NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In his fourth economic downturn in the industry, Marshall Hotels and Resorts' President and CEO Mike Marshall said he recognizes this time as an opportunity to still grow his business.

Speaking with Hotel News Now during the 2021 Hotel Data Conference, Marshall said the Salisbury, Maryland-based, full-service hospitality management company has signed 10 new opening contracts in the last two months and opened two new hotels in the beginning of August.

Marshall said whenever there's a recession, there is "a natural progression" of people buying and selling hotels. His company plans to sell about four or five hotels in the next few months.

"We're going to continue to add and subtract as we normally do in the normal cycle," he said.

Supporting employees is also key to this growth, he added. Marshall Hotels and Resorts did not furlough or lay off any of its corporate employees.

"This is my fourth economic downturn; I really recognize it as an opportunity when we came out on the back end to grow the business, which is what we're doing," he said. "A lot of our competitors, a lot of the big franchise companies, they got rid of a lot of their employees, and that's upset a lot of ownership."

Owners were still paying fees but not getting any services from management companies in return.

"We were very proactive in offering those services and supporting our owners and in supporting our staff," he said.

There was more demand on his team because owners were not prepared to handle this downturn.

Marshall said he's proud of how his team supported one another, leading to the "growth burst that we're seeing right now."

In the near term, the growth strategy will center on adding third-party management contracts. Additionally, a number of new hotels that have been under construction and delayed during COVID-19 are also set to open within the next six to eight months.

Many of those new openings are with new ownership groups that have entered the hospitality space for the first time.

Marshall said his company is going to be increasingly selective about the properties it chooses to grow with.

Marshall Hotels and Resorts has had to push projects back, and the focus is on emergency capital expenditure projects such as replacing a roof or boiler.

Unfortunately, those are projects guests don't see, Marshall said. As hotels get a little older and haven't had attention, "now guests are saying, 'My room is dirty.'"

"It's not really dirty, it's just a perception because things are wearing out," he said, adding this is contributing to lower guest satisfaction scores.

As a result, this is must accelerate some capital expenditure spending. Marshall hopes after this summer, owners will feel as though they have the funds.

"At the same time, they're concerned about [another] potential lockdown, so they're going to want to conserve cash to see where we end up," he said.

For more from HNN's conversation with Marshall Hotels and Resorts' Mike Marshall, watch the video above.