Product Specialties

Hotels

Hotels have a unique relationship with their guests compared to other businesses. Few other businesses invite their customers to take off their clothes and go to sleep, or encourage them to drink alcohol and meet someone new seated at the next table, or get married, have a retirement party, eat entirely original food or have a high powered business meeting. At many hotels, however, all of these experiences are offered and on some occasions, all are going on at the same time. Creating a ‘lodging concept’ (hotel) that is relevant to all these users, and many others, requires a lot of experience and timely research. The Principals of HHG have specialized in creating hotels that speak to specific market segments with specific needs. We have designed and developed limited service hotels (Wyndham Garden Inn), extended stay hotels (Residence Inn, Hawthorn Suites, Homegate Inn), large convention center hotels (Wyndham and Westin), luxury urban and suburban hotels (Hyatt, Loews), boutiques (W Hotels, Kimpton, ZaZa Dallas and Houston, Hotel Sax, Liberty Boston) and all-suite hotels (Guest Quarters, Doubletree Suites). Each was designed for a specific customer traveling to that destination and that city’s local patrons in a way that would provide the hotel with a long term and sustainable competitive advantage.

Some properties focus on one type of traveler, like an extended stay hotel – short-term apartment. Others just try to master the overnight stay at a reasonable cost – limited service. Luxury hotels cater to the customer who is not as concerned about what something costs, they just want it exactly right every time and precisely when the want it..

Resorts and Resort Real Estate

The principals of HHG have built, bought, managed or asset managed over 30 resorts in North America and the Caribbean, including 9 with casinos and nearly a dozen with resort real estate. Following is an overview of our experience and what we can bring to a partnership.

Resorts

Resorts have a different customer profile than other transient lodging facilities.

• Business guests are usually groups who are there for a combination of work related meetings as well as recreation. Or, they have earned an incentive trip from their company and are there as a reward.
• Leisure guests frequently bring their family along, or a significant other, or they come with a small group of friends. In these cases they are usually spending their personal savings to be there.

In both of these cases, the guests spend more time at the property and use the amenities more frequently. This creates a unique opportunity to please, or to disappoint. Understanding the customers’ expectations is critical in the property’s design as well as its operation. From a design standpoint, everything from creating the right amenities to creating revenue capture points to maximize the return on investment comes into play. If there is a pool, where is the sun in relation to the buildings and surrounding landscape? We have seen many resorts where the sun has been blocked by the hotel or by landscape, ruining the sun worshipper’ guest experience. From an operations point of view, such simple issues as making sure the customer segments are compatible can be critical to a resort’s success. In one asset management assignment for a luxury brand resort, the property marketed to a combination of corporate incentive groups and families with children. It was a disaster! Corporate executives were gathered around the resort pool for cocktails while scores of small children were splashing in the pool. We Fixed this.

Resort Real Estate

Resort developers have been selling real estate within their resorts for decades as a means to decrease their capital commitment and increase return on investment. Conversely, real estate developers have been adding amenities (golf course, hotel, restaurants, marinas, etc.) to increase the pricing and sales velocity of their developments. The development and management of resort real estate is complex. Forms of ownership range from whole ownership to fractional to vacation ownership. Asset types range from single family to condominiums. Rental pool management and homeowner’s associations bring additional complexity and risk to the equation. The Principals of Hartland Hotel Group have been involved in all aspects of resort real estate including development, marketing, sales, operations, HOA management and asset management. We have worked with major luxury brands such as Ritz Carlton, Harrah’s, Wyndham and Auberge Resorts. In fact, one of the HHG principals was President of the Vacation Ownership division of Westin Hotel Company. We have worked with many independents and smaller brands (Rock Resorts, for example). Following is a very brief overview of three projects the Principals were directly involved with:

