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Miami - Overview

The Miami consulting and valuation office of HVS provides a diversity of services over a wide geographic area that includes the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America. The diversity of services provided by the office reflects both the array of expertise of the professional staff and our continual development of advisory services that meet the unique needs of the various countries and hotel market areas we service. Service categories at the Miami office are Consulting and Valuation and Shared Ownership Services including Sustainable Operations Consulting.

For more information, please contact us. Our main office line is +1 305 378-0404 (for a complete list, click here).

Consulting & Valuation - Miami
Managing Director

Shared Ownership Services - Miami
Division President

Kathy Conroy, MAI
+1 305 378-0404 ext. 1011

Consulting & Valuation - Miami
Associate Managing Director

Shared Ownership Services - Miami
Managing Director

John Lancet
+1 305 378-0404 ext. 1014

Additional contacts for Central & South America and The Caribbean are Andrew Cohan and Marianne Canero.

Our Unique Characteristics


  • The Miami office has the largest number of hotel professionals who have been cross trained in the Shared Ownership Services Division of the firm. Two thirds of our professional associates are qualified experts in hospitality and shared ownership real estate, the latter including traditional timeshare, fractional ownership, private residence clubs, condo-hotels, and hospitality branded residences. As a result of this integrated expertise, the Miami office is involved in a significant amount of hospitality driven mixed-use development consulting and valuation work. Please refer to the Shared Ownership Services Division section of the HVS website for even more information on the services provided through this division.
     
  • Fifty percent of the Miami office staff is truly fluent in the Spanish language. This unique attribute allows us to assist many clients in their native language, making the work scope discovery process related to their professional needs faster and more efficient. These multi-lingual skills also enable our office to conduct research and interviews in geographic areas where English is not readily spoken.
     
  • We have worked in many emerging market areas where the existing hotel supply is limited to non-existent. We have experience with markets where there is no comparable hotel data, and we have experience in analyzing these market areas and assessing their future potential for room night demand. This ability to 'think out of the box' is critical for many of our clients in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

The Diversity of Our Products & Services

HOTEL CONSULTING & VALUATION SERVICES

Strategic Advisory Services regarding the type of hotel products that should be developed at a given location, their total suggested room count, and related hotel facility recommendations. These services are often provided by HVS Miami where we are part of a multi-disciplinary pre-development team of experts, allowing us to work with land planners and architects in creating an overall development plan that reflects both the physical constraints and attributes of the site, and the development of hotel products that will provide the optimal "product – market fit" for the source markets and type of customers visiting a given market area.

Market Studies regarding the annual occupancy and average rate (ADR) potential for existing or proposed hotels.

Market Feasibility Studies for proposed hotels and for existing hotels considering a major quality tier and/or brand repositioning. Market feasibility studies incorporate both the work scope inherent in a market study, coupled with multi-year financial operating forecasts.

Financial Feasibility Studies for proposed hotels, or hotels considering a repositioning. Financial feasibility studies incorporate both the work scope inherent in a market feasibility study, coupled with a valuation and invested cost comparison.

Valuation Estimates of fee simple, leased fee, and leasehold positions in individual hotel assets and multiple hotel asset portfolios, and the valuation of minority and/ or partnership interests in a hotel asset. Valuation estimates can also be focused on the appraisal of specific sites.

Multi-Year Financial Operating Forecasts for hotels and / or mixed use resort components.

Litigation Support Services which may involve any of the above services, as well as historical research on hotel market trends and hotel performance as of a given date in time.

Expert Witness Testimony for depositions and trial testimony.

Branded Management Contract Searches are performed by our office for clients who need assistance in identifying and attracting hotel brands available within a given market area that would represent the optimal "product – market alignment" of the envisioned hotel. This service includes assisting the client in either the negotiation and/ or review of the branded management contract terms.

HOSPITALITY MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING SERVICES

Strategic Advisory Services that incorporate all of the planned real estate components of the mixed-use development, including hotel, timeshare, fractional, condo-hotel, and hotel branded residences, and golf course facilities.

Market Studies covering any or all of the real estate components in the mixed-use development. For non-hotel products, market studies focus on the anticipated sale price of the real estate product, and the anticipated absorption time frame.

Market Feasibility Studies incorporate the work scope inherent in market studies, including multi year financial forecasts.

Financial Feasibility Studies incorporate the work scope in market feasibility studies, including a valuation of the real estate components comprising the mixed use development and an invested cost comparison.

Valuation Estimates of the planned real estate components as of the date they will be complete. When applicable, we also provide a value estimate as of the date certain assets are expected to achieve a stabilized level of occupancy and/or operations.

