LODGING LEADERS
December 30, 2015

038 | Don’t Be Afraid to Start Small with H. Mark Daley III

LODGING LEADERS

H. Mark Daley, III is President and CEO of The Generation Companies – a real estate investment company based in Raleigh, NC that provides real estate management and development services to individuals, families, corporations, and institutions. In less than 20 years, The Generation Companies portfolio has grown to 25 properties, including the brands Home 2 Suites, Homewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, MainStay Suites, and Suburban Extended Stay Hotel.

Last year, Hotel Business ranked The Generation Companies #86 in their Top 100 Management Companies of 2014 report.

Mark has been active in real estate endeavors his entire career including hotel, office, self-storage and residential subdivision development. Initially, Mr. Daley worked as a commercial real estate lender and then credit officer for Wachovia Bank, and in 1991, went to work for his father, H. Mark Daley, Jr., as Vice President – Real estate for Daley Corporation. In 1994, Mark was made President of Daley Corporation and Daley Investments, Inc., two closely held real estate investment, management and development companies engaged exclusively in activities for their own corporate accounts.

Then in 1996, convinced there was a substantial unmet demand for other passive investors to participate in direct real estate investment opportunities, Mark reached an agreement with Daley Corporation and Daley Investment shareholders to allow his core management group to form a separate entity, The Generation Companies, to provide the same real estate management and development services to a broader range of investors.  The company has since gone on to develop hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate and earn over 50 hospitality industry awards, including most recently Deal of the Year by Hilton for its Home 2 brand.

Mark graduated Cum Laude from Oral Roberts University (Tulsa, OK) with a B.S. in Business Administration and a Minor in Government. Mark is the former Chairman of the Candlewood Suites International Association of Candlewood Owners (IACHO), former member of the Marketing Fund Committee of the Candlewood Hotel Company, and served on the Board of Directors for the IHG Owners Association. Mark is a former Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Candlewood and Staybridge Brand Committees, respectively. Mark was Director and Principal of Suburban Franchise Holding Company, LLC, parent of the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel brands, Inc, which was subsequently sold to Choice Hotels International.

Currently, Mark serves as an Advisory Board Member for Boddie Noell Enterprises, a large private restaurant operator and real estate developer, and for the UNC Horizons Program, a substance abuse and trauma recovery treatment program for women and their children.  Mark serves as President and CEO of The Generation Companies and Managing Member of Generation Properties I, IV, and other various partnerships.

In This Episode, Mark Talks About:

  • His heritage as a 3rd generation hotelier beginning with his grandfather who became one of the original Holiday Inn licensees back in 1959, to his father joining the family business as a GM, and Mark helping out at the hotels throughout his youth.
  • Forming The Generation Companies in 1996 with only $25,000 and two Days Inn management contracts.
  • Developing their first extended stay property, experiencing great returns, and deciding to focus on that segment because of the amazing growth potential.
  • His family’s decision to bring in outside investors and how that led to more rapid growth.
  • Corporate culture, creating an environment where the employees feel valued, the investors experience great returns, and the guests can’t wait to come back because of the warmth and the hospitality they receive.
  • Developing cautiously, doing internal feasibility studies, and if a project doesn’t hold up to some pretty good stress tests, passing on it.
  • A pivotal moment in his career when he discovered that a $50M guarantee he had signed could actually be litigated as a personal guarantee under certain circumstances, how they worked through that situation, and the powerful lessons he learned from it.

Resources & Links

Mark Daley III

The Generation Companies

The Generation Companies
4208 Six Forks Road
Suite 850
Raleigh, NC 27609
Phone: (919) 361-9000
Fax: (919) 977-3830

LODGING LEADERS
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