Industry's 'Best-Kept Secret' Offers Wealth Of Resources

Industry's 'Best-Kept Secret' Offers Wealth of Resources
by Jeff Wilder

Reprinted from Advanstar's Hotel & Motel Management Magazine

The Hotel & Motel Brokers of America recently announced its decision to expand membership into every state in the Union.

HMBA's decision to enlarge its 30-office hotel-brokerage network is the result of an increasing need for its members' services in the United States and abroad.

The HMBA is a tightly knit nationwide organization of highly specialized, independently owned hotel-brokerage offices. Founded in 1958, it has often been called "the best-kept secret in the lodging and lending industries." The organization's members have been responsible for billions of dollars in hotel and motor-inn transactions over the past 30 years.

The HMBA provides the lodging and lending industries with more than 1,000 years of combined experience in hotel brokering. This wealth of talent is a resource of considerable dimension.

Complicated Transactions

In our business, transactions of even the most basic nature are often more complicated than the standard commercial real-estate deal. There are many additional ingredients with which to reckon: overbuilding; volatile market conditions; intense management/marketing issues; lender insecurity; complicated tax issues; unique licensing demands such as state liquor and gaming authorization; management contracts; available alternative affiliations - the list goes on and on.

Adding to the inherently complicated nature of hotel deals is the industry's need for brokers who understand how to assist in structuring joint ventures, net leases, exchange transactions, partnerships and management agreements.

Perhaps the most important attribute that a professional hotel broker can bring to a transaction is his network of nationwide contacts. These contacts - be they customers, sellers, franchisor representatives, hotel appraisers or lenders - are valuable, unique and personal. One of the most important arrows in a hotel broker's quiver is the co-brokerage network of personal friendships, mutual respect and trust that can only be developed through years of cooperation, communication and shared experiences. HMBA brokers have this in abundance - and it certainly helps get a lot of deals done.

Education and Networking

The HMBA's member-offices have their association headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. There, Executive Director Bob Kralicek has assisted in the creation of an education and networking set-up that is unsurpassed in the industry. Semi-annual seminars and meetings bring more than 120 brokers and their associates together. They hear tax experts, senior franchise-organization officers, lodging-industry consultants and analysts talk about their companies' programs and provide insights to current issues.

The Kansas City office also conducts ongoing, year-round educational programs for small groups of associate members on a variety of relevant topics as the need arises.

Computerized networking has become a major information-sharing tool for HMBA members. Though the program is still in its maturation stage, all offices have come together to acquire computers that "talk" to each other. As a result, member offices now have the ability to match buyers with sellers in an efficient, effective manner.

Education and computerization have become the twin pillars of Kralicek's tenure as executive director. Though not a broker himself, he is making an impact on the HMBA that has enhanced each member-office's ability to effectively serve the transaction needs of the lodging and lending industries.

As our economy's volatility continues, this organization offers an experienced corps of professionals who can assist those in need - and that includes a lot of hoteliers whose economic headaches can be cured with the help of the HMBA.