CHICAGO—Steve Belmonte, former president and CEO of Ramada Hotels and executive vp of the Hotel Division of Cendant Corp. and Morris Lasky, president of Lodging Unlimited and co-founder of The Lodging Conference, have formed a joint venture to provide a full range of asset management services to hotel owners and investors. Called Belmonte/Lasky Asset Management Inc., the company will have offices in Chicago and Randolph, N.J. Because of the difficult operating environment in the hotel industry, owners and investors need expert outside advice that can act as knowledgeable intermediaries between them and their hotel brands and management companies, according to Belmonte. Belmonte/Lasky Asset Management will act as independent, third party asset managers with its interests aligned solely with the owner/investor. Services will be tailored to each property’s needs but can include review of all aspects of a property’s operations on both a day-to-day and strategic basis, including on-going review of hotel operations, marketing and food and beverage activities, developing short- and long-term operating strategies and creating appropriate exit plan strategies. The company also can negotiate franchise and management company agreements. Lasky has more than 50 years of hospitality experience. He is the co-founder of The Lodging Conference and The International Hotel Conference and is president and CEO of Lodging Unlimited, a hotel management company that has operated more than $5.5 billion of properties. With more than 30 years of hospitality industry experience, Belmonte is president and CEO of Hospitality Solutions, a full-service, nationwide lodging consulting firm. He is the former president and CEO of the Ramada hotel chain, a brand he doubled in size to encompass more than 1,000 hotels with nearly 135,000 hotel rooms throughout the United States. Previously, he was co-founder, president and CEO of Equity Hotel Corp. Belmonte is chairman of the American Hotel Foundation and the vice chairman of the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation.
