The NHIF Spring 2023 Meeting
The Northwest Hotel Investment Forum is a place where:
- Stakeholders learn about trends affecting hotel investment, ownership and development.
- Equity, debt, management, brands, 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.
THE NHIF SPRING 2023 MEETING
Thursday, April 27, 2023, 4:00-7:30 pm
Embassy Suites Seattle/Downtown Pioneer Square
255 South King Street, Seattle, WA 98104
AGENDA:
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.
5:00-6:45 pm – Presentation and Panel Discussion
Program Host and Chair:
Irvin Sandman, Principal – Attorney, Sandman Savrann PLLC (Seattle, WA).
With over 30 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 and is the editor-in-chief of the Washington State Hospitality Law Manual, Third Edition. Sandman Savrann is a law firm founded exclusively to serve hotel clients. With resources in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Haven, New York, Phoenix and Seattle/Tacoma, the firm delivers industry–informed, cost‑effective counsel for regional, national, and international hotel companies and owners. www.sandmansavrann.com
Short Program—Hotel Performance. This presentation will provide current information and data on hotel performance and transactions.
Presenters:
Emmy Hise, Director of Hospitality Analytics, Western US, CoStar (Denver, CO). Emmy analyzes and presents economic trends and themes within the Hospitality sector for the western United States to clients using STR and CoStar’s extensive databases. STR was acquired in October 2019 by CoStar Group, Inc., the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. STR is the industry’s unparalleled information gatherer and supplier, providing global data benchmarking, analytics, and marketplace insights. www.costar.com; 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: “Intelligence and Wisdom from Hotel Industry Luminaries”. An all-star panel of nationally-recognized, industry leaders will discuss some of the most pressing and relevant issues confronting the industry and the risks and opportunities they present, including current and expected changes in demand drivers, distribution and payment channels, marketing and sales investments, pricing strategies, ebbs and flows in portfolio growth and transactions, and asset management strategies.
Moderator:
Dorothy Dowling, Managing Director, Horwath HTL (Scottsdale, AZ). Dorothy joined the Horwath HTL as Managing Director to support global hospitality industry clients with go-to-market strategies that help grow scale, revenue, and profitability with services ranging from repositioning to commercial business planning and activation. Dowling has over 40 years of hospitality industry experience, most recently having spent the last 18 years as Chief Marketing Officer of BWH Hotel Group, where she directed all marketing and commercial strategies, including loyalty, digital transformation, advertising, public relations, consumer, distribution, intermediary partnerships, and global sales organization. Dorothy’s recent honors include: the Lifetime Achievement award from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) for her extraordinary commercial leadership; the Stephen W. Brener Silver Plate Award from the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference for her innovation and business performance; and WINiT by GBTA for her business leadership and advocacy of Women in our industry.
Panelists:
Cindy Estis Green, Co-Founder and CEO, Kalibri Labs (Potomac, MD). Cindy is Co-Founder and CEO of Kalibri Labs, a firm providing commercial strategy and a next-gen benchmarking platform to evaluate and predict hotel revenue performance. A true industry veteran, Cindy’s career began in corporate marketing and senior operations roles for Hilton International. After founding the data mining consultancy, Driving Revenue, and selling it to Pegasus Solutions, Cindy spent twelve years as managing partner of The Estis Group. A prolific writer, Cindy is co-author of several groundbreaking studies including Distribution Channel Analysis, Demystifying the Digital Marketplace, and a series of Special Reports on topics including social media, Book Direct campaigns and the Groups & Meetings market. She has been honored as one of the 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing, was inducted into the prestigious Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame, and was named as one of Cornell University’s 90 Influential Hotelies. She is sought after globally to speak on topics related to digital disruption and the impact on the economics of hotels. Kalibri uses innovative big data and data science techniques to help hotel owners, investors and operators optimize profit.
