Hotel Brokers International Distressed Assets Task Force Is Focused on Helping Hotel Owners and Lenders Overcome Current Market Challenges
Under the leadership of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, hotel industry executives and trade organizations sent an urgent letter to Congress pleading for help. Their letter cited an alarming national report from Trepp® that indicates nearly one-in-four U.S. hotels are at risk of foreclosure because of the dramatic economic impact of Covid-19. Today, Hotel Brokers International (“HBI”) announces the formation of its Distressed Assets Task Force. The group will be focused on helping hotel owners and lenders solve an unprecedented tsunami of challenges in the lodging industry across the country.
Hotel Brokers International members are independent, hospitality-focused real estate firms from around the country. The members of this exclusive invitation-only organization have significant experience in lodging operations, ownership, finance, and brokerage. They are equal parts trusted advisors, skilled consultants, and dealmakers, with a very unique specialty that most real estate firms simply don’t have the expertise to offer.
The Distressed Assets Task Force is being structured to leverage the collective talent within HBI to be part of the solution for communities around the country. As the letter to Congress stated, “Hotels, inns, and bed-and-breakfasts are at the center of communities across the country….” HBI wants to help small business owners, community lenders, and national institutions work through the issues and find solutions. Edward Denton, an HBI member from Virginia, will chair the new task force. His experience includes consulting for nearly $1 Billion worth of distressed assets during the aftermath of the Great Recession. Mr. Denton is also a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Turnaround Management Association.
Denton commented:
This isn’t like the post-2008 situation, it’s much worse. There are more hotels with bigger problems, and nobody’s to blame. In 2010 when a hotel was distressed, the playbook was pretty simple – I think it’s going to be very different in 2021. This isn’t about brokering a fire sale; we are going to be looking for creative, cooperative, long term resolutions that are asset-specific and work for the owner and lender, because foreclosing on 25% of the nation’s inns is not an option. Beyond a lack of revenue, each distressed asset has one-off issues related to the property, market, ownership, staffing, lender, note structure, etc. Sometimes the answer may be a transaction, but I don’t think it’s going to be that simple in most circumstances.”
The HBI Distressed Assets Task Force includes members with operational, franchising, and finance expertise, in addition to brokerage. The task force members are:
- Edward C. Denton, Denton Realty Company (Virginia Beach, VA)
- Joseph P. Kennedy, Crystal Investment Property (Vancouver, WA)
- Edward P. Walsh, Alpine Realty Capital (Ann Arbor, MI)
- Ford C. Barton, Lodging Partners (Charlotte, NC)
About Hotel Brokers International
Hotel Brokers International was founded in 1959 by nine regional hotel brokerage offices who joined forces to create a network for cooperative sales, to share expertise, pool resources, and raise the level of professionalism in hotel real estate sales. Today, HBI is the largest and oldest organization of its kind and enjoys a rich heritage of experience and success in hotel real estate valuation, transactions, and other essential advisory services. For more information about HBI’s hotel listings, member offices or to become a broker or affiliate member, visit hbihotels.com.
For more information about the Distressed Asset Task Force, contact:
Edward C. Denton
Denton Realty Company
249 Central Park Ave., Suite 300-42
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Tel: (757) 354-2115
ed@dentonrealty.net
