How to Elevate Mixed-Use Hospitality Assets: F&B, Asset Management and Profitability

Understanding the Key Drivers for Profitability and Elevating Brands

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  Jake Pinsof

  VP, Luxury Hotels and Mixed-Use Development

  Marriott

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  Tony Larino

  Over a 28 year career spanning investment banking, real estate, and hospitality, Lariño has completed billions of dollars of transactions across the capital stack, both in the US and internationally. He has become a respected industry leader with deep relationships across the hospitality space. Most recently, Lariño was a partner with Rockwood Capital, where he led the firm’s hospitality investments and managed value-add real estate funds with over $2 billion of assets. Prior to Rockwood, Lariño served stints at Westmont Hospitality and Starwood Hotels & Resorts as their SVP of Development for Full Service Brands in the Americas. Before joining Starwood, Lariño began his career with Morgan Stanley’s investment banking group. Lariño brings his steep expertise to HEI, which has enjoyed continued growth in its roster of institutional capital relationships as well as its portfolio of hotels over the last couple of years. Adding a seasoned veteran like Lariño to its Investments team will significantly enhance HEI’s ability to leverage those relationships for continued portfolio growth.

  HEI Hotels

  Managing Director, Investments

  Tony Larino

  Managing Director, Investments

  HEI Hotels

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  Jacob Dinetz

  Director of Real Estate

  Union Square Hospitality Group

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  Daniel Lesser

  Daniel H. Lesser brings more than 30 years of expertise in a wide range of hospitality operational, investment counseling, valuation, advisory, and transactional services. He provides services to corporate, institutional, and individual clients as well as public agencies on all facets of hospitality real estate including: litigation support and expert testimony, site evaluation, highest and best use analysis, appraisals for mortgage, acquisition, and portfolio management, workout strategies, operational analysis, property tax assessment appeal evaluations, economic impact studies, deal structuring, and fairness opinions. Mr. Lesser is a leading authority on hotel feasibility and valuation, and is highly sought after to speak at lodging and real estate events, as well as lectures at prestigious institutions of higher education, including Cornell University, Columbia University and New York University. He is widely published and quoted, and serves as a quarterly columnist for HotelNewsNow.com and GlobeSt.com. Most recently, Mr. Lesser created and served as the Senior Managing Director - Industry Leader of the Hospitality & Gaming Valuation Advisory Services Group at CB Richard Ellis Hotels (CBRE). Prior to joining CBRE, Mr. Lesser founded and led the Hospitality & Gaming Group at Cushman & Wakefield and was a founding member of the team at HVS International. Mr. Lesser has also held operational and administrative positions with Hilton Hotels Corporation and Eurotels - Switzerland. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University, and also attended the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland and Baruch College - City University of New York. Mr. Lesser holds the following professional designations: MAI (Member of the Appraisal Institute), FRICS (Fellow of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), CRE (Counselor of Real Estate), and CHA (Certified Hotel Administrator). Mr. Lesser is a member of and has served on numerous committees for the Counselors of Real Estate, the Appraisal Institute, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and the Board of Directors of the New York City Chapter of the Cornell Hotel Society. He is a former Advisory Board member and member of the Fundraising Subcommittee for the New York University Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. Mr. Lesser is a founding member of the Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC), the hotel industry “think tank.” Furthermore, Mr. Lesser served as an Honorary Committee Member of the annual UJA - Federation New York Hotel & Hospitality Division Dinner, and is a member of the AIPAC Real Estate Division.

  LW Hospitality Advisors

  Co-Founder, President & CEO

  Daniel Lesser

  Co-Founder, President & CEO

  LW Hospitality Advisors

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  Anudeep Gosal

  Anudeep Gosal is a seasoned hotel investment professional with a wealth of expertise in transaction advisory and asset management. As the Director of the Hotel Advisory Group at Besen Partners, Anudeep has dedicated his career to helping clients navigate the complexities of the hospitality sector. He is highly skilled in all aspects of hotel acquisitions, including sourcing, underwriting, deal structuring, financing, negotiations, due diligence, and closing. Anudeep's expertise extends across a wide range of hotel assets, including limited service, select service, and full-service properties. He is known for his ability to lead a team and establish a culture of hard work and exceptional service, while maintaining a focus on delivering results for his clients. He takes pride in his structured approach to the acquisition process and his aggressive marketing strategies, which have consistently resulted in competitive offers for his clients. With a deep understanding of the hotel industry and a commitment to delivering results, Anudeep is an invaluable resource for any organization looking to invest in hotel assets. He is passionate about the hospitality sector and is dedicated to helping his clients achieve their investment goals through his expertise and experience.

