Hospitality Ventures Management Group (HVMG) has been providing management solutions for hotel for 15 years. According to Mary Beth Cutshall, senior vice president, acquisitions and business development, HVMG’s success is grounded in the company’s mission to maximize value for owners and create career opportunities for HVMG associates.
Where is HVMG’s growth coming from in the year ahead? HVMG’s growth will be coming from a combination of acquisitions, new development, joint ventures, and third-party management opportunities. Both acquisitions and new development are robust at this time in the cycle. In addition, we have new development projects in our pipeline that we are either exploring or are currently under construction in markets like Atlanta, Denver, Florida, and the Gulf Shores.
What opportunities are there in this year’s strong fundamentals? There is always an opportunity to maximize value, it just depends on the property and individual dynamics. Value creation could be driven from revenue enhancement, talent acquisitions, a new brand, or a more aggressive digital marketing strategy. When we evaluate an asset, it is very rare that we do not find something in our diagnostic process that helps us identify the ability to create more value, even when fundamentals are strong. We thrive on the challenge.
What do you feel gives HVMG a leg up over other management companies? Our ability to effectively balance driving revenue, managing excellent expense margins, and improving guest scores—there’s a science and an art to doing all three well simultaneously. I also think our company is the “right size.” We’re large enough to have all of the sophisticated tools, resources, and proven solutions and processes to deliver quantifiable results and attract top talent, but we’re not so big that innovation gets lost.
Looking through HVMG’s portfolio, there seems to be a preference for managing branded properties. Was this intentional or did it happen organically? We are very supportive of the brands. We have successful experience with all of them, but, that being said, we also have six very successful independent hotels in our portfolio with another two four-diamond, independent, boutique resorts under development. Determining our direction really depends on each opportunity and market potential. It’s all about what would be the best fit for that asset’s future success—it’s never cookie cutter.
