has ranked number one on the J . D . Power North America Third-Party Management Guest Satisfaction Benchmark for two consecutive years .
The idea of transitioning into a pure management company came at the behest of owners : When Davidson sold a hotel , the buyer would want to keep it on as the manager . “ We woke up one day and it was like 50 / 50 — the number of hotels that we owned and operated and that were thirdparty managed ,” Geshay said . It didn ’ t take too long for it to flip on its head the other way . “ Other people started reaching out and asking if we ’ d manage their hotel for them .”
Today , Davidson Hospitality has a portfolio of 85 hotels and resorts , up and down the chain scales . And it sorts them among three separate verticals : resorts , lifestyle , hotels . All of them are third-party managed . Davidson also has a restaurant group and has its own in-house creative agency .
In the time that Davidson has taken to reimagine its business , a crop of management companies has bloomed beside it — hundreds — some with small portfolios , others larger , all eager and earnest in their abilities to generate returns for owners . Some do it very well ; others not as much . But they are all looking to eat away
WHAT WE ’ RE REALLY GOOD AT ARE COMPLICATED , SOPHISTICATED , LARGER , HIGH- REVENUE ASSETS
– THOM GESHAY , CEO AND PRESIDENT , DAVIDSON HOSPITALITY GROUP
at the same pie , jockeying for position and hoping to catch the eye of an owner .
It ’ s the types of assets being managed that has changed , as Geshay mentions , the result of the fractionalization of the broader hotel industry , transmuting into a Balkanized and specialized ecosystem , where being great at one thing is rewarded more than being good at some things .
Davidson has been true to its mission of operating hotels — branded and independent — that are mainly fullservice , upper-upscale and above . At this , Geshay offers a short history lesson on a phenomenon that has reshaped the hotel industry over the last half a century . Decades ago , most hotels were owned by individuals , then larger corporations or life insurance companies stepped into the breach . Hotels were — still are — a risky investment , but the materialization of better and more informed data made investing and operating hotels a less-dicey proposition . “ Hotels became more of an investable asset class ,” Geshay said . Today ’ s cadre of investors include private equity , public REITs , high-net-worth individuals , family offices and sovereign wealth . “ Everyone is in the hotel space ,” Geshay said .
Which makes handing over the operations of an asset that much more important . There ’ s a simple reason F1 cars are entrusted to the likes of Schumacher , Hamilton and Verstappen : they know what they are doing . It ’ s the same with
The Don CeSar , also known as The Pink Palace , in St . Pete Beach , Fla ., was once frequented by the likes of F . Scott Fitzgerald and Al Capone .
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