Latest news with #FirstHospitality
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
First Hospitality opens up investment arm, targets $400M for hotel acquisitions
This story was originally published on Hotel Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Hotel Dive newsletter. First Hospitality opened up its decades-old investment arm, First Investors, to outside capital and launched the First Investors GP Fund to deploy $400 million in hotel acquisitions, the Chicago-based firm announced in a release obtained by Hotel Dive. First Hospitality anticipates that the GP Fund will supply sponsor capital for investment in six to 10 hotels over the next two to three years, targeting 150- to 350-key premium-branded or independent lifestyle hotels in growth markets. First Hospitality CEO David Duncan told Hotel Dive that while the firm favors regions with strong demographic trends and diverse demand drivers for investment, it will operate with a flexible approach to geography 'in which we place greater emphasis on the asset-level story than on fitting within a predefined market thesis.' The GP Fund platform is led by Duncan and governed by an ownership group under Executive Chairman Sam Schwartz and founder and Chairman Emeritus Stephen Schwartz. Collectively, the three executives have led more than $10 billion in hospitality transactions, according to the release. 'Approximately 20 percent of the fund will be our own capital, giving the firm and its senior leaders substantial skin in every transaction,' Sam Schwartz said in a statement. Since launching in 1985, the First Investors platform and its affiliates have completed 45 hotel transactions and currently own joint-venture positions in 18 hotels spanning 3,100 keys. First Investors 'benefits from direct alignment' with First Hospitality's operating platform, 'providing early visibility into local market dynamics and operational trends well before they appear in public data,' Duncan said in a statement. 'This vertical integration provides a differentiated advantage for our investors, particularly in today's market environment, where dislocation is creating some very unique investment opportunities.' Duncan told Hotel Dive that First Investors expects the national transaction environment to 'remain relatively stagnant in the near-term. 'As a result, we believe the most compelling hotel investment opportunities will be idiosyncratic — one-off dislocations at the asset level, often driven by distress at the property or capital structure,' he added. Duncan said the GP Fund will be particularly drawn to assets 'where the demand fundamentals align with our operational strengths, regardless of location.' Though some real estate investment trusts scaled back hotel investments in recent months, urban hotels in particular have remained a favored target for acquisitions, according to JLL research released last week. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Skift
20-05-2025
- Business
- Skift
First Hospitality Opens Up Investment Arm to Outside Capital
Baird reported on investor meetings they held with Summit Hotels management. Their takeaways included that INN believes lodging fundamentals are stable, with a 5% drop in RevPAR for the same store portfolio in April. When you exclude the Easter shift and last year's eclipse, INN said normalized performance would have been flattish. They have seen softer demand in recent weeks with a shorter booking window, but have not seen incremental demand deterioration in April and so far in May. Corporate transient demand has held in reasonably well with no broad-based cancellations. Government demand is down 20% to 25%, and INN's portfolio has been the subject of cancellations from Canadian travelers in Boston, Scottsdale, and South Florida. They used the description stable to describe expenses and margins as well, which is good news. On the capital allocation front, INN management told investors they are committed to repurchasing shares under its newly authorized $50 million program. Baird said their sense is that the company is already an active repurchaser. First Hospitality has opened up its decades-old investment arm, First Investors, to outside capital and launched the First Investors GP Fund to deploy $400 million in hotel acquisitions. The GP Fund is expected to supply sponsor capital for investment in six to ten hotels over the next two to three years, targeting 150 to 350 key premium-branded or independent lifestyle hotels in growth markets. The GP Fund platform is led by First Hospitality CEO David Duncan. About 20% of the fund will be First Hospitality's own capital. The GP Fund platform is led by Duncan and governed by an ownership group under Executive Chairman Sam Schwartz and Founder and Chairman Emeritus Stephen Schwartz. The first AC Hotel by Marriott in Kansas will open its doors on July 16, 2025. The AC Hotel Wichita Downtown will be in the restored Brown/Broadway Plaza Building. The 118-room boutique property will offer European-inspired accommodations in Kansas, tapas-style dining, flexible meeting space, and one of the largest hotel fitness centers in the region. Greenwood Hospitality, a strategic partner of Hotel Equities, will manage the AC Hotel Wichita Downtown. The Commercial Observer