Category Archives: Career

Sometimes the hardest time to sell is when you don’t have to

Career

I have been in hotel real estate for 25 years. I can count on one hand the hotels that owners should consider holding indefinitely and pass on to their children. All the rest of them are a commodity that should be viewed exactly as such.

I had a client a few years ago that could have sold his hotels at what I believed to be the highest value factor of all time. He was making good cash flow and made a very poor judgement that the future of those hotels would remain sound. A smart guy once told me that everything should be for sale except, of course, our family and our moral foundations. This particular client had a portfolio of hotels that were average at best and located in a market where new development had very few restrictions.

You already know what happened to this client. He did not sell his hotels and choose to hold the real estate; he ultimately lost control of his hotels to his lender and it devastated his company.

It is always too easy to sell when you have to, but it is another thing altogether to sell when you would rather keep it. It is in those times when the decision to sell should always be viewed on what I call the risk curve. One should ask himself several questions, including what will this investment be like in 5 years if the market changes or if the underlying economic fundamentals change.

In our hotel real estate world, the only thing you know to be true is what the market is today. I cannot tell you how many people make the wrong choice based on what they think the hotel income will be over the next 5 years. No one knows what the economic climate will be like, what interest rates will be like, etc.

At Hotel AG, we believe that sellers ought to be sellers when there are buyers. Simple, right? I ask sellers to put on a buyer’s hat and tell me what they see. At the core of the reasons a buyer buys, it is because he can get a loan today, and he can see some upside in his investment. When all the upside is gone and the deal starts tracking downward, it is almost impossible to sell.

I believe a seller should always know what the value of his holding are and always know a number that he would transact at. We were selling a Marriott hotel in mid-2007, and the hotel was brand new. We had a REIT (real estate investment trust) as a buyer and the price was in the stratosphere at the time. The seller gets on a conference call with the buyer and begins to tell the buyer how to run their company and really shows himself on the call. The buyer backed out of the deal that same afternoon, and the seller now owns the same hotel 8 years later; it is worth a fraction of the price we had presented him. This seller earned a master’s degree on what never to do again.

My advice to sellers is to recognize that the market cycles up and down and to make decisions he/she would be proud of if the market changes. Sometimes selling for 90% of what you may think the deal could possibly be worth in the future is better than being faced with a downturn and then having your options limited.

All you can do is to make the wisest decisions you can with the data you have, but most importantly, one needs to trust their gut and heart because very seldom are those two factors wrong. KT

Sometimes you just don’t get the job

Career, Life

Yesterday at Hotel AG, we lost a piece of business to a competitor. The competitor is a much larger company than Hotel AG, but it is never fun to lose. These situations are difficult to accept, but you basically have to understand that you will not be hired for every job or every piece of business.

The real issue is how you handle it if it happens to you. The carnal side of you wants to say something or do something, but in my experience, it only hurts you. I believe you have to just be a gentleman and move on. What many people do when these things happen is say something you can never take back; the result is it usually harms the relationship.

Last night when I thought about this, I had to put myself in the client’s shoes. Frankly, knowing all the components that went into that decision led me to believe that hiring the other company was the best thing for that client. Furthermore, I realized that if I had been in their shoes, I would have done the same thing. Ha. This doesn’t help if you are working up a good case of mad because you are basically siding with the client!

So, I had to just understand that God is in control and not me. In the movie “Rudy,” the priest says something that is very profound. He tells Rudy “In all my years as a priest, I have come up with two indisputable truths, one–there is a God and two– I am not him.”

I believe taking an inventory of where you are in life and how you got there is always a wise exercise. It is amazing how humble this can make you. As you look at the string of events that lead to where you are in life, I believe many of us can see the hand of God that has protected you and in many cases, kept you from situations that could have ended badly. I have this spiritual vision of God placing his hand on my back to help lead me through the door and at other times I see his hand on my chest keeping me from going through the door. When you make decisions, you need to know where his hand is.

Years ago, I used to get so mad when a work trip flight was delayed or cancelled. I was traveling with another broker on one such trip when the flight was delayed. He looked at me and told me that maybe it was God protecting us by keeping us from being in a certain area at a certain time. That shut me up pretty quick, and I have always remembered that view point since. I remember one day I was driving home from the office, and I was in a lane on the interstate that I never drive in. Translation: I was in the slow lane. Ha. Anyway, there I was in the slow lane, and I was at peace and happy just hanging out, listening to music, and driving slow. A minute later, there was a tractor trailer truck that blew a wheel off (and I do mean the whole wheel) and that wheel hit exactly in the lane where I would have been.

Sometime you just don’t get the job, but it is important to accept that there is a reason for everything; while we may not know the reason, there is still a reason. You might have to settle down and listen to the music in the slow lane for a while, but it will all be ok in the long run. KT

But by the grace of God, that could be me

Career, Family, Life

Have you ever seen people that are arrogant and puffed up to the point that they mistreat someone who is less fortunate?

