NEW YORK — The past two years are among the hardest in modern history in terms of getting hotel acquisitions done — first because of the uncertainty stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and now due to macroeconomic issues and difficulties in financing.
But Mission Hill CEO Greg Kennealey said his firm has been able to lean on relationships to fuel growth.
An acquisition platform launched by KSL Capital Partners in 2021, Mission Hill focuses on acquiring select-service and extended-stay hotels and now has a portfolio of 25 hotels.
Editor's note: This interview was recorded on June 5 at the 2023 NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. Click here to listen to the podcast.
Getting deals done remains challenging today, Kennealey said, although for different reasons than what the company saw in 2021.
"It's probably equally as challenging, but for very different reasons," he said. "In late 2020, and through most of 2021, the underwriting unknown was the COVID recovery. Is that going to happen? At what pace is his leisure coming back? And then it was: Is leisure overshooting and the champagne effect, and is it going to retract? So you were trying to figure that out the demand side of the equation without the benefit of recent history of how does the world recover from a pandemic.
"Right now, we are spending as much time looking for hotels as we are looking for debt. Finding debt capital has been incredibly difficult."
For HNN's full interview with Mission Hill's Greg Kennealey, listen to the recording above.