Hotel Equities (HE) and National Hospitality Services (NHS) have formed a strategic alliance. The NHS portfolio of 38 hotels will integrate into HE’s management platform creating strategic growth opportunities for associates and optimizing systems to create a more dynamic and powerful operations and sales engine, according to the companies. The alliance leverages efficiencies and resources to drive elevated performance across the combined portfolio of approximately 300 hotels and resorts throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“Since opening our first hotel in 1996, we have lived our promise to maximize earnings and value for the ownership groups we represent,” said Norman Leslie, founder/president, NHS. “Our partnership with Hotel Equities allows us to take that commitment to the next level. The synergies and shared cultures of both companies ensure that our stakeholders will continue to see strong and growing returns for our ownership groups. This is an exciting time for our industry—but management must perform at a pinnacle level to deliver the returns that investors are seeking. That’s exactly what we will be able to do with this partnership.”
Brad Rahinsky, president/CEO, HE, said, “This alliance has been forged from a shared vision for future growth and a commitment to foundational values. NHS’ track record of success and stellar associate-centric reputation are well-established in our industry. This alliance enables them to stay independent while honoring their legacy and unlocking the added scale, support and resources of HE’s collective platform.”
A key benefit from the alliance is the focused efforts on labor concerns, recruitment and retention with the added proprietary training and development resources and benefits HE has available to all of its associates and partners. NHS’ nearly 1,200 associates will bring HE’s total to more than 9,000 with access to additional perks including a sabbatical program, daily pay option, HE Marketplace and peer management training programs to spur and support continuous career growth.
“Not only will our team members have added growth opportunities by being part of an expansive portfolio, but they also have the ability to tap into additional benefits and training programs to catapult their careers,” said Sarah Koustrup, chief strategy officer, NHS. “Partnering with a group that invests heavily into its people was a huge deciding factor in moving forward with an alliance; it’s what we are most proud of.”
HE COO Bryan DeCort said, “Our people-focused and performance-driven model creates immediate value add for all of NHS’s stakeholders. As all new NHS associates are fully integrated into the HE ecosystem, owners will also experience real performance lift.”
“We continue to look for scale with the right groups where we both add value to the relationship in many ways,” said Joe Reardon, chief development officer, HE. “The alliance makes everyone better not only from cost savings to ownership groups but even more on the people side of the business. We are particularly excited about the growth opportunity this allows us in the Midwest.”
“The best-in-class systems, operations management and buying power of our combined efforts will not only elevate the guest experience at all of our hotels but also allow us to intensify our focus on NHS’s owner and asset management services with even more opportunities for property acquisitions, financing and enhanced operations management,” Leslie added.
Look for more on this strategic alliance in the March issue of Hotel Business.
