The Standalone Lifestyle Hotel Management Company That Won’t Be Rolled Up – Skift Travel News

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Sean O’Neill, Skift
January 9th, 2023 at 2:00 AM EST
Sage Hospitality is going it alone as it bets on lifestyle independent hotels while its peers sell out to bigger players or plan to go public. This strategy is either very sage or very dumb.
Sean O’Neill
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.
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Owners of U.S. hotels have long turned to third-party management companies, such as Sage Hospitality Group, to run their properties. Sage stands out because, since 2017, it has grown from having 17 independent, soft branded, luxury, or lifestyle properties in largely suburban areas to having 47 lifestyle hotels in major urban areas (out of 60 hotels total).
Sage made a big, deliberate shift in its total portfolio. To understand its bet on lifestyle, and what that bet says about the broader sector, we need to cover some backstory.
Sage does many things, but it’s best known for third-party hotel management. Most hotel managers are essentially mom-and-pop players — overseeing roughly a few dozen hotels each, on average.
But a push is on to consolidate the hotel management players.
The case for hotel management consolidation is that bigger is better.
Sage Hospitality Group is making a different bet — namely, having specialty expertise in “lifestyle” is an effective competitive advantage.
Isenberg, who founded the Denver-based company in 1984, has given it four interlocking capabilities.
Sage is doing a brand refresh to solidify its position in lifestyle hotels.
Sage aims to innovate in the lifestyle hotel space.
On the one hand, Sage was smart to see back in 2013 that lifestyle hotels in urban and resort areas would grow in popularity. Big brands are now racing into the segment.
On the other hand, Sage is betting somewhat significantly on independent lifestyle hotels at a time when big brands appear to be on the march worldwide. Will it be outgunned?
Sage also does real-estate investing, which it sees as creating capital it can use to fuel its innovation efforts.
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Sean O’Neill, Skift
January 9th, 2023 at 2:00 AM EST
Tags: aimbridge, Early Check-In, future of lodging, highgate, hotel development, hotel investments, hotel management, independent hotels, lifestyle, lifestyle hotels, sage hospitality, Skift Pro Columns
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