THE WOODLANDS, TX—Benchmark Hospitality International and Gemstone Hotels & Resorts, a Gencom affiliate, both providing management and marketing of resorts, hotels and conference centers, have joined together to create a portfolio of 58 distinctive properties with 10,000 staff members across the globe.
“This merger was a natural fit,” said Benchmark Hospitality International CEO Alex Cabañas. “Not only do we share a similar focus on unique and independent properties, but our organizational cultures and values align extremely well. Though this has not been common in other industry mergers, for us it was the right thing to do to ensure the change and transition was thoroughly embraced by our ownership clients and team members.”
In the newly merged company, Burt Cabañas, Benchmark Hospitality’s founder and chairman, and Gencom, led by Karim Alibhai, will be the principal shareholders. Burt Cabañas will continue in his role of chairman of the combined companies. The remaining partners of both companies will serve in the following roles with the new entity: Alex Cabañas will serve as CEO, and Jeff McIntyre and Greg Champion will serve as co-presidents and co-COOs. Thomas Prins, a Gemstone partner, will take on the new role of managing director real estate investments.
The combined company will apply its entrepreneurial management style to the expanded portfolio of independently branded properties, while also deploying soft brands, such as Curio, Autograph Collection, Tribute, Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Leading Hotels of the World, Historic Hotels of the World and IACC. Further growth is on the agenda for the combined company with projects already in the pipeline, according to the companies.
The merger represents an opportunity to combine the collective resources and experiences of both companies to better serve ownership partners, customers and the independent property segment of the hospitality industry. The new company has already begun to integrate systems and resources from both organizations, using a plan to create maximum efficiencies, while other aspects of consolidation will occur over time.
Benchmark and Gemstone are currently engaged in a comprehensive strategic envisioning and branding process to determine the new brand pillars, signature and brand positioning for the consolidated company, and plan to roll this out in the near future. Headquarters will be located in Houston with satellite offices in Park City, UT and Miami.
Burt Cabañas said, “This merger is in line with our overall strategic growth plans to double the size of our company within five years. With the merger of these two incredible organizations, we’re enthusiastically on our way toward achieving this significant goal, which will ultimately better serve the interests of our property owners and also create additional opportunities for our team members.”