  Besen Hotel Advisory Group

  Senior Director

  Anudeep Gosal

  Senior Director

  Besen Hotel Advisory Group

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  Christy Reuter

  Christy Reuter focuses her real estate practice on domestic and global hospitality transactions, notably representing hospitality companies seeking to expand within the United States and in countries around the world. She has negotiated deals in cities throughout the United States and in various countries and cities, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Japan, Turkey, Monaco, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Hong Kong. Christy provides strategic legal and business counsel to clients at every stage of a transaction. She regularly guides clients through the material business and legal issues in complex transactions, including commercial leasing, joint venture negotiations, operating or shareholder agreements, and license and management agreements. Prior to joining Blank Rome, Christy served as the chair of the hotel & hospitality group of a New York City-based firm, and as general counsel for the internationally acclaimed hospitality group Cipriani. She also previously served as the Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York in the NYC Litigation Bureau (1995–1997).

  Blank Rome

  Partner

  Moderator

  Christy Reuter

  Partner

  Blank Rome

National Investment Outlook: Underwriting, Financing & Acquiring Hotel Assets

Debt, Investment Sales, Supply, Demand and Hot Markets

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  Scott Alper

  President & Chief Investment Officer

  Witkoff Group

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  Joseph Yi

  Chief Investment Officer

  Palette Hotels

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  John Basting

  Senior Vice President

  Cain

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  Michael Bernath

  SVP, Acquisitions & Dispositions

  Peachtree Group

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  Andrew Gruseke

  Hospitality Finance

  BHI

• Moderator

  Yariv Ben-Ari

  Partner

  Herrick

Fireside Chat: Continued Evolution of Luxury Assets & Branded Residences

High-End Luxury and Meeting Demand of Travelers

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  Prem Devadas

  Prem Devadas, President, is a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry. After ten years with The Potomac Hotel Group in Washington, D.C., he left the Regional Director of Operations position to manage the lodging portfolio for CCA Industries whose holdings include The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, VA, The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, TN and Kiawah Island Resort near Charleston, SC. As Managing Director, he repositioned the Jefferson Hotel and the Hermitage Hotel through extensive renovations, and achieved Mobil Five Star and AAA Five Diamond awards for the respective properties. At Kiawah Island, he directed the development and successful opening in August 2004 of The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, the new 255-room ultra-luxury hotel, which is hailed as one of the world's best.

  Salamander Hotels

  President

  Prem Devadas

  President

  Salamander Hotels

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  Mark Keiser

  President, Development

  Viceroy Hotels & Resorts

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  Rebecca Gromet

  Rebecca brings to her work a commitment to design excellence in connecting the interior and exterior experience. Her strength lies in her passion and ability to develop projects that are both functional and beautiful. Rebecca’s meticulous attention to detail enhances her designs through a process that translates the aspirations of the client and KPF’s values into the built environment. She celebrates the collaborative relationships created throughout the process, from conception to construction, revealing well- crafted and creative solutions. Demonstrating this approach at a range of scales, Rebecca has been integral in the success of one of KPF’s smallest projects, the boutique luxury residential condominium 500 W 21 st St, as well as the firm’s largest infrastructure project, Changi Airport Terminal 5. Overseeing KPF’s residential and hotel planning projects, Rebecca brings more than a two-decade history of work in the US, Asia, and Europe, and the accompanying sensitivities of their specific geographic location and the international trends that transform neighborhoods. In London, a city less known for high-rise residential living, she led the planning of the 500-unit 40 Charter Street. She applied lessons from her extensive luxury residential planning in New York City to create a new form of neighborhood with a range of unit types and robust indoor and outdoor amenities within a single building in London. In Beijing, she led WF Central, a luxury retail and hospitality destination adjacent to the Forbidden City. Modern in its offering and experience, the project is sensitive to the traditional and historical neighborhood in which it stands. Rebecca has served as a part-time faculty member at Parsons School of Design; a guest critic at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and NYIT’s School of Architecture and Design; and a lecturer at Yale School of Architecture. Rebecca is a former term member of The Council of Foreign Relations. She is a registered architect in the State of New York.

