which Crestline is heavily involved in. For instance, it manages The Delphi in Los Angeles, the former Standard hotel. Other lifestyle, independent hotels in its portfolio include The Chemists’ Club in New York and Waldorf Towers in Miami. It also manages hotels under Hilton’ s Curio and Tapestry Collections and Choice Hotels’ Ascend Hotel Collection.
GENERATING GROWTH Third-party management companies— the good management companies— make hay amid a robust transaction market. Often, when an asset changes hands, a new operator is brought in. The problem is, as Carroll pointed out,“ The transaction market is crawling.” He’ s not wrong: According to JLL, global hotel transaction volume in the first half of 2025 reached $ 24.5 billion, down 17.5 % versus 2024. Still, Crestline has added a dozen hotels in the past year.
One of the reasons the third-party management model continues to thrive is born out of hotel brands progressively exiting the management game to focus explicitly on generating fees through franchising.“ I don’ t think the brands see the value in managing, especially the smaller
The bar at AC Hotel Portland Downtown. Crestline has managed the property since 2021.
The lobby of The Nobleman Fort Worth, which opened this year and is part of Hilton’ s Tapestry Collection.
hotels,” Carroll said.“ When companies specialize in one aspect of the business, they can do that more efficiently than somebody who is trying to be an owner and an operator. The owners see that and would rather have the brand be focused on what they’ re best at, which is the franchise model, the branding, the marketing, the loyalty programs they are driving.”
No matter how the model evolves, prosperity as a management company comes down to one thing: driving strong
performance.“ If we are successful, owners will keep hiring us,” Carroll said. And it’ s not because Crestline negotiates management contracts that favor owners on the fee side— it’ s quite the opposite.“ I could run Crestline more profitably. And if I had market pressure, maybe I would have to. But my pressure from my owner is to grow smart and long term,” Carroll said. For example, Crestline maintains a heavy regional team, one where turnover is low, but, in turn, it reduces margins and overall profitability. It’ s also tripled the number of people on its digital team in the last 24 months. Crestline also invests a lot of its own money in technology and systems“ that we then can put in front of the owners and make our team perform better,” Carroll said.
And really that’ s what it comes down to: operating hotels to their fullest, taking care of guests, making money for owners. Sounds simple, but it’ s not. Even though Crestline has been at it for a quarter of a century, learning and getting better are constant. When Carroll finished flight training, he got his wings; he was a pilot. But now, he said,“ You have to go learn your plane.”
Like anything, no craft is mastered on the first day. It takes repetition and practice. And that’ s what keeps Crestline going.
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