Johanna Cuevas had the opportunity to speak at the Latino Franchise Symposium on April 21st in Dallas, Texas. Her panel focused on discussing hotel ownership amongst the Latino community and how we can spread awareness to help Latinos get into ownership.
I come from a residential background and used to manage apartments in PHX, so I was always interested in Commercial RE. But it wasn’t until I joined NewGen that I gained an interest in hotels and decided to become an associate. I am here to close the gap between Latino hotel owners and employees.
There is a lack of Latino hotel owners, thus a lack of visibility and exposure. People don’t know that hotels can be owned by investors and not the companies/brands that are associated with the hotels, so letting people know that owning a hotel is possible and there are programs to assist is important.
Operating experience can help, but its not required. It’s something you could learn along the way or could hire a property management company to do this for you. Delegate or improve what you don’t know.
Call the broker. Ask about the property and try to get a full picture of the financial performance. Figure out the condition and see if it’s a good fit for you.
A good unit of measure we like to use is a cash-on-cash return of about 15% – 20%.
This depends on the investor. Are you looking for revenue, location, brand, or upside? Knowing what you are wanting to get out of this acquisition/investment is a key factor in determining what will be a good investment to you.
A few programs that are available to help minorities is Light Her Way and Light The Way both founded by Motel 6. There is also Emerging Markets which was founded by Choice Hotels.
Contact Johanna if you’re interested in speaking with Johanna about her experience or hotel investment opportunities.
[email protected] | (805) 557-8689
