Investment firm Gencom is bullish on high-end hospitality, evidenced by its portfolio comprising many of the world’s leading luxury hotel brands. The firm’s most recent buy in New York City, though, showcases exactly what the investor is after.
Last week, Miami-based Gencom acquired The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The acquisition follows the firm’s December purchase of the InterContinental New York Times Square and its Thompson Central Park buy in 2024.
Together, the deals are reportedly valued at more than half a billion dollars. Gencom’s significant investment in New York comes as the firm targets well-located, high-performing, irreplaceable luxury assets with a sharp strategy for expansion, Gencom Chief Investment Officer Alessandro Colantonio told Hotel Dive.
Behind the buy
Gencom’s acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton New York was “the fastest closing I've seen us execute,” Colantonio said, sharing that the opportunity arose during the holiday season at the end of last year.
Following the InterContinental transaction, which Gencom closed in partnership with Argent Ventures and hotel management company Highgate, Colantonio said he did not expect the firm would expand so quickly and “with this much scale” in New York. However, the Ritz-Carlton “was one of those assets that you really couldn’t pass up,” he said.
The Ritz-Carlton New York was among a handful of properties Gencom has had its eye on in recent years, Colantonio said. “We had made offers and had conversations around this asset a handful of times, and it was never the right confluence of pricing, situation or timing, but this time around, everything aligned.”
The hotel, offering 253 guest rooms with panoramic views of Central Park and the Midtown skyline as well as access to luxury dining and amenities, had the right dynamic, long-term market value and quality real estate, Colantonio said.
Situated at Central Park South and Sixth Avenue, the hotel is located in the heart of “one of the world’s leading hospitality markets,” Gencom founder Karim Alibhai said in a statement earlier this month. Colantonio reiterated to Hotel Dive that “New York City is a market that we’re big believers in.”
A ‘compelling’ hospitality market
Gencom sees “compelling long-term opportunities” in New York, Alibhai said. According to Colantonio, that’s because “visitation continues to grow, average rates continue to be on the upswing, and there is continuous demand in a market like New York that we don't see going away.”
New York is seeing “a continued increase in tourism and leisure demand,” Colantonio said. The city welcomed 64.5 million visitors in 2024, a 3.7% increase year over year, and visitation was expected to grow 0.3% in 2025 to 64.7 million visitors, according to the most recent tourism data from New York City Tourism + Conventions.
Meanwhile, despite stark hotel performance declines across many U.S. markets last year, New York saw ADR rise 4.7% year over year in 2025, with RevPAR up 4.5%, according to CoStar data.
Gencom’s Thompson and InterContinental assets in New York have performed consistently, Colantonio said. Hotels within the upper upscale and luxury segments, in particular, are seeing stable performance, he added.
In the first half of 2025, New York City’s Manhattan lodging market saw strong RevPAR results bolstered by luxury hotels, PwC reported in September.
Gencom will stay focused on investment opportunities in higher-tier segments as those properties continue to show strong performance fundamentals, Colantonio shared.
Gencom’s 2026 strategy
When it comes to future investment opportunities, Gencom wants “to stay consistent to what we do best, which is the upper upscale and luxury segments,” Colantonio said, adding that the firm is “all ears” when it comes to branded luxury opportunities.
It comes down to matching up the right brand, the right destination and a clear path to transacting, Colantonio explained.
“We tend to be net buyers, regardless of where we might be in a cycle, because we can always find opportunities out there and sift through countless transactions to find the ones that really fit our platform,” he said.
Beyond New York City, Gencom is a “long-term bettor on the Miami market,” Colantonio said.
Miami, where Gencom is based, “continues to evolve as a major international city,” Colantonio told Hotel Dive in 2023. “As we look forward five, 10 years, we really see Miami as becoming, outside of New York, a real financial epicenter.”
Last month, Gencom reacquired a majority interest in The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove hotel in Miami. Gencom’s other holdings in the market include The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, which recently reopened after a $100 million renovation.
Other U.S. markets that Gencom has its eye on are Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, according to Colantonio. The firm is also “actively looking” at opportunities in the United Kingdom and select European markets, he said.
Globally, hotel investment volumes are expected to see a “continued robust increase” in 2026, JLL reported this month.
