The Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on the Hotel Industry Through the Financial Leverage Trends: The Portuguese Case

This chapter aims to understand the historical trends of hotel industry financial leverage, and to analyse the impact of macroeconomic factors on it. Therefore, managers can understand the impact of cyclical factors on capital structure and can act in advance to minimize additional costs or financial problems. Moreover, it intends to propose an analysis model to be used by managers and shareholders to control the effect of financial leverage over their companies. This analysis model can help managers to know the impact of the chosen financing sources on shareholders’ return and whether there is a change in the financial leverage effect. Results highlight that the perception of financial leverage by hotel managers is crucial in crisis situations, such as pandemics and natural disasters, which demands new challenges to companies.