PREPARES for
TRENDING
AJ Capital founder pivots ,
PREPARES for
By JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
REBOUND by HOTELS EDITORS
In a situation that Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson has described as worse than 9 / 11 and the 2008 financial crisis combined , the coronavirus has put the hotel world in survival mode , waiting for travel to resume . When that will happen in earnest is still guesswork . But in the meantime , hoteliers are working feverishly to preserve their businesses and spread hope for the better days ahead .
To help the industry look forward , HOTELS , with research assistance from the BHN Group , reached out to its readership to find out what they are doing to help their teams , control costs , prepare for a new normal , manage their stress and inspire everyone to carry through to the other side of COVID-19 . As owneroperator Ben Weprin of AJ Capital Partners puts it , “ No virus can touch my dreams .”
ON MARCH 10 , HOTELS sat down in Chicago with AJ Capital Partners Founder Ben Weprin , who spoke with assurance about his Graduate brand , which had 22 hotels open and 13 in development near or on college campuses . The owner-operator has more than US $ 3 billion in assets .
Two weeks later , a lot had changed . In a follow-up , a shaken Weprin had decided to close all the hotels business resumed .
HOTELS : What has this crisis done to your will , from a business perspective ? Ben Weprin : No virus can touch my dreams . You can ’ t lay a hand on it . This is a speed bump . It ’ s certainly challenging , though , and it ’ s going to hurt momentum for everybody . But everyone ’ s in this together . So , you ’ re all coming out of it together . It ’ s an equal playing field . And when you ’ re committed to a cause that you think is bigger than you , this doesn ’ t stop that .
Am I going to have a lot of stuff to deal with , adversity and challenges ? 100 %. But so is everybody else . We are up for the challenge … Do I think universities are going to reopen and be the same ? Absolutely , I do . 100 %. It ’ s going to take time and there ’ ll be a new normal .
H : Have you been able to quantify what you may lose here ?
BW : The only thing I keep thinking is that I have to survive because all of us need to be around on the other side to recreate all of these jobs . We are moving forward with a bunch of our projects . We are going to pause some of the others , depending on where they are in the capital stack , because you just want to preserve as much liquidity as possible … We ’ re about to finish in Chapel Hill , North Carolina , and Roosevelt Island , New York . H : Where is the opportunity in crisis ? BW : There will certainly be opportunity in distress , just like 2008 when a lot of people made their careers by looking for creative ways to buy and reposition . If you have liquidity , there will be a lot of assets out there . I do think it ’ s different with the lenders , though , this time . Because there ’ s just a lot more empathy in the lending climate , none of the banks want to be seen as trying to take advantage of an act of God .
H : What might you do differently from a development or operations standpoint ?
BW : You realize you just can ’ t take anything for granted . You ’ re going to have less people doing more jobs — just stretching your capacity as far as you can , every single dollar . Not that it doesn ’ t always count , but it counts even more when you don ’ t know where the next one is coming from . Now it ’ s going to be how strong your strategy is and how good of an operator you are . H : How are you managing personally ?
BW : I ’ m just trying to keep gratitude for health and wellness and know that this too shall pass . It will pass . I don ’ t know when , but it ’ s going to pass . I ’ m going to be there .
May 2020 hotelsmag . com 13