ATLANTA Nylo Hotels LLC has named Michael Mueller, the original visionary for the Nylo brand and a Starwood Capital Group veteran who helped launch the W Hotels brand, as its new CEO.
During his career, Mueller has been responsible for more than US$20 billion of real estate transactions and has earned a solid reputation as a leading executive in the hotel industry´s boutique segment. “Despite the worst recession in generations, Nylo has not just survived, it has prospered,” Mueller says. “I am confident that as a result of the recent restructuring, Nylo is now positioned to capitalize on its highly innovative and successful brand and to grow.”
Former CEO John Russell left Nylo last year to form Advaya Hospitality, a company that will own and operate hotels in the United States and India.
The company is aiming to have 50 properties under the Nylo brand by 2016, and it will increasingly pursue conversion opportunities. “There are dozens of distressed and underperforming properties in gateway cities that are ideal Nylo conversion candidates,” Mueller says. “Nylo can drive the revenues and operate these hotels much more efficiently than they are currently being operated. The cost of our property improvement plan is very attractive versus other brands, and we are flexible and supportive partners.”
Nylo announces a major debt restructuring in which its largest shareholder, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., has made an additional investment into Nylo. The restructuring was completed in December. “The debt restructuring puts Nylo on very strong financial ground and resolves all financial issues in our portfolio allowing us to focus solely on operations,” Mueller says.
Patrick O´Neil, one of Mueller’s early partners in Nylo, who has been responsible for operations since the first hotel opened, will remain in charge of operations as executive vice president of operations. “Nylo’s brand awareness continues to grow at a rapid rate,” O´Neil says. “Guests appreciate Nylo’s unique product, great service culture and people, so much so that in 2010 Nylo’s RevPar growth outpaced its competitive sets in every market, in every month. Our food and beverage operations have been hugely successful, and we are achieving revenue per occupied room at levels that are two to five times our competition.”
Stephane Dupoux, who has overseen all design aspects of the Nylo brand, including architectural, interior, furniture, signage and other visual identity design, will also be more involved following the organizational restructuring.
Nylo also announces plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Atlanta to Dallas this year. In January, Nylo announced its third hotel for the Dallas market, which will be the company’s first conversion property.