Valuation Estimate of the land comprising the mixed-use development, based on the application of a land residual valuation methodology (or sales comparison approach, if applicable), reflecting the enhanced value of the site with the existing development plan and approvals in place. These valuations are critical for developers who have assembled raw land, created a market supported land use plan, and obtained the related development approvals and entitlements, and need to document the increase in land value from this process.

Multi-Year Financial Operating Forecasts for any or all of the real estate components in the mixed-use development.

Litigation Support Services which may involve any of the above mixed-use development services, as well as historical research on market trends and financial performances of certain real estate components within the mixed-use development as of a given date in time.

Expert Witness Testimony for depositions and trial testimony.

Branded Management Contract Searches are performed by our office for clients who need assistance in identifying and attracting a family of hotel and vacation ownership brands that would represent the optimal "product – market alignment" of the envisioned real estate components. This service includes identifying the optimal brands interested in the market area, presenting the opportunity to the brands, and assisting the client in the negotiation and/ or review of the sales royalty and the branded management contract terms.

SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS CONSULTING

HVS Miami Consulting and Valuation Services, in collaboration with HVS Shared Ownership Services, have created an analysis to assist owners and operators of existing hotels in understanding the potential benefits of an operational sustainability plan. This phase one 'Operations Sustainability Analysis' (OSA) is designed as a first step for hotels that are committed to, or interested in, exploring the possibility of a 'greener operation.' The OSA will provide hotel owners with:

  • Operational utility cost reduction analysis
     
  • Sustainable operating procedures and strategies
     
  • Quantification of the net carbon footprint generated by the existing hotel operation. The emissions footprinting analysis will be performed by EnviRelation,1 a leader in emissions management services for the hospitality industry.

The Operations Sustainability Analysis, created by a designated U.S. Green Building Council LEED AP, consists of an operational benchmark and analysis report. This service focuses on (1) developing a baseline of utility consumption for a given period (2) analyzing trends in consumption (3) identifying opportunities for reducing utility consumption and costs within the framework of a return on investment (ROI) and payback period; (4) quantifying the net carbon footprint of the property; and (5) identifying the range of potential reductions to that footprint.

A hotel must know the carbon footprint associated with its operation in order to effectively capture room night demand from the growing number of consumers requiring carbon neutral hotel stays, meetings, and/or events.2 Furthermore, as new regulations and emissions targets are introduced through legislation, quantifying the net carbon footprint of an operation can be critical to a hotel, especially if restrictions are mandated relative to total carbon emissions. Hotels that effectively manage their carbon footprint will be better prepared for any restrictions, taxes, incentives or transaction disclosure requirements arising from new legislation.

The phase one OSA will provide clients with the following tools for incorporating sustainable practices into their operation:

  • Analysis of hotel operation utility consumption
     
  • Recommended changes for reducing utility consumption
     
  • Estimated cost ranges associated with the recommended changes and the estimated range in operating cost savings
     
  • Estimated return on investment (ROI) and financial payback time frame associated with each strategy
     
  • Quantification of net carbon emissions footprint of the hotel operation
     
  • Strategies for the potential reduction in the net carbon emissions footprint of the hotel operation
     
  • Overall strategies for promoting and maintaining operational sustainability

For more information on the Operations Sustainability Analysis and pricing, please contact Marianne Canero at mcanero@hvs.com or 305-378-0404 ext. 1010

1 Since its founding in 2005, EnviRelation has been dedicated to helping hospitality businesses manage their relationship with the environment as well as the communities that they serve. Over the past four years, EnviRelation has evolved its portfolio of services to include green house gas (GHG) emissions management services, food waste collection services and sustainability reporting services. Identifying a greater need for industry metrics, EnviRelation has built on its core competencies of carbon emissions quantification and hotel operations support services to include lodging sector carbon emissions and waste research. EnviRelation’s Emissions Scorecard provides hotels with green house gas (GHG) emission diagnostics (a net carbon emissions footprint) and serves as a lens through which operating costs can be examined.

2 The net amount of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) emissions, less direct reductions and indirect carbon offsetting, is the recognized standard metric for quantifying net carbon footprints. MTCO2e represents the total amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere as a common metric so that emissions can be directly compared as a standard for a carbon footprint. Recognizing the need for a hotel to measure emissions for a specific time period relative to its operation EnviRelation has developed analytical models to quantify both the net carbon footprint and the greenhouse gas emissions per occupied room (GEPOR) for a hotel.