The NHIF Spring 2019 Meeting
The Northwest Hotel Investment Forum is a place where:
- Stakeholders learn about trends affecting hotel investment, ownership and development.
- Equity, debt, management and developers find each other.
- Stakeholders learn about opportunities in the region and elsewhere.
- Investors, owners and developers who are new to hotels make industry connections.
Thursday, April 4, 2019, 4:00-7:30 pm
The Hilton Garden Inn Seattle/Bellevue
10777 NE 10th Street, Bellevue, WA 98004
AGENDA:
3:00-3:45 pm – Optional Pre-function: Tour of the Hotel
Mike Nielson, Managing Principal and CEO of West77 Partners (the Hotel’s developer), and Doug Dreher, President of The Hotel Group (the Hotel’s management company), will lead a tour of the recently-opened Hilton Garden Inn Seattle/Bellevue.
3:45-4:00 pm – Registration and Check-in
4:00-4:55 pm – Opening Networking Reception
Refreshments and light appetizers
Reconnect with regional and national industry colleagues. Learn from each other about deal opportunities and projects in the pipeline. Whether you’re equity, debt, brand, management, development, or ownership, build the relationships that will help you achieve your objectives.
5:00-6:30 pm – Presentation and Panel Discussion
Short Program—Transactions and Operations Performance. This presentation will provide current information and data on hotel transactions and performance.
Presenters:
Hannah Smith, Consultant—Consulting and Analytics Division, STR (Broomfield, CO). Hannah provides custom data solutions to clients using STR’s extensive database, with projects ranging from comp set selection and optimization to customized dashboards in Excel or Tableau software. STR is the industry’s unparalleled information gatherer and supplier, providing global data benchmarking, analytics, and marketplace insights. www.strglobal.com
Mark Lukens, Managing Director, LWHA (Seattle, Washington). Mark has over 25 years of experience in hospitality real estate and holds the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute. LWHA provides advisory, valuation, feasibility, investment counseling, asset management, and transactional services focused exclusively on hotels, resorts, gaming properties, and conference center assets worldwide. www.lwhospitalityadvisors.com
Centerpiece Program: “The Smart Money: What are Large-Portfolio Hotel Owners Thinking and Doing in the Current Environment?” As we’ve navigated the hotel environment over the last five years, the consensus forecast has been for steady growth. By comparison, predictions for the next few years seem to teeter between positive and negative outlooks. What is the smart money thinking and doing? Top executives from three of the country’s most significant, influential, and well-informed portfolio owners will discuss their views and strategies on the business cycle, industry environment and disruptions, pricing, and views on buying, selling, holding, building or renovating hotels.
Panelists:
Ben Brunt, Principal & Executive Vice President Acquisitions & Development, Noble Investment Group, (Atlanta, Georgia). Ben has primary responsibility for the company’s new investment origination. His focus is the sourcing and underwriting of lodging and hospitality investments, encompassing individual asset and portfolio acquisitions, land and new development opportunities, market and investment analysis and brand positioning. Ben has more than 21 years of hospitality industry experience. Prior to joining Noble Investment Group as a partner in 2005, he was vice president of investment and development for Songy Partners, and a senior member of the investment team at Hardin Capital. Ben began his career in hospitality as an operations analyst for Homestead Village, a Security Capital Group company, and later gained experience in the field with Homestead Village as a multi-unit property manager. Noble Investment Group is a fiduciary to state pensions, university endowments and foundations. It has over $3 billion invested in the United States, primarily in lodging assets. https://www.nobleinvestment.com
Jeffrey Dauray, Co-Chief Investment Officer, RLJ Lodging Trust (Bethesda, Maryland). Jeff joined RLJ’s senior management team in January 2009. He serves as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions with oversight responsibility for the REIT’s acquisitions. Jeff focuses on acquiring individual hotel assets, strategic property portfolios, whole loans, and entity level M&A transactions in the hotel sector. A 30-year veteran of investment real estate, Jeff’s career is comprised of senior positions in hospitality sector Public REIT and Private Equity investment, REO asset management, RE brokerage, and opportunistic RE investment banking. Before joining RLJ’s predecessor company, Jeff was SVP for CBRE’s Investment Properties Institutional Group. From 1997 to 2000, Jeff was one of 3 senior managers directing investments for South Charles Investment Corporation, a revolving $300 million real estate opportunity fund. RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded REIT focused on acquiring premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. Its portfolio consists of 150 properties located in 25 states. http://www.rljlodgingtrust.com
Jonathan Stanner, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer, Summit Hotel Properties (Austin, Texas). Jon joined Summit Hotel Properties in April 2017 and previously served as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. Before joining Summit, Jon was Chief Executive Officer at Strategic Hotels & Resorts, a former NYSE-listed company acquired by an affiliate of The Blackstone Group in 2015. During his tenure at Strategic Hotels & Resorts from 2005 to 2015, Jon also held various other senior positions with the company, including Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President-Capital Markets, Acquisitions, and Treasurer and Director of Corporate Finance. Summit Hotel Properties is a publicly traded REIT. Its mission is to be the most respected owner of high-quality lodging assets that deliver superior risk-adjusted returns for shareholders, while providing guests with an experience that exceeds expectations. Summit currently owns over 50 upper upscale hotels throughout the United States. https://www.shpreit.com
Moderator:
Irvin Sandman, Attorney – Counselor, Sandman Savrann PLLC (Seattle, WA).
Sandman Savrann is a national law firm devoted exclusively to providing comprehensive legal counsel to the hospitality industry. With over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Irvin has served as lead counsel for hotel clients in thousands of hotel matters and transactions regionally, nationally and internationally, including hotel developments, acquisitions and dispositions, financial and entity structuring, management and franchise agreements, operational matters, and dispute resolution. He is the 2008 recipient of the Anthony Marshall Award for lasting contributions to hospitality law, a past president of the Hospitality Industry Bar Association, and editor-in-chief of the Washington State Hospitality Law Manual, Third Edition. Sandman Savrann is a law firm founded to serve hotel clients. With resources in Boston, New York, New Haven, Phoenix and Seattle, the firm delivers industry-informed, cost effective counsel for regional, national, and international hotel companies. www.sandmansavrann.com
6:30-7:30 pm – Post-Presentation Networking and Cocktail Reception
Cocktails and appetizers
Pick up your discussions and connections from earlier in the evening. Meet those still on your list. Make plans for follow-up meetings or visits to northwest sites, hotels, or markets.
7:30 pm – Adjournment
REGISTRATION AND NHIF MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION:
Registration is open only to Members of NHIF and to NHIF’s invited guests. Early registration (through Friday, March 22, 2019) is $70; later registration is $85. Early registration is recommended. Hotel developers, owners, investors, management companies, brands, lenders, and deal makers who are interested in an invitation can contact Irvin Sandman at isandman@sandsav.com.
RESERVATIONS AT THE HOST HOTEL:
The Hilton Garden Inn Seattle/Bellevue will provide to NHIF members and invited guests a limited block at a favorable rates. The room block will be available through Friday, March 15, 2019, or until the group block is sold out, whichever comes first.
NHIF STEERING MEMBERS:
Irvin W. Sandman, SANDMAN SAVRANN PLLC ~ Mark Lukens, LWHA
NHIF PATRON SPONSORS:
NHIF BRAND SPONSORS:
NHIF SILVER SPONSORS:
