Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/5950
By SoLoMoN J HERBERT II It is nearly 2010 and more and more African-Americans are learning how to put their money to work for them rather than just go through life as consumers. Between investments in stocks, bonds and real estate, Blacks are slowly delving into these arenas in growing numbers. One of the main areas of investment that African-Americans are starting to recog- nize the potential for huge profit margins, lies in hotel ownership. In some cases, the very same hotels where African- Americans weren't even allowed to patronize little more than a generation ago due to restrictive Jim Crow laws of the era. Although African-Americans are just now in the 21st century starting to own hotels under the umbrella of major brands, small Black-owned motels and boarding houses were available pre seg- regation due to the fact that we couldn't stay in the same hotels as White travelers. So, in reality African-Americans did own mom- and pop-style hotels in the days of segregation. In key Black centers of com- merce like New York, Los Angeles and San Diego, they also owned several major properties, such as Harlem's famous Hotel Theresa. These had to exist since there were no other places Black travel- ers could lodge. A couple of the first Black-owned hotels during times of segregation were The Brown Hotel on Miami Beach and The Eureka Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. The Brown Hotel, built in 1912, was the first Black-owned hotel on Miami Beach. Unfortunately, as integra- tion took effect in the U.S., a lot of these small hotels started going out of business. Quite frankly, the reason for the decline was a positive for African-Americans as a whole. Integration brought in a new era, which allowed Blacks to stay wherever they wanted. And this was great. After all, this freedom is what our forefathers/black heroes fought so dili- gently to acquire. In 1998 individuals started noticing that there were no Black-owned hotels in the United States. This brought a spark of interest in getting investors to pur- chase hotels. By 2001, The National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers (NABHOOD) was formed. "This organizations purpose was to help African-Americans to get into the hotel purchasing industry," notes Andy Ingraham, president of NAB- HOOD. They accomplished this by find- ing a way to create partnerships and working with various franchise compa- nies. This group of professionals wasted no time bringing this so called fairytale to a reality. In 2001 a Days Inn property, located in Memphis, Tennessee, became one of the first examples of a modern day franchise hotel that was Black- owned. Then, in 2002, Don Peebles pur- chased the Royal Palm Hotel in Miami. NABHOOD was doing its part in influ- encing African-Americans to invest their money in such a lucrative business. The process, which was just beginning, today has led to many more African- Americans seeing the value of ownership in the lodging industry. "There are now 523 hotels owned and operated by African-Americans," Ingra- ham says. Former Black Entertainment Television owner Robert Johnson owns 120 properties while Michael and Steve Roberts have 12. Don Barden, former owner of Barden Cablevision in Detroit, owns Fitzgerald Hotels & Casinos and Don Peebles, the first African-American to own a luxury hotel with the Royal Palm, also has a Courtyard in Washington, DC. "Seven years ago, African-Americans 33 Black Meetings & Tourism December 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com BLACK-OWNED HOTELS A GROWING PHENOMENON The Mayfair Hotel ANDY INGRAHAM MICHAEL ROBERTS