It was a dream job that could make or break a barely two-year-old commercial interior-design firm: perform a turnkey remodel of 38 hotels all over the country in just two years.
Hospitality Focused Solutions Inc. took on the assignment from a Texas real estate investment trust in 2006, implementing a remarkable ramp-up that even enabled the company to take on additional smaller jobs along the way.
The result?
The Long Beach-based company’s blistering 3,377 percent growth over the past three years landed Hospitality at the top of the Business Journal’s fastest growing private companies list this year. That figure doesn’t even reflect the bulk of the $165 million contract with Irving, Texas-based FelCor Lodging Trust, which is scheduled to be completed early next year.
Chief Executive John Wong estimates 2007 revenues will hit $150 million, nearly triple the 2006 figure. “We have two big challenges: managing our current growth, but also looking ahead to the time in which we don’t have one huge client but instead many smaller ones. We don’t expect to continue growing at this pace.”
Hospitality’s business model appears well suited to adapting to change. The company benefits from Wong’s experience as a hotel owner and his contacts with furnishing manufacturers in China, combined with partner John Mamer’s expertise in interior and exterior design of mid- to high-priced hotels.
The two met when Mamer, then a partner at L.A.’s Concepts 4 design firm, traveled to Ventura to pitch a redesign of Wong’s Four Points Sheraton. It was Wong who brought up the idea of a partnership, letting Mamer know that in addition to owning the hotel he had Hospitality Goods, a hospitality furnishings import business with a network of relationships with factories in China.
“John and I had a shared vision that we had a platform to grow the business from what Concepts 4 had been doing for 30 years, which was limited by how much work each of my partners was willing and able to take on at any one time,” said Mamer, now Hospitality’s president.
Industry rebound
The timing of the partnership worked in the young company’s favor. In 2004, the hospitality industry was just recovering from the severe travel industry slump in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and recession in 2001. Hotel owners were eager to invest in sprucing up their properties.
Consolidation within the hospitality industry, with REITs like FelCor acquiring more and more properties, also opened opportunities for design firms with a business services orientation. That helped the company in making its pitch to FelCor, which wanted to reposition a group of core properties. Concepts 4 had done some smaller jobs for the REIT.
“We manage our projects in-house. But given the number of projects, the varied locations and the short time frame we needed outside assistance,” said Rob Carl, FelCor’s senior vice president, and director of design and construction. “We had talked with other firms, but only HFS really had the infrastructure to ramp up. From a cost and quality standpoint, we’ve been very pleased.”
Hospitality has developed a reputation for being particularly sensitive to a client’s budgetary constraints. “Sometimes there’s a disconnect with interior designers who don’t understand budgets,” Wong said. “I think our clients appreciate that we make sure the budget, scope and look of the project are aligned. And we understand schedules.”
Not that Hospitality ignores the artistry of interior design. Its online portfolio on the company’s Web site showcases a wide range of traditional to edgy modern looks, from the Holiday Inn Houston to Marriott Anaheim to the Carlton in New York City.
To grow the company, Hospitality is expanding to overseas markets and considering a push into complimentary sectors, such as affluent retirement communities. In addition to offices in Dallas and Las Vegas, the company last year opened an office in Dubai. It also has a Shanghai office and does work in India.
