The former Travelodge Laguna Beach was acquired in 2015. Sourced off market the Hotel was acquired unencumbered by the Travelodge brand and underwent soft renovations and repositioning as Laguna Beach’s retro extended stay travel option – a niche that had been unserved. Through targeted marketing initiatives and a change in management the hotel has been thriving and consistently outperforms its comp-set with occupancy levels and review scores. Total revenue has increased over 20% since transforming the property into a boutique hotel and NOI Margins have increased significantly due to the savings in brand fees while attaining higher rate & occupancy.
The return on invested capital was further enhanced through the disposition of an adjacent commercial property that had been acquired with the hotel. At acquisition, the commercial property had a significantly below market lease in place which, upon tripling of rent the commercial property was divested effectively reducing the investment basis in the remaining Hotel by nearly half.
The property was sold in 2018 for a 1.85 x equity multiple on the initial investment.
