The impact of hotel operational factors and crises on corporate debt

Tourism is an important sector for the development and economic growth of a country and the work and dynamism of hotels in this context is fundamental. Therefore, companies may take on debt to enable greater investment, which can enhance the quality of their operational activities in the hotels they manage. Bearing this in mind, this study seeks to identify the operational factors – specifically hotel characteristics - that affect the debt of Portuguese hotel companies, also during periods of crisis. Based on a sample of 9842 observations from 1191 hotel companies between the years 2005 to 2020, both descriptive and inferential analysis were conducted using the ordinary least squares method. The results show that a hotel’s debt is positively influenced by its star rating but negatively affected by its ownership. For younger companies, the relationship with debt is positively influenced by ownership and negatively impacted by the hotel's brand. The study also concludes that the debt of these companies tends to increase during periods of economic or financial crisis.