Hotel deals are not dead. Hotel investor EOS Investors just purchased the Viceroy L'Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel in what will be one of the largest hotel transactions of 2020. The 116-room hotel traded hands for $100 million through Keen-Summit Capital Partners, which brokered the deal.

Viceroy L'Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel was purchased following a 1MDB multi-billion-dollar money laundering scandal that involved financier Jho Low, who purchased the property in 2010. The United States District Court for the Central District of California authorized the sale of the property with Michael M. Eidelman, Esq., Vedder Price P.C. serving as special master. The firm hired Keen-Summit Capital Partners to broker the deal. During the marketing period, Keen-Summit received more than 1,000 inquires, 800 non-disclosure agreements and more than 50 offers on the property.

The deal is a bright spot in an otherwise ominous-looking hotel market, which has been badly impacted by the pandemic. Hotel occupancies have fallen below 50% in many market segments, bringing investment activity to a near halt. However, there have been a handful of notable transactions this year. The LW Hospitality Advisors Q2 2020 Major U.S. Hotel Sales Survey reported six single-asset hotel transactions, which together totaled $246 million. The transactions totaled 1,459 hotel rooms, bringing the average sale price per room of roughly $169,000.