The virtual component of the 5th Annual California Lodging Investment Conference was held March 4, with the live and in-person edition coming Oct. 5 to the newly opened JW Marriott Anaheim Resort.
The virtual event included two hotel industry panels as well as a keynote speech on the California new hotel construction pipeline delivered by Bruce Ford, senior VP and director of global business development with Lodging Econometrics. Eight major hotel companies—and many other exhibitors—took part as sponsors for the event.
“While we were hoping to host the event live in person, we decided to create this extra value virtual component for our attendees and our sponsors in anticipation of our rescheduled event in October,” said CLIC founder Craig Sullivan. “Fortunately, the online experience was sold out and we look forward to meeting in person this fall.”
Panels included "Hotel Investment in a COVID-19 World," which was moderated by No Vacancy News’ Glenn Haussman and featured Jim Butler, founding partner of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell and founder and chairman of the firm’s Global Hospitality Group; Jenny Redlin, partner at ESI; Luigi Major, managing director, partner, Los Angeles with HVS; Biran Patel, chairman of AAHOA; Kevin Lipson, senior VP – head of institutional group, RealInsight Marketplace; Bijal Patel, California Hotel & Lodging Association chair; and Keegan Bisch, VP of originations for Stonehill.
The "Overview of the California Hotel Market" panel was moderated by Jackie Collins, senior director/VP, hospitality practice at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., and included Mark LeBlanc, executive VP at Aimbridge Hospitality; Suzanne Mellen, senior managing director, HVS; Mark Crisci, chief investment officer and principal, Azul Hospitality Group; Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group; Jeanne Muscolino, business development manager and hospitality sector leader, JCJ Architecture; Lynetta Montoya, president and CEO, Latino Hotel Association; and Ron Kim, COO of Prospera Hotels.
CLIC is the only conference focused exclusively on the California hotel market, one of the country’s largest. With approximately 5,956 hotels—both branded and independent with 20 rooms or more, the state has nearly 555,000 rooms and 159 new hotels under construction, adding 23,831 keys to the inventory, along with 262 hotel projects in “early planning” equaling more than 33,600 more rooms, according Lodging Econometrics.