  KPF

  Principal

  Rebecca Gromet

  Principal

  KPF

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  Lynn Cadwalader

  Lynn Cadwalader leads the Firm’s Hospitality and Leisure practice. Her work involves representing developers, owners, operators and investors in complex hospitality and mixed-use projects within the United States and around the world. Lynn is a seasoned hospitality lawyer, providing creative and business-focused counsel to her clients. She has been a key player in many high-profile hospitality transactions, where her ability to creatively structure solutions that work for all participants has been invaluable. Lynn’s areas of practice include: Acquisitions and dispositions of hotels and resorts in single-asset and multi-asset portfolio transactions Hotel management agreements, franchise agreements, technical services and preopening agreements, marketing license agreements, subordination, non-disturbance and attornment (SNDA) agreements, and comfort letters Structuring and creating mixed-use urban and resort communities Resort and mixed-use development and master-planned community documents, including covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs), reciprocal easement agreements (REAs), shared facilities agreements, condominiums, private membership agreements Restaurant, celebrity chef and nightclub management agreements Offer and sale of residential real estate and condo hotels in mixed-use projects Condo hotels, rental programs and fractional ownership Joint ventures Forming and advising companies in the alternative lodging sector Advising companies in the short-term online rental platform area Development agreements and related entitlements Lynn brings more than two decades of experience to the table, advising on a multitude of complex, high-profile hospitality transactions in the United States and internationally, including Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. Her deep industry knowledge of hospitality, extensive network of relationships with key players in the industry and legal acumen make her a highly sought-after legal counsel to clients in all sectors of the hospitality industry. Her reputation as an exceptional practitioner has led her to receive multiple awards, including being ranked Band 1 by Chambers & Partners in its USA Leisure & Hospitality 2025 Guide.

  Manatt, Phelps, & Phillip

  Partner

  Moderator

  Lynn Cadwalader

  Partner

  Manatt, Phelps, & Phillip

Staying Competitive: Injecting New Life into Aging Hospitality Assets Through Upgrades & Rebrands

Keys to Leveling Up Hotel Assets: What to Upgrade and How to Justify the Costs

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  Rika Lisslö

  Hotel Development

  Luxury Lifestyle Leader

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  Sean Williams

  Co CIO and Head of Strategy

  Hotel Equities Group

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  Brian Parker

  SVP, Development

  Wyndham

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  Courtney Moore

  Courtney Moore is a Division Vice President and the Mid‑Atlantic Hospitality Coordinator at The Whiting‑Turner Construction Company, bringing 26 years of dedicated leadership and hospitality construction expertise to the organization. Courtney’s portfolio includes the successful construction of major hotels such as multiple Westin properties, the Sagamore Pendry Baltimore, and the Caesars Virginia Hotel & Casino. She has also contributed her expertise to renovation projects for Hilton and Omni. Beyond her project leadership, Courtney is an active member of the CREW Network Hospitality & Leisure Council, where she collaborates with industry peers, champions professional advancement, and supports the growth of women in commercial real estate.

  Whiting-Turner Contracting

  Division Vice President

  Courtney Moore

  Division Vice President

  Whiting-Turner Contracting

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  Chris Parker

  Chris co-founded Innvision Hospitality, an Atlanta-based design and procurement provider for hotels and resorts nationwide, in 2004. Chris has been its President since 2011, after seven years as CFO & COO when he built the infrastructure and processes that enabled the company’s early growth. Alongside Innvision’s 70+ team members, Chris has helped the company successfully complete over 1750 major new build, renovation, and conversion projects for over 65 hotel brands. Under Chris’ leadership, Innvision has become an FF&E market leader known for its very hands-on client servicing approach; meanwhile, ID Studio, Innvision’s design team, has launched and evolved into providing fully-custom interior designs for Hilton, Marriott, and other franchisors’ upper upscale and lifestyle brands. Before Innvision, Chris co-founded internet service provider BrightPath Wireless (Atlanta, GA) and held brand marketing roles at Dell Technologies (Austin, TX) and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products (Skillman, NJ). Chris is a graduate of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School (M.B.A.) and Davidson College (B.A.).

