Anyone here in the Hospitality CRE sector?
I have yet to meet a broker who specializes in hotels/motels and I'm curious how someone would break into this sector. It's such a distinctive niche and seems to be reserved for specialized or corporate brokerages.

For brokers who are interested in listing smaller local hotels/motels, what sort of training/education/resources would you recommend to develop expertise in the hospitality sector? 

[{"id": "cofix8f", "text": "I feel like major finance skills would be needed. Also a national/global brokerage for a systematic approach and broad marketing abilities. I don't know how many people actually specialize in this based on the low amount of transaction volume unless they hang their license in multiple states", "replies": [{"id": "cogqtep", "text": "I can see that: I looked through loopnet and the brokers in my closest metro area that does motels/hotels have about 4 listings at most. Just about all of those listings are in tertiary markets hours away from the metro market.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "coftcn2", "text": "A very interesting idea. I double majored in Hotel, Restaurant  &amp; Tourism management, and Real Estate. If you watch shows like hotel impossible and know hospitality, you might do will in that niche.  Were you thinking of targeting a specific area/city? You might be able to build a brand with national hotel/motel owner magazines or media.", "replies": [{"id": "cogqmsy", "text": "I'm actually not really interested in pivoting to the hospitality niche; was mainly just curious about the sector because I haven't heard anyone shared their experience firsthand. The fact that the there's so little information on the industry compared to office/retail/multifam/industrial also got me curious. Thanks for the insight!\n", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cofycxw", "text": "In addition to the financial aspect of selling income / investment properties, learn and develop commercial real estate site selection / site evaluation methods. I can recommend a couple great books and other educational resources. \n\nYou want to know why a hotel/motel works in the location it is in. \n\nAlso, from my own experience, a lot of the local owners know each other. This would be a word of mouth type of business. ", "replies": [{"id": "cogr09f", "text": "What books and resources would you recommend? I borrowed a few books on hotel development and investment from a university library and they've been interesting reads (the most current one was published in 1996 though and a couple were written in the 80's...  )", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cog4m8t", "text": "The Hospitality CRE sector is very niche and is more of a consultant role where an expert is brought in to assist. There was a project where they brought in consultants from George and Florida who specialize in the field and they did an impressive job.  Its a lot of knowing about the hospitality industry players, ADR and other financial metrics, future demand assessment, and then tying that in with the commercial side with a focus on real estate prices and development cost. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "coge4m0", "text": "Check out [Hunter Hotels](http://www.hunterhotels.net/). From my experience, they have this market cornered. When I was doing workout, they got the majority of my shitty hotel listings because other national brokers wouldn't take them &amp; my boss generally wouldn't sign a listing agreement with a local yokel. There are a few other firms out there, but Hunter had the most volume. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ct4kjjo", "text": "I work in the Hospitality space out of Manhattan for a firm that did the most hotel transactions in the country last year (2014). I realize how old this post is but feel free to PM me and I would be happy to share some information.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]