Remaining relevant to customers is crucial for a company’s success – and often, a company’s evolution of services inspires that coveted relevance.
Redefining their significance, hotel management companies are starting to advance beyond their traditional responsibilities. Enter the modern-day management company – a one-stop shop presenting a range of services to drive the strategic development, growth and profitability of hotel assets.
Delivering an unrivaled guest experience is essential to cultivating customer loyalty, but today’s modern-day hotel management partners are positioned to provide more than just a raise in RevPAR. They embody a trifecta of disciplines – investment, development and management – and are backed by a proven track record of success. Characterized by this continuum of services, they embrace an owner’s mindset from project inception to completion to become more than just advisors, but keen strategists maintaining the health and wealth of real estate assets.
#1 The Intricacies of Investment
Going beyond daily operations, the modern-day hotel management company orchestrates short- and long-term investment strategies that drive repositioning, renovating, refinancing or selling.
What else does this new breed of hospitality partner bring to the table?
- A mastery in crafting an approach to acquisitions, whether for an existing property or new development, that incorporates an owner’s key criteria and potential acquisition targets
- Expertise in brand positioning, including in-depth knowledge of current and future market trends and the ability to execute franchise strategies thanks to established relationships with top-tier global brands
- Smart advice on hotel asset management and recapitalization to enhance ROI that is supported by success in negotiating transactions through strong relationships with franchisors and lending sources
- A dedicated, seasoned finance team and a close network of debt and equity experts to counsel on construction financing, franchising and all aspects of hotel investments
A hotel starts with an owner and an idea. A well-conceived investment strategy and its flawless execution demand the capabilities of the modern-day hotel management company that can then usher the project through its next crucial phases. Twenty Four Seven Hotels exhibited this approach by taking an existing property and repositioning it as the MOXY Hotel by Marriott in Tempe/Phoenix – the first property of this brand to open in the U.S. – so that it could capture a larger share of its target corporate market. The investment strategy and pivot between brands, all implemented by Twenty Four Seven Hotels, have made a significant impact on the overall performance by delivering a 35% raise in RevPAR.
#2 Driving the Development Roadmap Forward
Bringing to life a hotel owner’s vision for a property requires a partner who understands pre-construction complexities, is skilled in liaising with design firms, and adept at devising strategies to realize development goals.
How does the modern-day hotel management partner propel development forward?
- By navigating the intricacies of land-use entitlements and leveraging long-standing relationships with city agencies for maximum efficiency in moving the project along
- Seamlessly progressing from entitlements and brand positioning to a hotel’s design and construction phases, all within the same development team, to keep timelines on track
- Creating strong business plans with a roadmap for achieving significant ROI, whether for new construction or undervalued/underperforming properties in need of major repositioning
- Managing the development and financial needs of a project, including negotiating terms and facilitating all transactions
Following successful investment, advancing a hotel requires industry insight and a dose of creativity so that the development partner can successfully move the key processes ahead and help the owner visualize the property that will emerge.
#3 Guiding the Hotel Vision To Opening
The investment strategies have been put into action, the hotel concept has been established, and development procedures have been executed. The next step is ensuring the hotel itself comes to fruition.
After laying the all-important groundwork for development, how does the modern-day hotel management company achieve further excellence?
- By overseeing all aspects of hotel design and construction, including collaborating with architects, city officials, contractors and consultants
- Supervising the pre-opening process and flawlessly transitioning to the operations team
- Having the operations team deliver the dream that will inspire – and capture – guests for life, training and providing opportunities for employees to excel, and monitoring costs to positively impact the bottom line
- Guiding the asset, through a well-conceived plan of capital expenditures for guest satisfaction and preventative maintenance, so that its revenue flow thrives
The experience of seeing the final product open its doors – after the owner and modern-day management company have shared the experience from inception – is extremely gratifying. For example, Twenty Four Seven Hotels unveiled the Hampton Inn in Koreatown/Los Angeles after tapping local resources in the Southern California market, securing a global brand for the project, and overseeing entitlements, financing and design – a reflection of what results when a management company understands how to maximize a hotel investment opportunity.
When every stage of launching a hotel is handled by teams from the same company – from the investment decision to acquire an existing asset or break ground, to the conceptualization and growth of the property, to handling all the important particulars and then managing it to the highest levels of customer satisfaction – there is an undeniable seamlessness to the process. This is the role of the modern-day hotel management partner, where a single company crafts a customized program of investment, development and management strategies to create an operationally sound and fiscally strong property.