LOS ANGELES — The major structural changes Aimbridge Hospitality has made to its operations and now to its business development teams all focus on addressing hotel owners' needs, Aimbridge President and CEO Mike Deitemeyer said.
In a video interview with Hotel News Now at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit, Deitemeyer said these changes started with moving the U.S. operating structure into divisions based on hotel categories. The unique nature of hotel types, such as an extended-stay hotel compared to a full-service hotel, made it sensible for the company to move to a new structure with its business development team as well.
“The unique underwriting and attributes that we think about when we look at a [profit-and-loss analysis], it’s no different than looking at the real estate,” he said.
When Allison Reid joined Aimbridge as chief global growth officer, she restructured the team to better service hotel owners, Deitemeyer said. Teams focused on hotel categories and geographies bring another depth of knowledge and understanding to their clients’ hotels. The teams, led by three legacy executives and two new hires, will help Aimbridge better cover the U.S. and understand unique market attributes and the types of hotels transacting, as well as identify value-add opportunities for partners.
The new business development structure is a continuation of the company’s investment in talent, he said. Along with hiring Reid in July 2022 to bolster its business development, the company hired Mark Tamis in May as president of global operations.
Nearly a year in, the new operating divisions have resonated with hotel owners, Deitemeyer said. The owners have someone at the senior level who is responsive to their needs and their individual situations with flexibility and speed.
“It's demonstrated our understanding of their unique product,” he said. “Somebody who's investing in economy hotels or extended-stay hotels is different than someone who's investing in full-service or lifestyle hotels. … We’re thinking about their business the way that they’re thinking about their business.”
By the end of 2022, Aimbridge had more than 1,500 properties, inclusive of its pipeline, in its portfolio. The company added 69 hotels in December through a single transaction, Deitemeyer said. The company’s size and scale is what allows it to integrate such a large number of hotels at one time.
“We have a dedicated transitions team today that only onboards hotels as they're coming into the system, making sure all the tools and processes and compliance items are done and taken care of so the operators can lean in and just focus on running the business, really minimizing and removing any disruption that sometimes is experienced in that process,” he said.
The hotel industry is full of entrepreneurs, so there are hundreds of third-party managers and property managers out there, Deitemeyer said. That creates opportunities for Aimbridge as some owners and owner/operators decide they want to make a change. One such example of this was NewcrestImage’s decision to focus on hotel development and acquisitions, selling off its existing portfolio of hotels to hotel real estate investment trust Summit Hotel Properties and its management operations to Aimbridge.
Through that deal, NewcrestImage became a minority owner of Aimbridge, and NewcrestImage Chairman CEO Mehul Patel joined Aimbridge’s newly formed Aimbridge Hospitality CEO Advisory Board. The partnership this created with Patel opened doors for Aimbridge among South Asian hotel owners.
“These aren't relationships that end at a transaction right there,” Deitemeyer said, citing the NewcrestImage and Prism Hotels & Resorts deals. “It's just the beginning of a new type of growth and relationship, and both those examples have helped us grow tremendously.”