reported that the first casualty of the Los Angeles City Council voting to raise the minimum wage for hospitality workers to $30 an hour is the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City Hotel's expansion plans. Sun Hill Properties manages the 495-room hotel, and they had already signed a room block agreement to reserve hundreds of rooms for the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. The future of the $250 million expansion that was expected for that is now in doubt. The expansion would have added 395 rooms. If this goes through, that minimum wage would be the highest in the United States. Unite Here's (typical) response was to call the industry participants 'chicken little,' saying this must end. IHG Hotels & Resorts, in collaboration with owner DM Miramar Beach Hotel LLC and management DHRUV Management, finalized the opening of a newly converted Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel in Destin, FL. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Destin - Miramar Beach offers 74 guest rooms, an outdoor pool, and a fitness center. It is located across from what is described as the nation's largest shopping outlet, Silver Sands Premium Outlets. The Kissimmee Place Development Group has proposed a 60,000-square-foot Hyatt Studios hotel with 3,000 square feet of conference space at the Florida city's airport. The hotel is one of two that the Cape Canaveral-based developer has proposed on city-owned land. The city is going to consider this proposal, which also includes the addition of a flight training campus for the rest of the property. Hard Rock International unveiled development plans for REVERB by Hard Rock Mazatlan, Mexico. Operadora Martres S.A. de C.V. is the project developer. The new build project is expected to open in June 2028 with 170 rooms with beachfront views. The Rosewood Mandarina in Nayarit, Mexico, opened, Rosewood's fourth property in Mexico. RLH Properties developed the resort and includes 134 ultra-luxury accommodations, including three specialty suites and two expansive standalone villas offering private plunge pools, expansive terraces, and bespoke design elements. The highlight of the rooms is the Canalan Beachfront Villas and the Cora Four Bedroom Mountaintop Villa, complete with infinity pools. Amenities include the Mandarina Golf Club, multiple dining venues that will continue to open through the year, four oceanfront pools, a fitness center, and the signature Asaya Spa. The Gold N Silver Inn in Reno, NV, will be undergoing significant renovations. Jacobs Entertainment owns the property and has pledged to preserve the inn with the renovations. The Inn's breakfast and lunch items will remain, but will be joined by new offerings. The Inn will close temporarily on June 1 with plans to reopen in time for New Year's Eve. The renovations are part of Jacobs Entertainment's broader investment in downtown Reno, with projects also being done on the J Resort and the J Resort's Reno Neon Line. Five parcels of land tied to the Reno Kimpton project were sold in a quiet auction at the Washoe County, NV courthouse steps. The trustee sale resulted in only one bidder, Court Street Ventures LLC, bidding $1 million. This is the LLC that triggered the foreclosure sale of the parcels over an $11.3 million loan to project developer CAI Reno Hotel Partners LLC, which went into default last year. Court Street Ventures is still locked in a legal battle with CAI over the Reno Kimpton project's bankruptcy, but Court Street said they plan to sell the property so they can recover as much as they can. CAI filed for Chapter 11 last year while continuing operations. Court Street wants it converted to a Chapter 7 to bring in a trustee to oversee and liquidate assets. A decision on the bankruptcy case will be made on June 2. CAI said they reached out to Court Street, offering a $2 million payment and payments of $1 million per month to delay the trustee sale until June 20th, but the offer was rejected. The 73-room Cobblestone Hotels & Suites has opened in Foley, Alabama. Eddie Spence of Gulf Shores is a partner with Cobblestone on the $10 million hotel development. This is the second Cobblestone hotel in Alabama. Cobblestone said they also plan to break ground on a 54-unit hotel off the two square in Bay Minette, with Spence also being a partner there. Personnel News Remington Hospitality announced the appointment of Ben Perelmuter as their new Chief Executive Officer effective June 2. Perelmuter joins Remington from TPG Hotels & Resorts where he was President and Chief Operating Officer. Perelmuter succeeds Dean Sloane who served as CEO for the past eight years. He announced in April he was leaving. Dreamscape Hospitality announced the appointment of Ryan Miyamoto as Vice President of Operations. He will oversee the operational performance of Dreamscape's portfolio. Miyamoto spent the past 18 years with Aimbridge Hospitality in various capacities, most recently as VP of Operations. Europe Highlights Hyatt Hotels has opened its first hotel in Croatia, the Hyatt Regency Zadar, located on the Adriatic Coast, close to Zadar's UNESCO-listed Old Town. Hyatt Regency Zadar features 133 guestrooms and suites, dining spaces, and over 7,965 square feet of event space.
