RR | Miami | March 5, 2026
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Spain’s military snubs against the US at a crucial moment and Pedro Sánchez‘s response after Donald Trump’s announcement to cut all commercial relations have American hotel investors, both funds and managers, in suspense.
Spain received 4.3% more tourists from the US in 2025 and exceeded 4.45 million, as a result of the increase in air connections by Iberia, Air Europa, Delta, United, American and JetBlue. The trend has not slowed down in 2025, with a year-on-year increase of 3.2% in January.
Hospitality giants also operate in Spain, such as Marriott, Hyatt or Hilton, with large investment plans for the coming years, in addition to Airbnb, in the spotlight for its role in the touristification of homes, or Booking and Expedia, as revealed ‘Development‘. (Trump-Sánchez struggle: the US funds that own hotels, and also the chains, are in suspense).
There are also many Spanish hotels in the hands of funds such as Blackstone with HIP, as well as with loose assets or small portfolios. The presence of capital from that country in Spanish tourism dates back more than half a century, when economic exchanges were reestablished at the dawn of the 1960s, but they have been accentuated since the subprime crisis in 2008.
In the opposite direction, Spanish hotel companies such as Meliá, Riu, Barceló or Minor would also be exposed, given that the US has become a key destination for all of them and its citizens are the ones who spend the most on average in Spain.
Possible decreases in commercial exchanges between both countries would lead to a reduction in the current passenger volume, so this drop in demand would lead to a cut in flights and routes between Spain and the US.
The American president, Donald Trump, terrifies the main Spanish industry after Pedro Sánchez’s historic turn away from the Western bloc in the middle of the Iran war, he is willing to “cut all commercial relations with Spain”, thereby threatening the issuing market with greater spending among the largest in terms of tourism.
“Today I could apply embargoes and maybe we will,” he continued. «Spain has nothing that we want. They are a fantastic town but a terrible ally. “We don’t want to have anything to do with them,” emphasizes the US president, given Pedro Sánchez’s decision, which as revealed this Monday Preferredmay have been the most consequential of his presidency.
The Spanish government has refused to provide military support to the attack on Iran, and has distanced itself from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, after the United States had its tanker planes from Morón and Rota by not obtaining permission to use them in Operation Epic Fury (Sánchez distances Spain from the West, its tourist market).
Sánchez had been praised by the Iranian embassy in Madrid, whose ‘X’ account (formerly Twitter) indicated that it “fully recognizes” and respected this position of Spain, since “it is in line with international law”, placing it in a historic geopolitical turn towards the bloc led by Xi Jinping’s China and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
