LOS ANGELES, California, February 27, 2008 – Taiwanese hotel investors are showing an increasing interest in buying more upscale hotel properties in the United States, PKF Capital’s Managing Director Rod Apodaca today told a press conference sponsored by the Taiwan Hotel and Motel Association of Southern California. “We’ve seen an important upward shift in the quality of hotel properties acquired by the Taiwanese hotel investment community,” said Apodaca. “In doing so they are also demonstrating a need for more sophisticated brokerage services that go beyond typical marketing techniques offered by traditional commercial and hotel brokerage houses.” “As investors show interest in properties valued at more than $10 million, they need a more consultative approach to owning, buying and selling,” said Apodaca. “This in turn means owners need more help with strategic positioning of their properties to maintain these higher valuations.” “The industry is moving beyond old-fashioned selling methods,” said Apodaca, who has many years of experience helping Asian companies complete hotel transactions. He said PKF Capital uses a “structured” process for handling hotel transactions that incorporates Web-based research tools for 24/7 access to market and property information, limited scheduled property tours, specific time performance requirements and other analytical techniques that greatly improve and shorten the sales process. Still optimistic about the prospects of hotel investments, Apodaca said, “Hotels in the U.S. are still strong investments as proven by the continued demand from the buying community. Good deals are still getting done by quality buyers.” Apodaca will be presenting methods of hotel value enhancement along with Bruce Baltin of PKF Consulting at the Taiwanese Hotel and Motel Association of Southern California educational seminar on Wednesday, March 12 in Rosemead, California. PKF Capital provides real estate investment advisory services to the hospitality and leisure industries. For more information, visit www.pkfcapital.com Rod Apodaca may been reached at rod.apodaca@pkfc.com or at 213-532-3236. |