Portfolios of resorts in Hawaii and select-service hotels in California might not seem like the most natural marriage, but Hogan Hospitality President Pat Mitchell said the integration of those two things is propelling her company to a new phase of growth.
Mitchell came to Hogan in 2018 when the Hawaii-based hotel management company purchased California-based Marin Management. The full integration of those companies was completed early in 2022 with the retirement of the Marin name. Mitchell said the company is now operating as one unified unit, so carrying two names no longer made sense.
"We found for new clients it was a bit confusing," she said. "We used to be Marin Management with our parent company Hogan Hospitality. We had two different websites, and we were really operating as one and cross-utilizing our team members. It just made sense to adopt one name, and when we did, it was well-received."
The combined company has a portfolio of 21 properties across California, Arizona, Washington and Hawaii. Its portfolio spans segments and brands, from a Motel 6 in Hayward, California, to a historic boutique hotel with the Hotel La Rose in Santa Rosa, California, to a large Hawaiian resort — the Royal Kona Resort in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Hogan Hospitality's newest management contracts — the 45-room Soap Lake Natural Spa & Resort in Soap Lake, Washington, which is undergoing an expansion to add another 40 rooms; and the 42-room Comfort Inn & Suites Ventura Beach — reflect that diversity.
Mitchell said there was some adjustment and learning coming from Marin, a company that catered to both leisure and corporate travel, to the high-end leisure resort business in Hawaii. But ultimately the benefits of adding scale and growing the size and expertise level of Hogan Hospitality's team outweighed any difficulties.
"At the end of the day, revenue management is the same for all the market segments, and the sales support is the same," she said.
Mitchell said the two companies were in complete alignment from the beginning in the most important ways.
"As far as the culture, the vision, the business philosophies, they were in concert," she said. "It was very easy for us to come together."
Now with a larger platform, Mitchell said Hogan is poised for a new wave of growth across different geographies, although she said the company's focus will remain firmly on Hawaii and the Western U.S. — with an eye to getting into new markets in those regions.
"I'd like to see some expansion in Salt Lake City because we have a regional manager there and we have some presence," she said. "We have a good footprint in Northern California and Southern California, but we'd like to expand. ... The Central Valley we understand very well and currently we don't have a presence there."
She added the company also doesn't have any hotels in Oregon, and a foothold there would help it to expand across the West Coast.
Mitchell said Hogan's leadership is "not comfortable standing still," but she did not specify whether the company is going to prioritize growing organically or whether there will be another acquisition similar to Marin.
"We're very ambitious," she said. "Our CEO [Gary Hogan] is ambitious. I'm ambitious. Everybody in our company is ambitious. We get excited about growth."
In terms of Hogan Hospitality's broader outlook, Mitchell said her company enjoyed a strong 2022 and expects that to continue heading into 2023, even with talk of a recession looming. She said she's seen positive indicators both in the forward bookings of corporate demand and an elongating booking window.
"I'm very optimistic," she said. "We're at the end of our budgeting season, and we're definitely looking for growth."