is fixed template that runs both in August and February. The employment sector serviced apartments and more predictable operating costs than the full service hotel (Savills, 2025).
The aparthotel operates with digital check-in, with no permanent reception, no restoration and with cleaning per stay rather than daily. That model difference translates into a substantially lower number of personnel and supplies per place. The average hotel GOP margin in Spain round the 41% (HotStat, sector estimate): the aparthotel starts from a minor income but with a lighter cost base, enabling them to uphold a conversion to competitive NOI. In paladine: The hotel enters more and spends more and the aparthotel enters less and preserves more of every euro.
| Factor | Hotel service complete | Aparthotel / serviced apartments |
|---|---|---|
| Income by square | Major (sum F & B, extras) | Minor (accommodation only) |
| Labour costs | High and high (24h reception, kitchen) | Low and more variable (check-in digital) |
| Cleansing | Daily per room | Per stay |
| Defense in a valley | Fixed cost compresses margin | Capta mid-term and long stay |
| Average stay | Cut | Medium-long (best cost per booking) |
| Management intensity | High | Low, technology supported |
Sources: Savills, 2025 (work intensity); HotStat (GOP, sector estimate) and serviced apartments model.
Statality decides more than Revpar
España is a deeply seasonal market and there the fixed cost of the hotel becomes its Achilles heel. When the employment falls into the months of the valley, the hotel continues to pay for staff, reception and kitchen: the margin compresses at least demand. The aparthotel, with more variable employment costs and a vocation for half-stay, better advocates this stage of the year: it captures the moved worker, the digital nomadic and the midterm stay that do not completely disappear after the leisure tourism goes out.
That capacity to capture long stays is what soften the income curve of the aparthotel. And that's exactly where professional management - dynamic training that sets daily prices and a direct channel that reduces commission - makes the difference between an asset that survives winter and one that takes advantage of it.
The cascade of pre-sign euro: from Revpar to NOI by hand
Here's the exercise that no announcement does to you. We take a hypothetical aparthotel unit with an annual gross income of 30.000 € (rental, before fees and commissions) and we put them online to NOI. The spending figures are illustrative and depend on each asset but the method is what an investor should require before sign.
| Concept | Amount / year | % on gross |
|---|---|---|
| Gross income by accommodation | 30.000 € | 100% |
| − Channel Commission (mix OTA / direct) | −4.200 € | −14% |
| − Cleaning for stay | −3.000 € | −10% |
| − IBI, community and insurance | −2.400 € | −8% |
| − Professional management and technologies | −4.500 € | −15% |
| − Supply and maintenance | −2.700 € | −9% |
| − CAPEX / replacement and vacuum mattress | −2.100 € | −7% |
| = NOI net by hand | 11.100 € | 37% |
That's an illustrative example. The well-managed VT operating costs weigh around the raw 70% (sectorally estimated) and the channel mix uses 14% by combining OTAs (15-18%) and Tudesvío (10%).
Three things come up. First: The channel commission is one of the largest leaks, and that's where the direct channel really cuts - every point you move from OTA to directly remains at NOI. Two: at the hotel, the same cascade would drag a far more thick line of personnel, explaining why an upper RevpAR does not guarantee an upper NOI. The third: The investor that signs by looking only at the Rite of 30.000 is buying a profitability that doesn't exist; the one that signs by looking at the 11.100 knows what it buys.
The regulatory factor: The complete building dodge the neighbouring veto
There's an advantage to the apparthotel / whole building format that doesn't appear on an Excel sheet but that appreciates the asset: the risk of the neighbor community. The April reform of the Horizontal Property Act of 2025 allows the community to veto new housing for tourism with a majority of 3 / 5. A complete parthotel or building under a single incumbent has no voting community, so avoid that risk completely.
To this have been added the general regulatory map: The Unified State Registry (NRUA) was cancelled by the 620 / 2026 of May 2026 and so commands an autonomous code (VUT / VV / HUT / AT by community). Due diligence, the unique format and ownership of the aparthotel reduce the risk area opposite a VUT park scattered across different buildings. We have developed them in the guide about the whole building and the veto of the community and how tipsis in the asset.
A growing market, not niche
The aparthotel's no longer curious. At 2025 Spain caught the 23% of European investment in remote technologies, about 275 million EUR on a European total of 1.200 million (Savills) Itialist / news, 2026). It's still small within total Spanish hotel investment - 4.275 million euro at 2025, second best historic record (Colliers, 2025)- but it grows with two structural forces: the regulatory pressure on the short term, that favours professionally advanced formats, and the growing demand for half-stay. Extrachotelera demand marked record with 146,3 million nights at 2025 and tourist apartments are already 52,1% of that total (INE EOAT, 2025).
