NABHOOD Confab Marked By Deal Making

MIAMI BEACH— The National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD) demonstrated it’s all about doing deals and taking care of business, even when a number of its members aren’t able to attend the organization’s annual convention. At the Sixth Annual International Multicultural Tourism/ Hotel-Ownership Summit & Trade Show, held this year at the newly opened Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort here, the buzz generated by a host of successful hotel deals—transacted on-site as well as away from this South Beach centerpiece— made for lively discussion during the five-day conference. As if following the lead of the mid-May unveiling of the Royal Palm property by owner/developer R. Donahue Peebles, president of Peebles Atlantic Development Corp., transactions alluded to by the 200-plus speakers and attendees at the meeting included: • Word of a proposed multi-property acquisition/disposition said to amount to something in the range of $25 million; • An agreement resulting in a bed-and-breakfast property becoming the first building block in a “new” hotel owner’s portfolio; and • Acknowledgment of several million dollars’ worth of business reaped by one supplier as a direct result of attending last year’s edition of this conclave. On the other hand, it was equally obvious business was being transacted by NABHOOD’s rank-and-file away from this Miami Beach venue as well, what with association Chairman Donnell Thompson, CEO of Thompson Hospitality, among those forced to miss this once-a-year occasion because he was in the middle of some major business dealings. Meanwhile, there was much more than business transactions highlighting the Summit agenda. In addition to being able to pay personal homage to what is billed as “the first African – American-owned luxury hotel in the U.S.,” attendees were afforded the opportunity “to learn so they, too, could earn” their fair share of wealth as lodging property- and business-owners. Sessions, workshops and panel presentations this year encompassed everything one would need to know about hotel development and ownership, from financing to the finished product. Those on hand also heard from top-flight industry analysts like E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Corp. Director Chase Burritt as well as from a veritable roundtable of hotel-industry CEOs. To be sure, the industry picture painted by Burritt- though disappointing- was not entirely grim. Specifically, the EYKL executive noted industry profitability in 2001 dropped by nearly $5 billion over 2000’s record level, plummeting from $22.5 billion to $17.8 billion. Additionally, Burritt maintained not much help will be forthcoming this year, what with 2002’s (estimated) profit rebounding only to about $18.6 billion, based on approximately a predicted 1% uptick in demand. However, Burritt’s bottom line was that the industry will see further improvements in both occupancy and rate in 2003 barring any unforeseen cataclysmic events. Also sharing their views on the hotel scene were a quartet of high-ranking industry executives: Lodging Enterprises President/CEO George Shanklin; Diplomat Hotels President/CEO Mike Patel; Wyndham International Executive VP/Business Development Joe Champ; and Buggsi Hospitality Group Chairman Buggsi Patel. Tracking where the industry is now and where it’s going in the near future, Buggsi Patel said: “The market is definitely recovering, and there are deals to be made though they’re being made very selectively.” As such, he said it probably makes more sense at this time to look at smaller projects, simply because they shape up as being easier to get done. On this note, Champ pointed out deals involving municipal subsidies and buy-ins in particular are among the leaders as far as those transactions getting done, while Shanklin similarly suggested entrepreneurs would do well to seriously look at 100-room, limited-service-type undertakings. Not to be left out, Mike Patel contended any hotelier’s