I have always had this thing deep in my spirit that tells me to never, never look down or treat someone less fortunate in a way that would be unbecoming. There are people we come in contact with that are in need or have suffered disabilities, struggling financially, or heartbroken, and they simply need someone to look at them with understanding.

I guess I am really talking about elitism and an attitude that makes the person ugly inside.

One of the greatest examples of how to look upon and treat the misfortunate was Franklin Roosevelt, who served three terms as President of the United States during the Great Depression and World War II. He was not a perfect man regarding his marriage and personal life, but he did many things that he will be remembered for. He developed polio at the age of 39 as a father of 4. While they were vacationing at their lake house in Campobello Island, Canada, he went for a swim, like he did regularly, and when he got back to the house, his legs felt a little numb. They thought it would go away, but later found that he would not recover and would be paralyzed for the rest of his life from the waist down.

Ask yourself what you would have done if you became paralyzed at age 39. Hard to imagine isn’t it? Would you just give up?

He went on to become President of the United States during the worst economic cycle the nation had ever experienced; he lead the United States through WWII and held America together. He refused to let polio determine his life and control what he could and could not do.

The main point of this blog is that during the Great Depression, when families were starving and the poor were everywhere, he got together his people and told them something that was life-altering. He told them to go out into the community and meet with many of the poor, unfortunate, and homeless and to bring him back a report on the results. He told them that when they saw these people and the condition their lives are in, to treat them with respect; to realize in their heart, but by the grace of God that it could be their own family. He told them if anyone was caught mistreating these people, they would find themselves out of work, just like them.

If you have a moment, please read the paragraph above again and let that sink into your spirit of what a life-changing direction he gave to those who worked for him.

If we looked at others with this same frame of mind, it would do us well to remember this. In my own life, having no formal education and stuttering when I talk, I can tell you without question and without hesitation, but by the grace of God, that could be me and my family.

Think about where you are, where you live and what you have; my suggestion is to never forget how you got there and never take it for granted because like the people in the story above, but for the grace of God, that could be you. KT

You cannot be all things to all people

Career, Life

We all need to understand that we cannot be all things to all people. You need to know when the answer “no” is the right one. People who sign up for everything end up doing a poor job on everything as compared to only saying “yes” to the opportunities that you know in your heart you can make an impact on.

In business, like personal life, you need to choose where you spend your time. At Hotel AG, we know what we are good at and we also know what we are not good at. I get calls all the time for hotel projects that involve complicated scenarios that I know our chances of success is very limited. I have learned to gracefully say “no” to those opportunities and to recommend someone else that may be better suited for what the client needs. I have found that by doing this, you preserve the client’s trust in you versus talking on the project and then failing. When you fail, you lose the client’s trust and that will cost you business down the road.

I have seen in churches where the chairman on multiple committees is the same person. In most cases, all committees will do less than expected because of the leadership. Each committee needs individual attention that is not spread over multiple committees.

In business, you need to spread the authority around and let others learn how to lead. Many company leaders feel they need to have the control in every department and every aspect. These are the leaders that seldom succeed long term with their companies. A company must grow leaders within because there is always talent available other than you. Yes, there will be mistakes and yes, there will be errors, but people will learn what works and doesn’t work if they are given an opportunity.

It is said that many army generals believe that you can win the war without having to win every battle. You as a leader simply need to choose the battles you must win and focus your attention on those. When your children were young, you instinctively did this same thing. You cannot not always say “stop” or “no.” Sometimes you need to let the child learn and experience things, which is the only way they will understand.

So, choose the things and the projects that are most important to you and learn to say “no” to the others. You will have more peace, be more focused, and have more joy in your life. KT

Babe Ruth and Arnold Palmer

Career, Life

Babe Ruth and Arnold Palmer probably had many things in common, but there is one thing that stands out: They both gave it all on every swing.

Babe Ruth had 714 home runs and 1,330 strikeouts. He failed twice as much as he succeeded. Every time he stepped up, he was swinging full and giving everything he had. He would sometimes swing so hard he would lose his shoes; many times he would almost fall down if he missed the ball.

Arnold Palmer won 95 professional tournaments with 7 of those being major championships. One day, Arnold hit his tee shot in the woods and the only way he could get the ball to the green in regulation was to hit a driver off of the dirt. You guessed it…he took out a driver and hit the ball clean off of the dirt.

Why am telling you about these two athletes? They are like us in many ways. Every time we get up to do a sales pitch, write a report, talk with a client, cook a burger, throw a newspaper, we have the opportunity to do the best we can. Will we always win? No, but I will tell you that if you swing fully every time in life, you will experience more success.

There are a lot of people that just don’t try. I believe if you show up and try, you will beat 95% of your competition. So, the next time you get up to the plate, stand over the tee box, or get ready to make a sales pitch, wind up and really take a swing not holding anything back. KT