PLANO, Texas—Aimbridge Hospitality outlined plans to streamline its U.S. operations, including adding an Owner Relations team to its structure and moving to two focused operating divisions named Aimbridge Select and Aimbridge Full Service. The changes announced reflect the company’s pledge to deliver comprehensive management service.
The addition of an Owner Relations team nods to the fast-paced environment hotel owners, asset managers, and hospitality brands face daily and looks to provide partners with solutions that meet their challenges.
The team will mine proprietary data and insights, source and synthesize stakeholder feedback, and partner across the organization to accelerate actions that result in portfolio profitability and improved satisfaction scores. They will also be responsible for launching the Aimbridge Owners Council, a new advisory committee that will include representatives across ownership groups and serves as a resource as the company looks to make ongoing enhancements to its product offerings.
Leading the team is Aly El-Bassuni, divisional president – Owner Relations. El-Bassuni joined Aimbridge in 2023 as divisional president – Enhanced Select Service and has a background in building partnerships and driving operational results. El-Bassuni will report to Allison Reid, chief global growth officer for Aimbridge.
“The addition of a dedicated Owner Relations team builds on the work that’s been done over the last two years and points to the ongoing investment Aimbridge is making in helping owners meet ambitious goals,” said Mark Tamis, global president – Aimbridge. “This team will be focused on looking across the portfolio for opportunities that drive performance, mobilizing expert resources across the organization, and implementing improvements that benefit our partners.”
The company will simplify its U.S. operations into two divisions with its above-property operations teams shifting to drill down on actions that drive property-level performance, associate engagement, and owner satisfaction. The two divisions will be:
- Aimbridge Select—a select-service division that includes select, economy, and extended-stay properties—that will be led by Simon Mendy, divisional president – Select Service.
- Aimbridge Full Service—a luxury, and resort business, including Evolution, Aimbridge’s Lifestyle vertical—that will be led by Rob Smith, divisional president – Full Service.
Both Mendy and Smith are Aimbridge executives who bring operational know-how to the verticals they are tasked with overseeing. The new operating structure is set to go into effect in mid-February, following a brief transition period.
“The industry is at an inflection point as brands continue to move to a predominantly franchised model and owners lean on third-party managers to provide the operating experience and track record they need to succeed, which is where Aimbridge shines,” continued Tamis. “The strategic shifts we’re making to our U.S. operating model will inject even greater agility and effectiveness into how we run our business, and ultimately, drive higher property and portfolio performance.”
The Aimbridge Select division will be responsible for managing a coast-to-coast portfolio in travel markets including Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and more. Aimbridge Select has a mix of properties representing hotel flags like Courtyard by Marriott, AC Hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Home2 Suites, Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Extended Stay America, and more.
The Aimbridge Full Service division portfolio, including lifestyle properties managed by Evolution, has properties in destinations in the United States, the Caribbean, and Canada. The portfolio includes management of the HALL Arts Hotel Dallas, Yours Truly in Washington, D.C., The Highlander Hotel Radford in Virginia, Hotel Milo in Santa Barbara, California, and Morningstar Buoy Haus Beach Resort at Frenchman’s Reef, an Autograph Collection property in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
As part of its plan, Aimbridge also plans to redeploy its above-property operations teams by geography to reinforce the collaborative network between the hotel and above-property support teams and deepen its market expertise.
Operations in the company’s international divisions servicing EMEA and LATAM remain unchanged.
