Hotel investment has never lacked momentum. What feels different today is not the occasional downturn itself, but the widening disconnect between how risk has traditionally been assessed and where it is quietly accumulating. Capital markets are not stepping away from hospitality. They are becoming far more deliberate about what they are willing to underwrite and, just as importantly, why. Familiar indicators such as scale, brand affiliation and historical performance still matter, but they no longer guarantee resilience on their own. Increasingly, investors are paying attention to signals that are harder to quantify: leadership judgment, cultural relevance, decision agility and intelligence readiness.