Asset managers work for the hotel above all

Asset managers hold expertise across all elements of a hotel, allowing them to drive communication between owners and operators and ultimately benefit the property, was the message from the most recent HOSPA webinar.

Speaking on What Does an Asset Manager Actually Do and Why Should Hotel Owners Care? sponsored by Mews and chaired by Jane Pendlebury, CEO, HOSPA, attendees heard that communication was at the heart of the role.

Patrick Angwin, director, Clanalytix, said: “If you ask 10 different people what an asset manager is, you’ll get 10 different answers. At the simplest level, you will be interpreting and explaining the numbers for the owner, at the other end of the scale you might be in charge of overseeing refurbishments, overseeing capex plans, approving budgets, on top of frequently sitting down with the operating team.”

Looking at the background to the role, Alex Slors, founder, Alex Slors Consulting and asset management guest lecturer at HOSPA, said: “There are two types of asset managers; people who have learned on the job and those who have come up through the hotel schools. The former have good hotel experience, the latter financial knowledge.  It’s a balance because you need to be financially astute, but it’s super important to understand what’s happening in the hotel. It’s important to have a balance of the two.

“The job of the asset manager is to be the glue between all the parties in the hotel. Communication is key: if you’re willing to sit around the table and listen, you can help the hotel be as successful as possible; if the hotel is successful, the value goes up, fees are earned and hopefully everyone gets their bonus. At the end of the day we work for the hotel.”

Angwin added: “In an ideal world you need to have operational experience. The role is such that it’s very difficult to sit down and have credibility with all the stakeholders if you don’t understand their position and understand how a hotel works. Hotels are complicated, multi-faceted businesses. I don’t pretend to be an expert in all of them, but what I do have is exposure to all the elements from being on the coalface. It’s like driving a ‘plane; you can learn a lot from a book, but no one is going to let you fly one without experience.

“Holding the operator to account is a big part of the role; not in an adversarial way, but to make sure they’re doing the best job they can for the owner.

“We work for the owner, but we are not just mouth pieces for the owner. I have been in many situations where I think the operator is right. The point of being an asset manager is the expertise you’re bringing that the owner doesn’t have.”

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