September, 2011 – Kana Hotel Group an award winning Hotel Development & Management Company based in Knoxville, Tennessee has added seven management contracts to its portfolio year to date in 2011.  The hotels added to the portfolio are primarily select service hotels in several states, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee.   In keeping with the company’s expertise and operating experience, the properties are made up of mostly premium branded assets with the Hilton family of brands.  In addition, Kana Hotel Group has added properties with IHG in select locations.

In July 2011, Kana also opened the brand new Hampton Inn & Suites Tupelo / Barnes Crossing located in Tupelo, MS.  This brings the owned and operated portion of Kana’s portfolio to 14 of its 20 total properties consisting of Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Staybridge Suites, and Holiday Inn Express.  Kana has completed the development and opening of each of these assets since 2005.

Since its inception Kana has consistently maintained a commitment to building quality assets in growing markets and has enjoyed successful and mutually beneficial relationships with its investors and lenders.  This commitment has provided steady, positive results in constantly changing economic environments and has allowed the company to expand through the challenging cycles of the past few years.

Alpesh Patel, CEO of Kana Hotel Group commented, “We are incredibly well positioned to continue to grow both our owned and third party management portfolio in late 2011 and 2012.  The diversity of our portfolio, combined with our geographic positioning across eight states allows us to effectively identify and procure premium development sites as well as expand our management assignments throughout all areas of the United States.”

Kana is currently breaking ground on another new Hampton Inn located in Clinton, TN as well as a Springhill Suites by Marriott located in Huntsville, AL where it already owns and operates a Hilton Garden Inn and a Hampton Inn & Suites in nearby Athens, AL.  Both of these properties will open in 2012, followed by a new build Embassy Suites – West Knoxville, and another Springhill Suites located in Ridgeland, MS.  Both of these will open in 2013.  Additionally, Kana is close to breaking ground on several other Hilton and Marriott projects which will be announced later this year.

Kevin Mahoney, President of Kana Hotel Group added, “With the depth of our management team and our expertise in daily operations, we are able to immediately improve key operating metrics of each asset that we take on.  Our superior corporate support structure and centralized operating systems allow us to maximize all areas while delivering above industry standard operating results to our owners.  Simply put, our hotels perform as best in class among several major brands and that has helped us grow at the rapid pace that we have”.

About Kana Hotel Group:
Kana Hotel Group is located in Knoxville, TN, with additional offices in the Tampa, FL area.  Kana is an award winning independent third party management company with over 1,800 hotel rooms under management, and additional 500+ rooms in development.  The portfolio is well diversified amongst major brands such as Hilton, Marriott, and IHG.  Kana Hotel Group has extensive relationships with institutional owners and lenders as well as individual ownership groups.   More information can be found at www.kanahotelgroup.com.