Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/5950
weren't even in the hotel ownership game," Ingraham says. Today Kirk Sykes, James Guil-lory and Michael Roberts, who owns the Mayfair in St. Louis, are all new hotel owners, and they are contemplating develop- ing hotel empires. Hank Thomas, CEO of Victoria Hospitality Pro- perties LLC, began as an investor in a single Marriott branded hotel (Towneplace Suites Hotel, Columbia, S.C.). Opportunity arose four years later to purchase controlling interest in this property along with two others (all Marriott brand- ed limited service hotels). Thomas currently owns four Marriott branded properties (two Fairfield Inn's and two Towneplace suites in N.C., S.C., and GA). Thomas is current- ly considering future development but has nothing under contract at the pres- ent time. During these financially tough times Thomas notes that two of the four hotels are doing quite well and are not adversely affected by the current eco- nomic climate however the other two took a slight hit. Of the two affected one is down 30% in occupancy from last year and the other is at break-even. "I believe that the major chains are making creditable efforts to do business with African-American investors. Hotel purchases require a tremendous amount of capital and bank credit. African- Americans do not come to the table as well financed as our White, Asian and Indian counterparts. If one does not have the financial resources the barriers are very high to enter into this business," Thomas mentions. Kenneth H. Fearn is a founder and the managing partner of Integrat-ed Capital LLC. Prior to founding Integrated Capital LLC, Fearn was managing direc- tor and chief financial officer of Maritz, Wolff & Co., where he was directly involved in nearly $1.5 billion of hospi- tality acquisitions. Integrated Capitol as a whole currently owns Marriott Ventura Beach, California, Marriott Overland Park, Kansas, Marriott Ft. Collins, Colorado, Marriott Residence Inn Ft. Collins, Colorado, Marriott Courtyard Ft. Collins, Colo- rado, Marriott Residence Inn Silver Spring, Maryland, Marriott Residence Inn Columbia, Maryland, Mar- riott Residence Inn at National Harbor, Maryland and The DoubleTree Hotel Bakersfield, California. The current economic environment has been dev- astating to the hospitality industry," Fearn reports. "Business travel has been reduced significantly and transient leisure travel has dropped sharply as con- sumers adjust their spending habits." This whole ordeal has been further complicat- ed by the administration and Congress. First, the press overreacted to AIG's lapse in judgment. Then the administration and Congress made corporate business events the "cause celeb" for the moment and targeted any companies holding meetings at resorts. The reaction from the busi- ness community was to sim- ply eliminate all such meet- ings for fear of negative publicity. The reality is the meetings which were can- celled had largely been paid for in advance, which means that companies walked away from significant spent capi- tal and did not get the benefit of the training or sales programs planned, and the hotels sat vacant wondering how they would survive. "We need the administration and Congress to focus on stimulative meas- ures to get the economy moving more quickly so that both business travel and transient leisure travel return," notes Fearn. "In the meantime, we have focused on completing renovations to our assets while occupancies are down, we have focused on controlling expenses as tightly as possible and we have made every effort to make sure our guests know that we appreciate their patron- age." The hotel chains that Integrated 34 Black Meetings & Tourism December 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com HANK THOMAS KENNETH H. FREAN The Fitzgerald Hotel & Casino