281 | Rescue Capital: Hotel financiers seek opportunities to invest in distressed assets

In June, Watermark Lodging Trust, a Chicago REIT, sold its Hutton Hotel in Nashville for $70 million. The price is $7 million less than what the REIT said it paid to acquire and upgrade the hotel seven years ago. A month later, Watermark said it signed a deal in which it sold shares worth $200 read more

278 | CMBS Distress: Thousands of hotel owners seek relief from billions of dollars in debt

Since the beginning of March, the hotel industry has lost more than $40 billion in room revenue. Hotels continue to lose $400 million every day, according to STR and Tourism Economics. The historic loss of income caused by the coronavirus pandemic is rendering hotel owners unable to pay their property mortgages. While many have worked read more

268 | Peaks and Valleys: COVID-19 crisis cuts hotel values and creates opportunity

Suzanne Mellen, senior managing director and practice leader at HVS, has been in the hotel valuation business for 40 years. She’s witnessed a lot of ups and downs. She’s also noticed how investors are eager to talk about their hotel’s market value during the good times but reluctant to face the truth in a downturn. read more

264 | Seeking Signs of Relief: Hoteliers wade through financial aid programs and proposals

As the recognized COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. and the nation’s subsequent shutdown approaches its fifth week, hotels and other small businesses are seeing some relief ahead. Federal financial aid is coming in the form of loans and grants from the Small Business Administration. In the past week, hundreds of thousands hotel owners have filed read more

261 | Let’s Make a Deal: Coronavirus crisis alters hotel transaction landscape

The U.S. hotel industry has practically grinded to a halt in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. As Lodging Leaders shared in our previous report, Episode 260, hotel business performance has declined to unprecedented levels. Another area of the industry that the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting is hotel transactions. Properties remain on the market, but read more

234 | More for the Money: Upselling generates significant revenue gains for hotels

Though average daily rate in U.S. hotels continues to grow year over year, hotel operators are not so eager to increase room prices these days. STR and Oxford Economics forecast ADR will increase by 1.9 percent this year and 2.2 percent in 2020. While an increase is usually viewed as a positive, the joy is read more

233 | How Does Your Hotel Rate? Smart pricing strategies key to winning in a downturn

It’s often said the U.S. hotel industry is a street-corner business. With that point of view, it may not take much for a hotel operator to panic and set off a price war on your block. The industry fell victim to mindless discounting in the days immediately after 9/11 and during the depth of the read more

232 | Wage Pressures: How to plug cost leaks in your hotel’s labor pool (Labor and Hiring Part 2)

At the peak of a great upward climb from the Great Recession, the U.S. lodging industry is seeing a leveling off in business performance. During the 25th annual Lodging Conference in Phoenix last week, many industry experts talked about a new normal of muted revenue gains and thinner profit margins as expenses continue to grow. read more

231 | Culture Club: Your hotel’s work environment may be bad for business (Labor and Hiring Part 1)

Is your hotel a fun place to work? Do your employees look forward to spending their day at your hotel? If the answers are no, then your business is in trouble. Do you have difficulty keeping good employees? Do you see staff members whispering in huddled groups? Do you or your supervisors work behind closed read more

September 3rd week

Funding CapEx: New report tells what it takes for hotels to stay competitive

International Society of Hospitality Consultants, in conjunction with Hospitality Asset Managers Association, this year released “ISHC CapEx 2018: A Study of Capital Expenditures in the Hotel Industry.” The 276-page report details what it costs on average to keep a hotel property up to date and in good working order. One thing was overwhelmingly clear in report: the traditional recommendation that hotels set aside at least 4 percent in revenue for future property improvements is woefully underestimated. CapEx planning, say report authors and other experts, is so much more complex than it was two decades ago, when the first report was published.

230 | Funding CapEx: New report tells what it takes for hotels to stay competitive

More than 20 years ago, a team of hotel industry consultants and asset managers got together to figure out how much hotels in the U.S. spend each year on property improvements and maintenance. The idea was if owners and operators know in advance what it will cost to keep a hotel property up to date read more

227 | Mass Appeal: Crowdfunding for hotel development mines new sources of cash

When it launched five years ago, crowdfunding for real estate development was a hot topic, especially among hotel developers seeking new ways to pay for their projects. Though it’s not creating the same level of buzz as it did when it first became a federally sanctioned option in 2014, crowdfunding remains a viable tool in read more

218 | Yes, Girls Allowed: More women venturing into hotel investment

Who invests money better, men or women? Fidelity Investments found surprising answers to that question when it surveyed nearly 3,000 people. The group was almost evenly divided between the sexes. Yet only a tenth of women said their investments would outperform men’s. Meantime, a separate analysis by Fidelity shows women consistently generated larger returns on read more

