LOS ANGELES — In its 25 years, Crescent Hotels & Resorts has evolved considerably.
In a video interview at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit, Lily Hu, executive vice president of business strategy at Crescent, said when she started at the company 15 years ago, it had a portfolio of about 60 hotels, many of which were select-service properties.
That was around when receiverships and special servicing deals were more prevalent, she said. In the time since, the company has moved to have more big-box, full-service, upper-upscale, luxury and lifestyle hotels. The current portfolio is 120 hotels and has been for the past several years.
“We're not looking to be hundreds and thousands of hotels large,” she said. “This is really our sweet spot. We've found that it works for us. Large enough that we have bench strength from a talent perspective, we have purchasing power, but still small enough that we can really focus on each of our owners, our associates and our clients.”
Given that strategy, Crescent is intentional about how it grows, Hu said. That’s why it has hovered around its 120 count.
“We want to make sure we can impact the assets, and that’s what builds long-term trust and relationships with clients to ultimately result in more contracts and more hotels for us,” she said.
Crescent opened six hotels across the U.S. last year, Hu said. Among those six, it opened a dual-branded AC Hotel and Element by Westin in Phoenix’s North Norterra neighborhood; another AC Hotel/Element dual brand, the largest in the world currently, in Las Vegas Symphony Park; the Remi Scottsdale, Autograph Collection; and its first JW Marriott, the JW Marriott Reston Station.
There are a few more hotels on its docket that are expected to open soon, she said. Later this year, Crescent will open a boutique luxury hotel in New York City. It’s also going to open the Kali Hotel and Rooftop, part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection, near SoFi Stadium.
More than 80% of Crescent’s business comes through referrals from existing clients, Hu said. That’s the result of performing well, which is what makes existing clients stay with Crescent, she added.
“Ultimately, we have to manage that P&L for the client,” she said. “That client is looking for that bottom line. What are they taking to the bank, right? Are they covering their debt service? That is what's important for our clients, and so that's what we focus on.”
The relationship among hotel owners, operators and brands is a three-legged stool, she said. It’s a bit of a dance, figuring out how to do some give and take as the operator to represent well the brand, even if it’s an independent with its own “brand,” while also thinking about the owner’s bottom line. That requires the operator to navigate the different tranches and manage the P&L. Brands and owners alike want the hotel to be successful.
“And so, I think that the messaging, the communication and how we manage that, it's a continuing education, too, within our own team, that we have an owner mindset,” she said. “We are the operator, but we always operate with an owner mindset, as if this was our hotel, as if this was our investment, and treating every dollar that way. So that we're always looking at the bottom and how that impacts.”