NASHVILLE, Tennessee — McNeill Hotel Company President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Ricketts is pleased with the company's performance during the pandemic.
Speaking during a video interview with Hotel News Now at the 2021 Hotel Data Conference, Ricketts said he anticipated numerous acquisitions and development projects would have been stalled for the Germantown, Tennessee-based hotel ownership and management company, but that wasn't the case.
"We're just not seeing that," he said, adding those processes are still ongoing, just taking a little bit longer to complete.
His portfolio of hotels also performed well compared to its competitive set.
Near-Term Growth
Coming off of confidence during the pandemic, Ricketts said his company can grow to 50 hotels. McNeill's current portfolio totals 27 hotels — 24 company-owned and three through third-party management agreements.
He said the near-term growth strategy will largely be fueled by new development, acquisitions and third-party management agreements.
"We hadn't done a lot of third-party management. The brands have really kind of reached out to us because we've excelled," Ricketts said.
The reason for shying away from increasing third-party management agreements in the past was out of fear that if it grew to 12 or 15, "the owner would sell and then all of a sudden we would have a culture issue, because all of a sudden we'd have to let these people go," he said.
But the brands and hotel brokers that have reached out to McNeill for third-party management agreement opportunities made Ricketts' team feel good about it.
"We think we can grow to 50, but that being said, we're still going to focus on Hilton, Marriott [International], Hyatt [Hotels Corp.] select-service models. I don't think we'll ever change from that," he added.
McNeill has a couple sites for development, but acquisitions will likely take priority.
Top-Performing Markets
Markets that have proved to be successful for McNeill during the pandemic have been drive-to markets, such as Destin, Florida; Germantown, Tennessee; Waco, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Mobile, Alabama.
The Hampton Inn & Suites in Germantown had been running an average daily rate of $165. Its four Home2 Suites as well as its extended-stay properties have also been successful.
On the flip side, the Hilton Garden Inn in Beaverton, Oregon, was struggling to ramp back up after the state reopened businesses in July.
Efforts With Diversity
Ricketts prioritizes diversity among his team. Last year, McNeill decided to create a diversity and inclusivity council.
"It was really eye-opening to me," he said, adding he spreads the message of "we're better together."
His company also focused on encouraging staff to vote in this last presidential election.
"We had four or five people that were my age ... that had never voted before, and they were so excited," he said.
For more from HNN's conversation with McNeill Hotel Company's Mark Ricketts, watch the video above.