CHICAGO, Ill.—Chicago-based Arbor Lodging Partners and NVN Hotels announced that the two companies will now operate under the name Arbor Lodging (Arbor), with the investment arm continuing as Arbor Lodging Partners and the management arm, NVN Hotels, now operating as Arbor Lodging Management. The two firms, incorporated in 2005 and 2008, respectively, were both founded by friends and business partners Sheenal Patel and Vamsi Bonthala. Patel will continue as CEO of Arbor Lodging Management and Bonthala will continue as CEO of Arbor Lodging Partners. As of June 1, 2017, Arbor’s new headquarters are located at 566 W. Lake Street in Chicago.
Arbor will operate three lines of business: Investments in underperforming hotels, alone or with joint-venture capital partners; Loan acquisitions secured by hotels investments and restructured to provide attractive returns; and Hotel management for both Arbor assets and for hotels owned by third-parties. As a single company, Arbor will focus on a metrics-driven approach and a flexible, collaborative process to problem-solving. The investment and management units will operate as an integrated platform.
“We have a team with a proven track record that loves to think big and take on new challenges,” said Bonthala. “The people who work here are young, nimble, diverse, creative and hardworking. Now, all our team members can work together as one unit, pressing forward decisively and accelerating our success.”
Arbor currently owns and operates a national roster of hotels at all price points, from selective service hotels to luxury lodging, such as the iconic Hotel Philips in downtown Kansas City. Taking on more projects like Hotel Philips—a boutique hotel for the young and young-at-heart in the city’s flourishing arts district—are at the top of the Arbor team’s list of priorities.
“People have so many lodging options now that hotels need to offer unique experiences that people can’t get elsewhere,” said Patel. “We have an experienced team of agile thinkers who aren’t married to one concept or another. They search for multi-faceted investment opportunities and creative partnerships that catapult our business forward.”
Arbor continues to seek acquisition opportunities through its three investment platforms: value-add and opportunistic, core and core-plus, and loan acquisition.
Photo caption (left to right): Sheenal Patel, CEO of Arbor Lodging Management, and Vamsi Bonthala, CEO of Arbor Lodging Partners
