I got a lot to say about condo-hotels, as my wife and I explored buying a few in Orlando…Unfortunately, I'm too busy right now to give my full study of them…
Suffice to say, imho it makes more sense if you buy one because you want a vacation home to use some of the time, but what to recoop some of the costs by renting it out when your not there…But as an investment, I things are much more complicated than traditional homes/condos. Suffice to say, you have to deal with everything you normally have to deal with in a rental, plus on top of that deal with hotel occupancy rates, hotel management fees, management rental fees, short term insurance issues, etc. In short, it's probably not something you want to do as a first investment property.
Also, one big drawback for most condo-hotels. You cannot occupy it as permanent residence. IE: you cannot live in it 365 days a year. Translation: when you sell it, the only people buying it are either vacation home owners or "investors".
I would treat these 1 step above a timeshare, which advantages over a timeshare. But not an "investment".
Also, something you want to keep in mind about condo-hotel. Getting a loan for a condo-hotel is along the line of getting a loan for a commerical property versus residential. Also ,getting insurance for short term tenants is quite different from a long term rental. Many insurance companies don't want to insure short term rental, because it's a larger liability.
