Hotel Equities, the Alpharetta, Georgia-based hotel development, ownership and management company, recently announced a strategic partnership with Greenwood Hospitality to create a new lifestyle division that launches with 30 assets.
The deal combines the Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company’s collection of luxury and lifestyle hotels with Hotel Equities’ portfolio of full-service and serviced hotels and includes assets such as The Farnam in Omaha, Nebraska, and The Henry in Dearborn, Michigan – both Autograph Collection properties. Among others, it also includes the Tulsa Club, a Curio Collection by Hilton in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“The name of the lifestyle division is Greenwood, which is the new strategic partner that we recently combined efforts with to run our overall lifestyle division,” said Joe Reardon, chief development officer of Hotel Equities. “They have owned this space for many years, and now by combining efforts, we look forward to substantial growth as a team.”
Creating a lifestyle division had been part of Hotel Equities’ plans for quite some time and the company had been preparing for this moment for the last three years by adding infrastructure and leaders with full-service, luxury, food and beverage and lifestyle backgrounds.
The new division might be Hotel Equities’ fastest growing segment because of the number of brands they currently have and their experience in lifestyle and alternative hospitality. The company has several lifestyle hotels under contract and is in “deep conversations with larger portfolios” to grow this footprint and division.
“Anytime you put two strong corporations together, you’re always going to get better efficiencies and better ways to utilize our resources and talent,” Reardon explained. “Given that, there is an extraordinary amount of savings for any of our new, potential joint venture partners, as well as owners. It allows our talent pool to continue to grow and it also allows all the associates involved on both sides to continue to grow within the organizations, where they might not have had the opportunity to do so in the past.”
Bill Kohl, principal at Greenwood Hospitality, will lead an elevated enterprise-wide food and beverage team, while Peter Tziahanas has been appointed as the senior vice president of operations. Tom Conran, also a principal with Greenwood Hospitality, will expand the new division across the U.S. and Canada. All the disciplines will be supported by Albert Smith, Hotel Equities’ president of hotel operations.
With the recent strategic partnerships and third-party organic growth, Hotel Equities is prepared to see this division “go very far in the industry,” Reardon said. “In recent years, we have taken our portfolio to 34% full-service and lifestyle properties, which is rapid growth in that division.”
Reardon added that with Hotel Equities representing 37 distinct brands, “we now have the flexibility to create unique projects in markets that typically may have been unconventional.”
Hotel Equities has equity in roughly 15% of the portfolio and plans to further grow the figure. Elaborating on the deal structure, Reardon said both Hotel Equities and Greenwood Hospitality are combining their resources, leadership and associates and are the benefactors and stakeholders.
“From procurement to deal flow and operational expertise, all areas of our businesses combined win here with a synergistic approach,” Reardon added. “Everyone continues to be the benefactor here.”