April 10, 2014 – The real estate investment trust that owns two River North hotels has embraced diversity, at least a mix of about 20 companies that manage its 46 hotels.

Michael Barnello, president and CEO of LaSalle Hotel Properties, told students at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration that LaSalle will work with even more operators as its portfolio grows.

“We’re very open to working with different operators and the reason is simple, is that it makes us better.”

Barnello makes the remarks in a five-minute video posted on Cornell’s website on Wednesday.

The companies that manage LaSalle’s hotels include Hilton Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, and Westin Hotels and Resorts. HEI Hotels & Resorts runs Marina City’s Hotel Chicago, formerly known as Hotel Sax. It is the fourth company to manage the hotel since LaSalle purchased it in 2006. LaSalle also owns Westin Michigan Avenue.

The LaSalle chief says they have learned from having so many different operators.

“I don’t care who the worst particular hotel management company is on our list – it has to be somebody ranked number twenty – they will have a good idea from time to time,” says Barnello (right). “And we’ll take that idea and we’ll try to pepper it throughout the rest of the portfolio so the rest of the portfolio benefits.”

Barnello also talks about what they look for in a hotel acquisition and his company’s particular fondness for Key West, where LaSalle owns the 260-room Southernmost Hotel Collection.

“The supply and demand metrics are so titled toward the owner-operator and have been for many years,” he says. “We love a market like Key West. We’d like to own more [hotels] there.”

Barnello presented the “Dean’s Distinguished Lecture” at the Ivy League school last September.

LaSalle closes on third Frisco hotel

LaSalle Hotel Properties announced last Friday it has closed on a San Francisco hotel it had been waiting to acquire since February. The Maryland-based company was under contract to takeover the ground lease of the 200-room Hotel Vitale, located on the Embarcadero waterfront of San Francisco Bay. The $130 million deal was waiting for final approval by the landlord, the City of San Francisco. Vitale is LaSalle’s third hotel in San Francisco.

Hotel Chicago, meanwhile, has had a new general manager since last December. Mark Deinhart was previously general manager of The Westin in Minneapolis for six years. He has also managed hotels in Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. He replaces Mark Miller.

• Video: Conversation with LaSalle Hotel Properties CEO Michael Barnello
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