• Village at Breckenridge Resort, Breckenridge, CO. An HHG Principal was a managing partner of this major ski resort which consisted of over 280 condominiums (90% in a rental pool managed by the resort), two hotels, a Marriott time share resort, 11 restaurants and bars, over 60,000 square feet of meeting space, a very hands on HOA, and over 100.000 square feet of retail. The HHG Principal and his partner grew the management company to over 400 condominiums under management, 12 HOA’s under management and received planning board and town approval for a significant master plan expansion. The resort was sold for nearly twice the acquisition price for an IRR of nearly 40%.
• Calistoga Ranch, Calistoga, CA. As a principal in a former organization, an HHG Principal was actively involved in the asset management and digital real estate marketing of this luxury resort, managed by Auberge Resorts. The resort consisted of 50 hotel rooms, a spa, vineyard, restaurant and lounge, and 26 fractional real estate assets nestled in a 157-acre box canyon in Napa Valley. We were retained by the investment fund as the asset manager early in the construction with the primary objectives to help with the positioning of the real estate offering of the resort and to oversee the cost engineering of the construction. We remained the asset manager for nearly a decade. We were also brought in as the digital marketing agency for the real estate and HOA. Our digital marketing efforts resulted in the highest number of qualified real estate leads from any single source and those leads had the highest close percentage. When the resort was sold in 2014, the hotel enjoyed an average daily rate in excess of $1,000 per night with a high occupancy percentage and the real estate was essentially sold out.
• Westgate Resort at the Canyons, Park City, UT. An HHG Principal’s firm was hired as the project director of this resort at the base of the Canyon Resort, acting as the on-site director. At the time of our hiring, the resort was still a hole in the ground. Our role was to oversee the pre-opening of the sales and marketing of the vacation ownership units as well as to set up the operations of the resort. When completed, this ski in / ski out resort consisted of over 150 condo units, a 30,000 square foot spa, and multiple dining options.
When the pre-opening assignment was completed after the first year, this property had broken every meaningful sales and profit record in the history of Westgate which, at the time, was the largest privately owned developer of timeshare resorts in the world.



Native American Tribal Development

Over the years, the Principals of HHM have worked with a number of tribal casinos all across Indian Country. We have come to recognize that while many casino resort operations would indeed benefit from the addition of a new hotel, at times and for various reasons tribes are reluctant to develop (or invest in) one. There may be any number of real world reasons which fuels this reluctance:
1. The need for high quality market studies, financial projections, and a business plan for a new hotel.
2. Unfamiliarity in hiring and directing a team of architects, engineers, interior designers and/or general contractors that are critical components to helping plan and construct a new hotel.
3. The need to find and attract capital (debt or equity) or in negotiating the terms of an investment agreement, whether it be EB5 financing, private or institutional equity or debt.
4. Understanding, coordinating and managing the actual construction process of a hotel. How would you mitigate the risks of cost overruns? How would you insure it opens on time? How would you deal with changes or lender inspections?
5. Successful hotel design – how do you get a functional hotel that is easy and efficient to operate; not simply one that just looks nice?
6. Finally, you already have your hands full in running your casino, bingo, and restaurant / bar operations so how do you tackle the additional responsibility required to open and operate a new hotel and its support amenities? How do you make sure the hotel performs well? How do you make sure the hotel guests gamble? Make sure the guest is satisfied with the overall hotel / gaming / food and beverage / entertainment experience?
What is the solution to any or all of these hurdles? HHG in development partnership with Native American Tribes!

Over the decades, the Principals of HHG have planned, developed, managed and/or asset managed hundreds of hotels and resorts. The Principals have managed or marketed some of the most successful hotel casino resorts in the U.S. AND, the Principals have worked with a number of Native American tribes to plan their hotels, build their hotels, reposition their hotels or fill their hotels (see Native American case studies).

Here’s a recent example: Potawatomi Casino, Milwaukee, WI

The Issue: The Forest County Potawatomi Community owned and operated the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They wanted to add a 400-room first class hotel and amenities to the development but did not have the expertise to develop a project this large or complex. Furthermore, they did not know how to operate a hotel although they did not want a third party management company to do it. Our assignment: One of the Principals of HHG was retained as part of a development advisory group to perform the following services:
• Assist in the identification, hiring and oversight of the architectural and interior design consultants.
• Prepare the financial projections for the project and present them to the tribal counsel for approval.
• Prepare the pre-opening and first year marketing plan for the hotel and new resort.
• Work with the architects and general contractor on the functional design of the hotel e.g. making sure that it worked as a hotel. In addition, work with the architects to value engineer the project to reduce the costs to meet the tribe’s development budget.
• Conduct customer focus groups and work with the casino marketing department to build new players outside of the 90-mile radius of the hotel.
• Prepare the organization chart, salaries, and job descriptions for the senior management of the hotel. Recruit and orient the General Manager of the hotel. Work with the GM to prepare the policies and procedures for the operation of the hotel.
• Train the new hotel operating team to function as part of a casino resort and train the casino operations executives to successfully oversee / manage the hotel.


Results: The Potawatomi Hotel, Casino Resort opened in June, 2014 to immediate financial and customer success. The hotel has exceeded its financial projections every year since opening.