New York-based real estate investment firm Olive Tree Holdings has launched Olive Tree Hotels & Resorts, a fully integrated hospitality group focused on the acquisition and strategic repositioning of hotels across the U.S. The company has enlisted hospitality industry veteran and former Holiday Inns Inc. CEO Ken Hamlet to serve as CEO of the new venture, which will invest more than $500 million of equity capital over the next three years in select-service hotels and opportunistic full-service assets.
“The hospitality sector, in tandem with the global tourism industry, is poised for an incredible rebound. In the months and years ahead, we believe there exists a tremendous opportunity in the select-service category to create value and win market share,” said Hamlet. “Leveraging the strength of Olive Tree’s nimble, vertically integrated platform, our strategy will focus on dramatically improving customer service with white-glove training, enhancing operations through the introduction of intuitive technology and implementing strategic capital improvements that will create operational efficiencies and elevate the guest experience.”
Olive Tree Hotels & Resorts enters the hospitality sector at a time when various market trends are converging to create opportunities for strategic investors. The pandemic has propelled the population’s desire for spaces that allow for flexibility, mobility and sustainability in the ways people live and work, according to the company. Recognizing this trend, it will place a priority on reconfiguring hotel properties to accommodate demand, particularly that of a growing mobile workforce, by implementing technological improvements, attractive workspaces and energy-efficiency upgrades. The company will embrace a decidedly more modern, customer-centric approach to delivering a seamless guest experience, leveraging Olive Tree Holdings’ full suite of vertically integrated capabilities to execute on value-add and repositioning strategies, including asset and property management, legal, construction, technology and marketing, it reports.
Olive Tree Holdings’ investment strategy is founded on data-driven analysis of market opportunities, predominantly in tertiary and secondary geographies, to develop tailored property repositioning strategies that reflect a keen understanding of consumer preferences in those markets.
“In only four years, Olive Tree Holdings has forged an impressive track record in the multifamily sector generating exceptional returns for its investors,” Hamlet said. “To be competitive in this market environment, you need to be able to move quickly; the robust infrastructure and capabilities of the company’s existing platform will lend us a unique competitive advantage and springboard for success as we establish a sizable presence in the hospitality sector over the next few years.”