Lynette Montoya, President & CEO, Latino Hotel Association, President and Owner of Global Hotel Partners, Inc. (Santa Fe, NM). As the Latino Hotel Association’s President and CEO, Lynette leads the pursuit of its primary mission to promote and advance hotel ownership and investment by its members. As President and Owner of Global hotel Partners since 1998, Lynette facilitates the sale of hotels regionally and nationally. She has consulted in the development or brokerage for over $300 million in hospitality and mixed-use investment properties. Her work includes advisory services for, and execution of, hotel dispositions, acquisitions, and development, as well as hotel branding, management, and operations agreements. Lynette is the founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Santa Fe and served as its founding executive director. She is a board member of Architecture 2030, a non-profit think tank tackling climate change through the design of the built environment. As director of economic development for the City of Santa Fe, Lynette was instrumental in many integral projects, including the development and construction of a new convention center. Lynette serves on the Advisory Council of the California State University Hospitality and Tourism Management Education Alliance and volunteers extensively in her community, where she has been a key member of charities serving the homeless, battered women, and other vulnerable populations. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Tourism Diversity Matters (TDM), which works to benefit the tourism industry through focus on four primary pillars: Apprenticeships; Workforce Development; Diversity Equity and Inclusion; and Research and Data.
Gissell Moronta, SVP of Sales & Marketing, Atrium Hospitality (Alpharetta, GA). As Senior Vice President at Atrium, Gissell leads the sales organization’s strategic and tactical initiates. She and her team focus on optimizing financial results, with special emphasis on group, negotiated transient, and catering sources of revenue. Gissell began her hospitality career in sales as a business transient sales manager in the Dominican Republic. After moving to the US, her career progressed in hotels through catering and group sales and customer contact centers as Director Sales & Marketing. She has served in area and regional roles, leading teams to Gold and Platinum award winning performance over two decades. Gissell created the first centralized inbound RFP team for Starwood Hotels, taking the program from a pilot into a multimillion-dollar, inbound operation. She held the position of VP Sales & Marketing for Colwen Hotels, where she led the sales function for the company. In 2020, she was named HSMAI’s Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales, Marketing and Revenue Optimization. Atrium Hospitality is a management and asset management company, with deep strengths that range from business analytics, digital marketing, and revenue management, to design & construction and IT. Atrium currently manages the performance of 83 full and select service hotels under 16 major brands, with 21,773 rooms located in 29 states.
Stacey Nadolny, SVP of Full-Service and Lifestyle Brands, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (Chicago, IL). Stacey joined Wyndham as Senior Vice President of Full-Service and Lifestyle brands, responsible for U.S., Canada, and Caribbean markets. Before joining WH&R, Stacey spent 16 years at HVS overseeing the Consulting and Valuation practice across the Midwest Region. While at HVS, she consulted on over 2,500 hotel projects, assisting developers with feasibility and market studies and advising owners across the country. A graduate of Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, Stacey has been working in the hospitality industry since age 12 when she started bussing tables at the restaurant where her mother worked. Stacey’s support of the hotel industry includes her contributions in the Castell Project, AHLA’s ForWard, and Wyndham’s Women Own the Room.
6:45-7:30 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 31, 2023) is $150; later registration is $165. Early registration is recommended. To register, please go to the link shown in the email notifications you’ve received about the meeting.
RESERVATIONS AT THE HOST HOTEL:
Embassy Suites Seattle/Downtown Pioneer Square will again be providing a limited block at a favorable rate for NHIF attendees through Friday, March 24, 2023, or until the group block is sold out, whichever comes first. To reserve under the room block, please go to the link or call the telephone number shown in the email notifications you’ve received about the meeting.
NHIF STEERING MEMBERS:
Irvin W. Sandman, Sandman Savrann PLLC ~ Mark Lukens, LWHA
NHIF PATRON SPONSORS:
NHIF BRAND SPONSORS:
NHIF SILVER SPONSORS:
