PHOENIX- The essence of successful deal-making- as explained by a quintet of top-level hotel-transaction impresarios at the Lodging Conference 2000 here- revolves around just one major point: to be mindful of the needs of all parties to any deal.
Despite the early-morning timing of the session, the opportunity to hear from Peter Kline of Seneca Advisors, Charles Muller of CNL Hospitality Corp., Paul Novak of Bedrock Partners, David Smith of Bass Hotels & Resorts and Simon Turner of Hotel Capital Advisors seemed to prove eye-opening to an inordinately heavy turnout of attendees.
In terms of managing expectations while establishing goals, Muller reminded conference delegates that “communication is the primary ingredient” of any successful transaction process. Following up, Smith added that one of the best ways to assess the transaction process is, after all the pieces are in place, one takes the time to step back and ask: “Can all parties live with this deal?”
Boiling the entire process down to one simple truism, Turner claimed that “those who dont effectively manage expectations are just wasting time.” (9/19/00) –Michael Billig