Hispanic Hotel Owners Association encouraging Latino hotel ownership

by Marisa Treviño of of Latina Lista

At the risk of sounding like I’m stereotyping a lot of gente, it’s no secret that the hospitality industry is dependent on Latino labor.

When it comes to hotels, from Florida to Alaska, chances are you can find a Latina changing the bedsheets or Latinos hauling luggage or both serving up the breakfast buffets and dinner entrees.

However the flip side to this over-representation in the hotel industry is that while Latinos easily comprise 15% or more of the labor force in the hospitality industry, the numbers are less than one percent when it comes to hotel ownership.

Needless to say, it makes for a rather lopsided mattress (Sorry, couldn’t resist) in an industry that generated $26.6 billion in pre-tax profits in 2006.

Well, a fairly new non-profit wants to address this imbalance. The Washington, D.C.-based Hispanic Hotel Owners Association (HHOA) is traveling around the country offering the International Hotel Investment seminars to get more Latinos to think about being the boss rather than just the employee. The series will be in Dallas Dec. 3 and 4 at the Adolphus Hotel.

According to the HHOA:

“The Dallas Hotel Investment Seminar will focus on the basics of hotel investment, beginning with an overview of the hotel industry. Topics include hotel development versus hotel acquisition; market, product and site selection; why invest in the hotel industry; hotel branding; and capital sources and financing. Other sessions will discuss franchising, hotel management, property valuation, hotel management and investment exit strategies. Participants will hear speakers from a broad cross-section of major hotel brands, management companies and consultants, as well as a number of Hispanic hoteliers.”

For those Latinos with deep pockets, the prospect of owning a hotel is a viable goal that deserves pursuit and epitomizes the American Dream of owning one’s own home — or, in this case, a home-away-from-home.