Travel Daily News
19-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
First Hospitality launches First Investors
First Hospitality launches First Investors platform and $400m. GP fund, opening hotel investment to external partners amid strategic U.S. market opportunities. CHICAGO, IL – First Hospitality introduces First Investors, its dedicated hotel real estate investment platform, which has powered the company's lodging acquisitions and development for more than four decades and is now open to qualified outside investors. Concurrently, the firm also unveils First Investors GP Fund, which expects to supply sponsor capital for a targeted $400 million in U.S. hotel investment over the next 12 to 36 months. The platform is led by Chief Executive Officer David Duncan and governed by a seasoned ownership group: Sam Schwartz, Executive Chairman; Stephen Schwartz, founder and Chairman Emeritus. Collectively, the three executives have led more than $10 billion in hospitality transactions across value-add, ground-up, and adaptive-reuse strategies. Since 1985, First Investors and its affiliates have completed 45 hotel transactions, generating a 3.9x multiple of invested capital with an IRR over 20% on realized exits and currently own significant joint-venture positions in 18 hotels totaling 3,100 keys. Current representative investments include the Hiltons at McCormick Place (Chicago, IL), Hotel LeVeque, Autograph Collection (Columbus, OH), Tempo by Hilton Louisville Downtown NuLu (Louisville, KY), and the newly opened Hotel Ardent, a Tapestry Collection (Dayton, OH). 'First Investors benefits from direct alignment with our operating platform, providing early visibility into local market dynamics and operational trends well before they appear in public data,' said David Duncan, CEO of First Investors. 'This vertical integration provides a differentiated advantage for our investors, particularly in today's market environment, where dislocation is creating some very unique investment opportunities.' First Investors will focus on deploying the GP Fund alongside a select group of existing capital partners and other sophisticated investors into a portfolio of six to ten hotels, targeting 150 – 350-key, premium-branded or independent lifestyle assets located in growth markets with multiple demand generators. The firm will apply its proven value-creation playbook, which includes: Proprietary Sourcing – Draw on over four decades of experience, deep industry relationships, and a national footprint to identify off-market and strategically positioned opportunities where investment basis supports attractive risk-adjusted returns. Disciplined Capital Deployment – Maintain a selective, fundamentals-driven approach, aligning each investment with an appropriate capital structure that supports both near-term execution and long-term value creation. Integrated Value Creation – Utilize First Hospitality's operational platform to execute targeted capital improvements and operational enhancements, accelerating repositioning efforts and driving sustained cash flow and value growth. What sets First Investors apart is the fusion of institutional-grade underwriting and disciplined execution, driven by real-time insights from First Hospitality's award-winning management platform. This is paired with an entrepreneurial approach and a flexible capital structure, that has allowed First Investors to deliver strong, cycle-resilient results for its partners. 'Our GP Fund is all about alignment – approximately 20 percent of the fund will be our own capital, giving the firm and its senior leaders substantial skin in every transaction,' said Sam Schwartz, Executive Chairman of First Investors. Stephen Schwartz, Chairman Emeritus of First Investors, added: 'Bringing this platform to outside investors is the natural evolution of work we've been doing privately for 40 years through five lodging cycles.'
Hospitality Net
06-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
First Hospitality Celebrates Their Top Performing General Managers and Associates Fueling the Company's Success
First Hospitality, a national hotel operating, management, and development company, recognized its 2024 Inner Circle winners during a weeklong trip to Panama from March 15 – 21, 2025. Each year, First Hospitality's Inner Circle Award recognizes the top-performing general managers across the company's portfolio. The Inner Circle Award is presented to 10 general managers who demonstrate outstanding performance across a comprehensive range of hotel metrics. Selection criteria includes room and total revenue versus budget, RevPAR index and rank, gross operating profit margins, flex and flow, guest service scores, brand quality assurance results, associate satisfaction, and turnover rates. Winners of the Inner Circle Award are treated to a weeklong international trip, with Panama serving as this year's destination. Each winner was invited to bring a guest, for an all-expenses-paid experience that included accommodations at the Waldorf Astoria Panama, roundtrip airfare, meals, beverages, and a range of curated activities. Highlights of the itinerary included a visit to the 'Biomuseo' and Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal, an Embera cultural immersion, a beach day on Mogo Mogo Island, and more. First Hospitality's President and CEO, David Duncan, and Executive Chairman Sam Schwartz joined the group during the late-March trip. The Inner Circle trip is our way of recognizing the outstanding general managers who lead with excellence across every facet of hotel performance. It was an honor to celebrate their achievements in Panama. The trip has become a standout moment on the company calendar - a meaningful way to recognize