217 | Rainy Days Ahead: Hotels advised to prepare for a downturn

Many hotel-business experts believe an industry downturn is at hand. Some say it will happen as soon as next year. Others expect business to slow in 2021. So, is the forecasted slowdown based on fact, an economic algorithm, or is it more of a gut feeling? In this episode of Lodging Leaders we try to read more

191 | Financing for New Hotel Development with Malcolm Davies

Malcolm Davies is Principal/Managing Director of George Smith Parners, a leading, national provider of capital market services to the commercial real estate industry. Malcolm has over 20 years of experience as an award-winning capital advisor and developer, having advised and been involved with nearly $3B worth of financings, both in the equity and debt markets. read more

172 | This Unique Moment for Hotel Investors with Morgan Sickles

Morgan Sickles is a senior vice president of Aries Conlon Capital’s originations and business development team. He specializes in arranging high-leverage, non-recourse, bridge and permanent loans with cash out for hotel and commercial real estate properties nationwide. Prior to joining Aries Conlon Capital, Morgan founded Atlantis Advisors, a nationwide hotel services provider. About Aries Conlon read more

156 | Asset Protection for Real Estate Investors with Scott Smith

Scott Smith, Esq. is an experienced podcast guest, and owner of Royal Legal Solutions, Austin, TX, one of the top asset protection companies for real estate investors in the country. In order to develop strategies to maximize tax savings and protect from devastating lawsuits, Scott invested several years deconstructing real estate investing. In This Episode, read more

084 | Meaningful Employee Benefits with Laura Lee Blake

Laura Lee Blake, JD is a lawyer and a Wealth Advisor with SunBright Wealth Management & Financial Planning, through Money Concepts Capital Corp., Member SIPC/FINRA. Laura Lee has more than twenty-five years’ experience in the legal industry. She has handled complex litigation, corporate transactional and business-related matters. Laura Lee is expanding into the financial planning read more

074 | Increase Hotel Profits Through Financial Leadership with David Lund

David is an international hospitality financial leadership expert who has held positions as a Regional Financial Controller, Corporate Director and Hotel Manager with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. David authored an award winning workshop on financial leadership, and he coaches hospitality executives, leads group facilitations with hospitality teams and delivers his Financial Leadership Training workshop throughout the world. read more

064 | Finance Your Growth and Recession-Proof Your Portfolio with Nick Sheth

Niraj “Nick” Sheth is President & CEO of the LD Capital LLC – providing commercial real estate loans from $3 million-$200 million, small business financing for deals ranging from $100,000 to $6 million, and loans for FF&E. In This Episode, Nick Talks About … His entrepreneurial journey, beginning with how got the idea in the early read more

028 | 6-Figure Income Tax Savings through Cost Segregation with Todd Strumpfer

Todd has been a regional director for Cost Segregation Services, Inc. (CSSI) since 2009, and he works with clients nationwide to bring them the tax-saving and cash flow producing benefits of Cost Segregation. CSSI has been in business since 2001 and has completed over 15,000 Cost Segregation Studies in all 50 states. On a top read more

022 | 10 Steps for Improving Operational Profits with Jon Albano

Jonathan “Jon” Albano is Founder & CEO of LodgingMetrics – a secure, cloud-based platform that enables hoteliers to track all of their critical business metrics across multiple properties from anywhere at any time, using a laptop, tablet or smart phone. He also hosts the popular Lodging Leaders podcast, an interview based show providing powerful business strategies read more

014 | Financial and Emotional Freedom Through Values-Based Life Planning with Mayur Dalal

Mayur Dalal has been providing financial advisory products and services for more than 27 years. The CEO of Dalal Capital Advisors, Mayur and his team provide top-quality wealth management, insurance, and tax-advantaged strategies that are designed to help clients realize their financial goals. Mayur is also CEO of The Oxford Group of Lake Success – an intellectual capital company read more

011 | Raising Capital, EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, and Prefab Hotels with Dan Rama

Dinesh “Dan” Rama is Co-Founder, Partner/Designated Broker of NewGen Worldwide – a real estate investment advisory company that works with owners and investors in all aspects of the hospitality business. The firm provides services for the sale and acquisition of lodging properties, consulting, hotel asset management, and hotel litigation support. NewGen also owns and operates several read more

004 | Take Responsibility and Own It with Paul Darrow

Paul Darrow is the founder and president of PHD Financial – a boutique investment banking firm specializing in hospitality finance, debt restructure, consulting services, funding acquisition and financial advisory. He’s also a former hotel owner with a strong understanding of hotel operations. Paul began his career in the hotel/consulting/finance world back in 1983, and his early read more