**LVMH Sells Its Only U.S. Hotel, El Encanto in Santa Barbara**
French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is divesting its only U.S. hotel asset — the El Encanto, located at 800 Alvarado Place in Santa Barbara. The 90-room luxury resort has been sold to a partnership formed by Justin and Tyler Mateen and Culver Capital for $82.2 million.
“We look at it as we’re buying 20% of the Class A luxury hospitality market in Santa Barbara, which we believe is a growing market,” Tyler Mateen said in a statement to Bloomberg.
The transaction values each hotel key at approximately $900,000, a figure consistent with recent high-end resort deals along California’s coast. Due to land scarcity and stringent regulations, hotel developments in the region face high entry barriers, making existing assets highly valuable.
“It may look expensive today, but 10 or 20 years from now it looks like a good deal,” said Alan Reay, president of Newport Beach-based Atlas Hospitality Group.
The deal reflects continued investor confidence in premium coastal hospitality assets, particularly in constrained markets like Santa Barbara.
