The strategic partnership with Greenwood Hospitality is the fifth of its kind for Hotel Equities (HE) since September of 2020. So, why has the management company decided to go in this direction rather than do what many of its competitors do—acquiring the smaller firms?
“Ours are true partnerships; they’re not acquisitions,” said Brad Rahinsky, HE’s president/CEO. “And, we think the that’s probably the biggest differentiator between what we’re doing as a collective with these partners versus what some others are doing as acquisitions and effectively dissolving those entities or organizations that they’re acquiring, including the DNA, the ethos and, in some cases, the associates that have taken those companies on their backs and propped them up, particularly over the past two years.”
He continued, “Scale always mattered, but never more so than today in terms of efficiencies and making sure that there’s savings around all of the status items that we have up and down our profit & loss statements—around insurance and procurement and operating efficiencies and labor and best practices. But, more importantly, we felt that if we had the opportunity to create a true partnership with like-minded [companies], it would be something transformative that our space has not done effectively in the past 20, 30, 50 years.”
Bryan DeCort, HE’s COO, pointed out that the company will not do deals with firms where the principals are looking to get out. “We want our strategic partners at the highest level in the organization to have skin in the game and have a vested interest in our shared success,” he said.
HE now has strategic partners in Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Northeast and the Southeast, “and soon to be in other areas—Mountain states and Texas,” DeCort said, adding, “It’s powerful for those folks within their geographic areas of influence to remain highly engaged in the business. Now their focus can shift and does shift into development and growth, but the shared relationships that they have with the teams that they’ve built, with the associates on the ground, with their investor partners and the local pull that they have with all of their stakeholders is incredibly powerful.”
Here’s what the partners that came before Greenwood had to say about being part of the HE family.
The Witness Group: “Being a strategic partnership with Hotel Equities gives us the opportunity to collectively serve our associates, communities and investors,” said Aakash Patel, principal. “By focusing on value, HE and Witness leverage each other’s strengths to continually improve.”
Coakley & Williams: “Being a strategic partner means aligning yourself with industry leaders that share a like-minded daily purpose and desired vision for the collective business,” said Mark Williams, president, who also serves as SVP, business development, HE. “It’s about creating synergies that ultimately benefit all stakeholders here in the present and in the future.”
The Hotel Group: “Our strategic partnership with Hotel Equities has been a significant success to date, most notably for our people with numerous promotions and expanded roles for our team,” said Doug Dreher, president/CEO, The Hotel Group. “We also have experienced an enhanced level of collaboration, connectivity and community being part of the HE family. Our strategic alliance has been both a blessing and betterment for our properties and partners as we have a laser-like focus on maximizing investment value via our KPIs, shifting share from the competition and capitalizing on the recovery at hand. In short, we have both momentum and mojo being married to HE.”
Sethi Management: “Being a strategic partner means more sets of eyes on our assets and our people,” said Ganisha Sethi, COO. “It means more ears for listening, more hearts for understanding and more minds for growing. What I can do alone, we can do together but faster and better, and that is what we’re most excited about.”