top performers while deepening connections across the First Hospitality team. David Duncan, president and CEO of First Hospitality Demonstrating its commitment to a People First culture, First Hospitality promoted over 150 team members in 2024. The company also saw a 9-point increase in employee retention compared to industry peers, along with a 16-point lead in Great Place to Work ratings - clear reflections of First Hospitality's continued focus on associate satisfaction and development. Additional marquee awards honoring associates include First Hospitality's Live Free Drive Free Award, honoring associates who achieve perfect attendance for an entire calendar year. More than 1,000 associates qualified for this award in 2024, representing nearly 30% of all associates, a new record for the company. Winners receive the choice of a new car and auto insurance for one year, or have their rent or mortgage paid for one year, up to $1,500/month. This year's winner selected Live Free. The Pace Setter Award honored five sales leaders who not only exceed their annual team booking goals, but also significantly grew BT and Group RevPAR share. Our talented associates are the backbone of First Hospitality. Their dedication and passion for delivering exceptional guest experiences are what drive our success. Our marquee awards spotlight their hard work and reflect the strong culture we've built together. David Duncan, president and CEO of First Hospitality For more information about First Hospitality and its portfolio of hotels, please visit: About First Hospitality First Hospitality is a top-ranking development, investment, and third-party operating company with a portfolio of branded, lifestyle and independent properties along with a portfolio of restaurants & bars located throughout the United States. Founded 40 years ago, the organization fosters opportunities for associates, investors, owners, and partners to prosper together. The foundation of First Hospitality's success is built on an individualized approach that puts people first, encourages a strong ownership culture, and consistently demonstrates astute business acumen. The company and its hotels are frequently recognized by the industry and media for high guest service and associate satisfaction, including accolades from Forbes, Condé Nast, TripAdvisor, and AAA. For more information, visit Bridget Fairless First Hospitality
Travel Daily News
06-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
First Hospitality celebrates their top performing General Managers
Top-performing First Hospitality General Managers recognized with exclusive international retreat for excellence in hotel leadership and performance. CHICAGO – First Hospitality, a national hotel operating, management, and development company, recognized its 2024 Inner Circle winners during a weeklong trip to Panama from March 15 – 21, 2025. Each year, First Hospitality's Inner Circle Award recognizes the top-performing general managers across the company's portfolio. The Inner Circle Award is presented to 10 general managers who demonstrate outstanding performance across a comprehensive range of hotel metrics. Selection criteria includes room and total revenue versus budget, RevPAR index and rank, gross operating profit margins, flex and flow, guest service scores, brand quality assurance results, associate satisfaction, and turnover rates. Winners of the Inner Circle Award are treated to a weeklong international trip, with Panama serving as this year's destination. Each winner was invited to bring a guest, for an all-expenses-paid experience that included accommodations at the Waldorf Astoria Panama, roundtrip airfare, meals, beverages, and a range of curated activities. Highlights of the itinerary included a visit to the 'Biomuseo' and Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal, an Embera cultural immersion, a beach day on Mogo Mogo Island, and more. First Hospitality's President and CEO, David Duncan, and Executive Chairman Sam Schwartz joined the group during the late-March trip. 'The Inner Circle trip is our way of recognizing the outstanding general managers who lead with excellence across every facet of hotel performance,' said David Duncan. 'It was an honor to celebrate their achievements in Panama. The trip has become a standout moment on the company calendar – a meaningful way to recognize top performers while deepening connections across the First Hospitality team.' Demonstrating its commitment to a People First culture, First Hospitality promoted over 150 team members in 2024. The company also saw a 9-point increase in employee retention compared to industry peers, along with a 16-point lead in Great Place to Work ratings – clear reflections of First Hospitality's continued focus on associate satisfaction and development. Additional marquee awards honoring associates include First Hospitality's Live Free Drive Free Award, honoring associates who achieve perfect attendance for an entire calendar year. More than 1,000 associates qualified for this award in 2024, representing nearly 30% of all associates, a new record for the company. Winners receive the choice of a new car and auto insurance for one year, or have their rent or mortgage paid for one year, up to $1,500/month. This year's winner selected Live Free. The Pace Setter Award honored five sales leaders who not only exceed their annual team booking goals, but also significantly grew BT and Group RevPAR share. 'Our talented associates are the backbone of First Hospitality,' said David Duncan. 'Their dedication and passion for delivering exceptional guest experiences are what drive our success. Our marquee awards spotlight their hard work and reflect the strong culture we've built together.'
