So which will be the next domino to fall—or to fall again at an even higher price? We polled the top executives of some of the industry’s biggest brands, including Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont Raffles, to find out what they would add to their hotel portfolios if money and current ownership were no object.

Some, like Simon Cooper, chief operating officer and president of Ritz-Carlton, selected other hotels. The Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, currently a Kempinski Hotels property, was his pick.

“I love Istanbul as a city,” Cooper says. “And when we developed our hotel there, I saw the Ciragan Palace. It’s just stunning. And how can you beat the location?” The hotel, which was the palace of the last Ottoman sultan, sits right on the Bosporus. And although Cooper has never stayed there and says he has “not a clue” as to its potential price, he covets it nonetheless.

“They don’t have to sell it to me,” he concludes whimsically. The Ritz “could just manage it.”

Indeed, desire is usually not rational. Raymond Bickson, of Taj, makes a characteristically outrageous choice.

“My dream acquisition would be Buckingham Palace,” he writes via email. “Taj has a long history of restoring palaces. While I’m sure Buckingham Palace is in excellent condition, I can’t help but think it would be even better under the Taj flag.”