Arlington, Virginia – 1 June 2017 –
Interstate Hotels & Resorts announced the launch of the Asia Investment Group, becoming the leading Asia practice team with dedicated resources to deliver exceptional hotel management services to Asian owners seeking to invest in hotels in the U.S and Europe. With this division’s rapid growth, the Asia Investment Group has already achieved critical mass with over 11,000 hotel rooms to date.
Interstate’s dedicated team proactively identifies opportunities to optimize hotels’ profitability and asset values by working closely with ownership groups, providing personalized asset management services, and specialized financial reporting services through IHR1 – Interstate’s business intelligence platform. The development team possesses significant experience in Asia – including China – and in the U.S., with a deep understanding of Asian owners’ needs and preferences. The team specializes in providing services for owners which includes deal sourcing, acquisition due diligence, financing and brand selection to hotel management services. Additionally, Interstate’s owner-focused Asia practice team includes a dedicated bilingual, California-based team that is fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Cantonese.
Interstate’s Asia Investment Group includes Jackie Lee, vice president of development and acquisitions and Tina Chang, vice president of asset management, and is led by Don Li, head of Asia investment group. With Interstate for three years, Li has cultivated strong relationships with Asian capital partners and assists foreign owners with U.S. and European hotel acquisitions, brand evaluations, site selection, developing repositioning strategies, and renovations. Before joining Interstate three years ago, Li served as CEO of Swiss International Hotels & Resorts (China) where he led an elite team to develop the next generation of luxury hotels characterized by Swiss quality and efficiency in greater China.
Jackie Lee joined the group to assist Li with development efforts after having worked in Shanghai for Interstate China for five years. As part of the Asia Investment Group, Lee assists both foreign and U.S. owners manage all aspects of the hotel development process, including acquisition, brand selection, renovations and ongoing management of their assets in order to meet their financial performance objectives.
Tina Chang, a recent addition to the team, brings extensive corporate accounting, finance and asset management knowledge from her previous role as Director of Hotel Accounting at Sunstone Hotel Investors. Chang is responsible for maximizing hotel owners’ investments by overseeing hotel operations as an in-house asset manager for the Asia Investment Portfolio. She works closely with ownership groups, brands and Interstate’s operations team to proactively identify opportunities to optimize hotels’ profitability and asset values.