About Hotel Capital
An Investment Firm dedicated to helping Hoteliers succeed
The idea for "Hotel Capital" was created by Michael Collier during the Great Recession in 2008 with the goal of providing hotel owners access to capital and capital products that didn't exist in the market at that time. Hotel owners were facing unprecedented defaults, foreclosures, and bankruptcies and had little to no options to save their properties. Many of these owners were friends.
Hotel Capital initially raised investor capital to provide rapidly funded bridge loans to help these hoteliers in critical short-fuse situations. As the demand for capital grew and word about Hotel Capital's success got out, the bridge program expanded by geography and loan size and several additional products were created including subordinate debt and mezzanine loans. Hotel Capital serviced all debt in-house keeping the trusted relationship with the hotel owners closely held.
By 2010 widespread auctions began with many hotel owners' notes going up for sale by the bank that owned their loan. Hotel Capital would provide the owner with the funds necessary to close at their winning auction price, typically at a substantial discount to what they owed. This provided owners with a path to save their properties, and reduce their debt at the same time. Hotel Capital's debt returns were significantly above market and had zero loss in principal on the program. It was a winning strategy for all.
By 2012, the equity opportunities came to market in a large scale and Hotel Capital started to acquire hotels for their own equity portfolio. Over the next 5 years Michael Collier and the Hotel Capital team acquired over $400 Million in hotel properties across the country. Almost every asset was in need of some form of repositioning whether by improved operations, overdue cosmetic renovations, or both and Hotel Capital executed on the necessary business plan. Properties were then stabilized and sold with the majority of investments having an extremely successful result and achieving superior returns.
When Covid-19 hit the US hotel market in 2020 Hotel Capital still had a few unsold hotel investments left that were dealt a fatal blow, alongside other hoteliers, causing for the first time unfortunate defaults and losses largely by the opportunistic strategies of predatory lenders and vulture investment groups. This experience caused Michael Collier to create Lender Report which is a borrower centric reporting model that gives commercial real estate owners public feedback on their experience with their lenders and warn potential borrowers of a lender's track recort.
By 2025, Hotel Capital had gone full circle from white knight lender to capital partner to equity owner and ultimately victim of what can happen with predatory lenders and vulture investment groups opportunistically taking properties. Much has been learned and Hotel Capital is coming back to market soon with new capital products designed to help address some of the shortcomings and dangerous pitfalls of the hotel financing industry.