Lowe, a Los Angeles-based real estate investor, developer and manager, formed a new, wholly owned hotel and resort management company, CoralTree Hospitality Group.
Led by senior executives who built their hospitality careers at Lowe-affiliated hotel management companies, CoralTree Hospitality Group launches with a portfolio of 17 lifestyle hotels and resorts under management across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico.
“The milestone sale of our prior hotel management company to Hyatt [Hotels Corporation] last year was the beginning of a fresh new chapter of hotel and resort management for Lowe and our CoralTree team,” Robert J. “Rob” Lowe Jr., co-CEO of Lowe and chairman of CoralTree, said in a statement. “We have the opportunity to return to our hospitality roots with a spirit of individuality, a focus on each property’s attributes and identity, and an emphasis on personalized, exceptional service.”
The CoralTree Hospitality Group, which employs 3,400 employees nationwide, is led by president Thomas Luersen, a 20-year veteran of Lowe, Destination Hotels and Resorts and Two Roads Hospitality. Luersen has assembled a senior team including EVP Andre’ Fournier and SVP Robert Mellwig, who are also Lowe shareholders and former executive team members of Two Roads Hospitality and Destination Hotels. The team will be headquartered in Englewood, Colo.
“Lowe’s legacy of hospitality, dedication to customer service and respect for the value of relationships, developed over 46 years of hotel and resort management, is ingrained in our culture and naturally continues with CoralTree Hospitality,” Luersen said in a statement. “We take a different approach to travel by delivering distinctive, memorable experiences that celebrate the surroundings, community and culture of each individual property. No two visits to our properties will be the same. Further, as hotel owners and developers ourselves, we have a firsthand understanding of how to optimize the value of every hotel we manage.”
The 17 hotels and resorts currently managed by CoralTree include independent, branded and soft-branded properties such as Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.; the El San Juan Resort in Puerto Rico; Hotel Lincoln in Chicago; and Hotel Talisa in Vail, Colo.
In addition to providing onsite hotel and resort property management, CoralTree also provides hotel and resort asset-management services. The company currently oversees Lowe’s resort investments, including Wild Dunes Resort near Charleston, S.C.; Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon and Suncadia Resort outside of Seattle, as well as hotels being developed by Lowe in Southern California and at the Charleston waterfront.
“As we grow, strategically and selectively, we will focus on lifestyle hotels and resort communities where our 46 years of experience and customized approach can make a real difference to the guest experience and create economic value for the owner,” Michael Lowe, co-CEO and CIO of Lowe, said in a statement.
Lowe formed Destination Hotels in 1973 to operate two properties it owned, and proceeded to grow the company into a significant operator of independent and lifestyle hotel and resort properties throughout the U.S. Two Roads was created in 2016 when Destination Hotels merged with Commune Hotels and Resorts, a Geolo-owned company, and was sold to Hyatt in December 2018.