Where Bliss fits: cascade before signature
El problema del inversor en este segmento no es la falta de oferta, es la opacidad. La categoría vende upside redondo —"+10% de yield", "150% anual"— sin publicar la cascada que llevaría ese bruto al neto, y los operadores de canon fijo ponen un techo al upside a cambio de una renta cerrada. Bliss trabaja al revés: pone la cascada de euros pre-firma delante, con cada cifra anclada a fuente verificable y a datos reales de cartera.
| Criterion | Bliss Homes | Fixed canon operator | Gestora with opac upside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crude cascade → NOI before signing | Yeah, with your number. | No (only closed income) | No (round) |
| Capture of upside | Combined model ground and distribution | Roof: fixed canon | Without published method |
| Channel Commission | Direct Tudesvío 10% vs. 15-18% OTA | Not applicable / non-transparent | Not published |
| Hearing data | Real wallet: 87% ocup., better income | Opaca | Promises without source |
| Tramo intermedio (1-10 uds, rural) | Cover | Just big buildings | Just prime |
In Bliss's actual portfolio the average employment is 87% and revenues above the market average (internal Bliss data). It's not a market promise: that's what produces combining dynamic priming, direct channel and light operation onto the right asset. If you want to get deeper into the number of the format, read Retirement of raw parthotel to actual NOIand if you doubt between legal figures for your building, the comparative AT vs. VUT clear up the fiscal impact. For an investor that operates complete blocks, our Buildings and tourism investment The model will be summarized.
FAQ
Aparthotel or hotel to invest, what's best?
It depends on the risk profile and management. The hotel generates more income per room and sum of F & B and extras but drags high labor and operations costs and more volatile jobs. The aparthotel renounces some of that accessory income in exchange for a lighter structure (check-in digital, without 24h reception or restoration), better defending the margin at low season. To an investor that prioritizes stable NOI and less management intensity, the aparthotel usually wins and for those who seek to maximize gross income per square and have hotel operator, the hotel. The figure that it decides to decide is the net NOI pre-sign, not the nominal Revpar.
What does it cost less to operate, an aparthotel or a hotel?
The parthotel. The serviced apartments sector attracts capital precisely for its lower work intensity and more predictable operating costs with respect to the full service hotel (Savills, 2025). Without reception 24h, without restaurant and kitchen, with cleaning for a stay instead of daily and electronic check-up, staff and supplies fall materially with respect to a comparable hotel. That doesn't mean that the aparthotel gives more raw: that means that it keeps more euro than every euro billed.
How does temporality affect each format?
The hotel has a high fixed cost structure (staff, reception, kitchen) that keeps running even if the rental falls into a valley, compressing the margin into low months. The aparthotel, with more variable work costs and longer stays, best holds up the valley: capta demand mid- term and of a moved worker after low leisure tourism. Supported by dynamic training and direct channel, the aparthotel softens the income curve where the hotel suffers.
What Revpar and occupation have the Spanish hotel market?
En 2025 el RevPAR de la muestra hotelera española fue de 125,4 EUR (+5,5%), con un ADR de 166,1 EUR y una ocupación del 75,5% (Barómetro STR-Cushman & Wakefield, 2025). Es el benchmark de referencia para el formato hotel; el aparthotel suele moverse por debajo en ingreso por unidad disponible pero por encima en conversión de ese ingreso a NOI, gracias a su menor estructura de coste.
Is that a big market for aparthotel in Spain?
Es emergente pero significativo. En 2025 España captó el 23% de la inversión europea en apartahoteles, unos 275 millones de euros sobre un total europeo de 1.200 millones (Savills vía idealista/news, 2026). Es un segmento aún pequeño dentro de la inversión hotelera total española (4.275 millones de euros en 2025, Colliers), pero con crecimiento estructural empujado por la presión regulatoria sobre el corto plazo y la demanda de estancias medias.
The aparthotel dodge the veto from the neighbor community?
That's a complete one-man building. The April reform of the Horizontal Property Act of 2025 allows the community to veto new housing for tourism with a majority of 3 / 5. A whole aparthotel or building under a single incumbent doesn't have a voting community, so avoid that risk. It's one of the reasons why the complete building format requires different from the scattered VUT.
How does professional management change the result of the aparthotel?
Cambia el NOI por dos vías: ingresos y costes. En ingresos, el pricing dinámico y el canal directo reducen la dependencia de OTAs (Tudesvío cobra un 10% frente al 15-18% de Airbnb o Booking), lo que se traslada directo al neto. En costes, los procesos y la tecnología (PMS, check-in digital, automatización de limpieza) sostienen la operación ligera que define al aparthotel. En la cartera real de Bliss esto se refleja en una ocupación del 87% y ingresos por encima de la media de mercado (datos internos Bliss).
Aparthotel or hotel? Decide with the account made
We put with you the cascade of euro - sign of your asset - from Revpar to NOI by hand - with verifiable market data and the operation that defends the margin. No round promise.