Appleton, WI · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 5 votes
Hi everyone,
I run a few multi-families in Green Bay specifically and come from a hospitality background from my parents having owned vacation properties. I'm looking to shift focus away from multi-families exclusively towards a new strategy of becoming a partner with hotel owners in the Green Bay, Oshkosh, Door County, and really anywhere within 50 miles of Green Bay.
My own multi-families operate successfully - one is an AirBnB. I see a lot of promising hotel / motels in Green Bay that would likely do really well if they had money for improvements or digital marketing upgrades.
Wondering if anyone has any experience investing / partnering in hotels in this fashion where you take a % of revenue. How would you find / approach these people?
Talk to local lenders - they will know who is under water or at risk. Also just an in-person visit with your proposal?
Years ago I invested (passive equity) in a company Huazhou (in China) that ran an asset-light model similar to what you are suggesting where they found hoteliers that were under financial distress and Huazhou would implement systems for reservation and implement a staffing model and control management of the hotel. The hotel owners would pay a fixed fee to Huazhou and pay a royalty past some level of occupancy. Their alternative was to lose everything. Eventually the flag of the hotel was changed to a Huazhou brand, and Huazhou is now a top-10 global hotel brand by # of flags. The point is that marketing & tech is really a scale game so once you start down the road of improving the marketing for these companies it will really make sense to aggregate their purchasing power or it might go to Airbnb.
Alternatively you could be a hotelier consultant for bespoke help. Get one qualification under your belt and then sell and raise your rates!
Hotel occupancy rates in aggregate are pretty strong now, so the hoteliers may be less excited to pay a lot to work with you, but if you lay the groundwork now, the cycle will eventually lead them to revenue management solution like you are suggesting.