ATLANTA – January 2, 2013 – Hotel AG announced the firm closed on its final transaction of the year last Friday totaling 75 hotel sales for the 2012 year. These closings are actual arms length transactions and do not include note sales, consulting, opinions of value, debt placement, etc.
 
In addition to the year-end closings, Hotel AG has 272 hotels on the market totaling $2.7 billion of market value with many of the 272 under agreement and scheduled to close within the first quarter of 2013.  The firm has closed 1 hotel transaction every 7 days for the past 29 months.
 
“Hotel AG continues to see no gap between the “ask and sale” transaction scenario,” commented H. Keith Thompson, principal of the firm. “Our firm is operating with focused intensity right now because closing transactions is the only real measure of a company.”
 
Brad Sinclair, vice president and partner of the firm said of the 2012 performance, “We have seen the divide between Wall Street and Main Street meet. Many of the portfolio transactions we completed in 2012 were just that, Wall Street investment funds investing in top fill pattern, newer, select service assets in middle market America. We expect more of the same for the first half of 2013.”
 
“We have seen cap rate compression over the last six months that closely mirrors yield returns of 2006 and early 2007,” stated Andy Broad, Hotel AG vice president and partner. “Our firm is very focused today on large portfolio sales because we see great placement yield for them. That market has changed in the last six months and the traction is reminiscent of the pre-crash real estate cycle.”
 
Wendy Blissett, vice president and partner of the firm commented, “We are seeing three tranches in today’s hotel real estate market and our firm is transacting in two of the three. The first tranche is the newer well-branded select service assets, the second are the bank/lender-controlled assets and the third includes the hotels where the existing debt out paces value. We are currently transacting in the first two with very little buyer interest in the third.”  
 
“In summary, we believe the first half of 2013 will be much like the last quarter of 2012 in regards to the type of deals that close,” said H. Keith Thompson.  “The hotel segment of real estate is much like other areas of commerce in that we know clients have other choices of who they hire, and our focus is to simply do what we say and consummate the transaction. Nothing else really matters in hotel real estate.”  
  
About Hotel AG
Hotel AG is a specialized hospitality brokerage firm offering hotel specific real estate within the US.  Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company has 15 brokers, 19 partners and operates in 48 states.  The firm conducts business with REITs, public and private companies, institutional clients and individual owner operators. Hotel AG can be found online at www.hotelassetsgroup.com.