July has been earmarked as hospitality month here at SVN, so we interviewed Sanjay Mundra, Hospitality Product Council chair, and CEO of SVN Hotels.
What advice would you provide to an aspiring advisor who is new to the industry?
Hotel Brokerage is a niche business and there are limited players on a national scale. My advice to an aspiring Advisor would be to join the Hospitality Product Council immediately. Our council can provide basics of the hotel business, and help you specialize in this niche asset class.
What does the SVN Difference mean to you?
Primarily the culture. I have enjoyed the collaborative nature of the Managing Directors, Advisors and offices. As a national platform for Hotels, the deep reach to local expertise and international brand has been phenomenal.
What learning tools (book, blog, website, etc.) would you recommend to your colleagues to further their knowledge and enhance their careers?
I strongly recommend attending the monthly Hospitality Product Council calls, and reaching out to the Hospitality council for a “Hospitality 101” manual. SVN Advisors should also visit the SVN Hotels website and review the “Broker’s Resources” section to get insight to valuable tools.
What inspired you to open an SVN franchise? Or, why did you join SVN?
SVN had a need and our investor group was extremely excited that SVNIC had the vision to make SVN Hotels a national platform with expertise in hospitality. This has helped our Advisors to collaborate across state lines to make deals happen.
What was your most memorable deal and why?
My most memorable deal was last year when we sold a Holiday Inn Hotel in North Carolina where the seller was an institutional owner and the buyer was a small, local family. The sophistication level of these parties was substantially apart. It took several months to put the deal together, since it kept falling apart a few times along the way. The seller was used to complicated debt structures, and the buyer was struggling to close the loan with SBA Program. It took a great deal of hand-holding to finally close the deal. It felt like we were representing the buyer while in fact we were representing the institutional investor. In the end both parties were fully satisfied and SVN Hotels is now doing business with both the buyer and seller.
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