Hotel & Motel Management - May 5, 2008 - (Page 36)

36 News H&MM May 5, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Kimpton Continued from page 1 The company takes its role as fund sponsor seriously, said Joe Long, executive v.p. of development and construction. “If you look at the funds that invest in hotels, most are part investors in [real-estate investment trusts] or hotel chains, or bigger guys like Blackstone, or smaller funds that are real-estate focused,” Long said. “It’s very unusual where investors will entrust their money with an operator.” Acquisitions will continue to be located in major urban markets such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington, according to Depatie. “We are also looking at major resort locations, but we’re not likely to be the major resort anchor,” he said. “We would have a boutique hotel in a resort location.” Kimpton’s Sky Hotel in Aspen, Colo., was cited as one of its resortarea success stories. “Aspen is a ski market, but our hotel is much more contemporary,” Long explained. “We really hit the cover off the ball in terms of performance.” Kimpton has three targets for acquisitions: at HD Expo Booth #1366 Hundreds of color combinations available! 800-221-0408 www.southernaluminum.com CIRCLE NO. 141 CIRCLE NO. 139 We Were Green Before Green Was Cool n Nationally recognized for its environmentally friendly practices n On Site n No Downtime n Cost Efficient n Custom Granite Tops n Customizable n Clean & Fast n Warranted n Professional Finish Before After Savings of up to 80% vs. buying new furniture Acquire non-hotel buildings that can be converted to Kimpton hotel properties. Renovations of historical buildings can deliver tax credits to developers, Depatie said. “There are lots of beneﬁts if you’re willing to do the heavy lifting. Many times you need all those things to make a project economical.” Long said adaptive reuse typically occurs in high barrier-to-entry markets, where a renovation would cost less than to build from the ground up. “We do reuse in many tight urban markets, where we think would it be great for a hotel and there’s already a building there.” Acquire existing hotels that either ﬁt the Kimpton model or are underutilized, and reposition them as a Kimpton hotel. “We’re principally set up to buy existing hotels that might ﬁt what we do already or can be repositioned to Kimpton,” Long said. Build new boutique hotels in targeted urban and resort areas in North America. Depatie said Kimpton recently has done more of this. “New-build is a new thing for us, an evolution of boutique,” he said. “We used to think of a cutesy inn, but now boutique is any alternative to the chains that happens to involve a fair amount of design and a well-developed restaurant concept.” Long believes the company is a preferred buyer as well. “As a buyer of hotels, we are better equipped to be a higher probability closer of deals,” he said. “We don’t have to invite anyone else to the party; we come as single group. “There are many things that can happen when you’re getting deals done that can make it fall apart, and the problems just don’t exist for Kimpton, so we have fewer obstacles to overcome.” Whether renovated or built from the ground up, Kimpton’s philosophy remains the same: Every hotel tells a story. “Our brands of one and our bigger brands are all in the same family, and they have different personalities, but they have the same values—they are all great kids,” Depatie said. “For boutique, customers may have negative reactions to using the same name for different hotels, but it’s evolving on that front.” shiggins@questex.com 1.800.523.9448 www.therefinishingtouch.com CIRCLE NO. 135 CIRCLE NO. 132 http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.southernaluminum.com http://www.universal-textile.net http://www.southernaluminum.com http://www.scentworldexpo.comss http://www.therefinishingtouch.com http://www.scentworldexpo.comss http://www.therefinishingtouch.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - May 5, 2008

Hotel & Motel Management - May 5, 2008 Contents Pipeline Favors Established Companies 3 Palms Debuts in Upscale Tier Guests Want Reward Options Perspective Legally Speaking Marketing Matters Consultant’s Corner On Finance What Women Want Maintenance Doctor Trends & Stats Special Report: Top Hotel Brokers Design: Tune Into Music Programs Hot Products: PTACs On the Block: Silver Lining in Bleak Hotel Sales Market Events Transactions Supplier News Consumer Insight: The Importance of Creature Comforts When Traveling Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - May 5, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.