  Innvision Hospitality

  President

  Chris Parker

  President

  Innvision Hospitality

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  Chuck Hurchalla

  Chuck Hurchalla is the president of Evolution Sustainability Group. He has over 30 years of experience in the deregulated energy markets, including natural gas, electricity and petroleum products. He is considered a subject matter expert on hedging strategies and the fundamental and technical drivers of movements in the energy markets, including renewable products. In addition, he has been instrumental in helping clients develop comprehensive energy management solutions that meet or exceed energy efficiency and sustainability goals.

  Evolution Sustainability Group

  Founder and CEO

  Moderator

  Chuck Hurchalla

  Founder and CEO

  Evolution Sustainability Group

Insights & Hotel Data from NY Hotel Association

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  Vijay Dandapani

  Mr. Dandapani is a hotel industry veteran who cofounded Apple Core Hotels, an owner-operator of boutique hotels in Manhattan in 1993 and was president of the company till December 2016. He was appointed President and Chief Executive officer of the Hotel Association in January 2017. He is an active participant in the hospitality industry and has spoken on hospitality issues at many forums sponsored by organizations such as the Lodging Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, the ALIS conference, University of California at Los Angeles, Columbia University, New York University and the National Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives. In 1998, he was recognized by Crain’s New York Business as one of the top 100 minority business leaders in New York City. In 2002, the Asian American Business Development Center, New York selected him as one of 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business. He has written in a number of industry publications and the mainstream media on topics affecting the hotel industry. As a Part of New York's response to the COVID crisis, Mr. Dandapani has been appointed by Mayor de Blasio to the COVID-19 Arts, Culture and Tourism Sector Advisory Council. He was also appointed by Governor Cuomo to the “New York Forward Advisory Board” tasked with guiding the state’s reopening strategy in the aftermath of the Covid 19 crisis. Mr. Dandapani has a Master’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and is a winner of the Aga Khan Foundation Scholar for graduate studies. He also holds the CHAE certification from HFTP.

  Hotel Association of New York City

  President & CEO

  Vijay Dandapani

  President & CEO

  Hotel Association of New York City

Remarks from the Podium

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  Doug Hatler

  Doug Hatler serves as vice president of enterprise sales at Boingo Wireless, where he is responsible for bringing in-building wireless connectivity to the healthcare, hospitality, commercial and high-rise residential real estate industries. He is a go-to-market specialist with over 25 years of experience scaling startups and early-stage companies in innovative infrastructure technologies, including telecommunications, water, environmental remediation and information technology. He has previously held leadership positions at Intel, IBM and 374Water. Hatler combines data-driven decision-making with hands-on leadership to deliver sustainable success. He holds a BS and MS in science and engineering and an MBA in marketing, finance and new venture development.

  Boingo Wireless

  VP of Sales

  Doug Hatler

  VP of Sales

  Boingo Wireless

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  Ashley Sobkiw

  Ashley Sobkiw is a dynamic, people‑first executive known for leading high‑performing, geographically dispersed teams and driving strong customer outcomes across complex enterprise and technology environments. With deep experience in Fortune 50 organizations, she has built her leadership reputation on empowering people, elevating customer experience, and guiding teams through rapid transformation in the connectivity and network sectors. With almost 30 years of experience in telecommunications, Ashley brings a compelling blend of strategic clarity and human‑centered leadership to the stage, offering actionable insights on organizational culture, customer engagement, and team performance. She is widely recognized for her ability to demystify complex challenges while inspiring audiences to lead with authenticity and intention.

  Boldyn Networks

  VP, Network Strategy

  Ashley Sobkiw

  VP, Network Strategy

  Boldyn Networks