About Arbor Lodging Partners

Based in Chicago, Arbor Lodging Partners is a national debt and equity investor in the hospitality industry. Its affiliate, NVN Hotels, was recently named one of the nation’s top hotel companies of 2015 by Hotel Management Magazine.

The company was founded on the principle of uniting the best practices of enterprising hotel operators and sophisticated institutional investors to effectively underwrite and execute value-add opportunities in the lodging space. Today, Arbor Lodging Partners is primarily involved in three lines of business:

Investments – Arbor Lodging Partners, with joint venture capital partners, acquires underperforming hotels that can be enhanced through renovations and the implementation of operational efficiencies to provide attractive returns.
Loan Acquisitions – Arbor Lodging Partners, with joint venture capital partners, acquires loans secured by hotels that can be restructured with the existing borrower to provide attractive returns.
Management – Arbor Lodging Partners’ management affiliate, NVN Hotels, manages hotel operations for assets in the Arbor Lodging Partners portfolio, as well as hotels owned by third-parties.

Investment Philosophy

Arbor Lodging Partners’ investment philosophy is simple: create exceptional value. By adhering to its established and tested underwriting methods, Arbor Lodging Partners has built a strong track record of identifying and capitalizing on lodging investment opportunities that create exceptional value. Arbor Lodging Partners’ underwriting methods are based on the firm’s, and its professionals’, experience in developing, acquiring, financing, operating and managing hotel assets. The principles underlying Arbor Lodging Partners’ investment philosophy are:

Invest with Discipline: Arbor Lodging Partners’ investment strategy is based on a disciplined focus of pursuing opportunities with key characteristics that will ultimately generate attractive risk-adjusted investment returns. The diverse and experienced backgrounds of the Arbor Lodging Partners professionals enable Arbor Lodging Partners to thoroughly evaluate and understand the key drivers of value creation in hotel investments and structure and execute transactions in an efficient manner.
Active Leadership: To meet guest satisfaction and financial performance goals, Arbor Lodging Partners, through its affiliate NVN Hotels, works closely with hotel staff and supports them with a high level of energy, leadership and commitment. Arbor Lodging Partners strongly believes that guest satisfaction is the key to profitability; as a result, it monitors very closely the level of service provided in the hotels in its portfolio and the value that is provided to guests. Arbor Lodging Partners has an intimate knowledge of each of its hotels and the communities that they serve through constant communication with hotel staff, multiple property visits and extensive reporting required of the hotel operations teams.
Operate with Integrity: Operating with integrity is at the core of everything that Arbor Lodging Partners does. Arbor Lodging Partners treats the resources of its investment partners as its own and seeks to conduct business in an honest and fair manner. Arbor Lodging Partners recognizes that key opportunities will continue to present themselves only if Arbor Lodging Partners acts responsibly and sustains the respect of its investment partners and others in the hospitality industry.

Investment Selection Process

Arbor Lodging Partners is targeting opportunities that exhibit the following characteristics:

Underperforming with value – add potential
Discount to intrinsic value and/or replacement cost
Downside protection and long-term capital preservation
Ability to reposition with targeted capital expenditure program
Value creation through entrepreneurial asset management

Team

Click on a team member for their full bio.

The Arbor Lodging Partners team works closely with the team of Arbor Lodging Partners’ management affiliate, NVN Hotels. To learn more about the NVN Hotels team, please visit www.nvnhotels.com.

Vamsi Bonthala

Chief Executive Officer

Vamsi Bonthala is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Arbor Lodging Partners. In this role, Vamsi leads all corporate efforts including general corporate strategy, investor relations, strategic relationships, acquisitions, dispositions, and asset management. Vamsi is also Principal of NVN Hotels, the management affiliate of Arbor Lodging Partners, recently named one of the nation’s top hotel companies of 2015 by Hotel Management Magazine. Prior to co-founding Arbor Lodging Partners, Vamsi practiced corporate law in the Private Equity group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and the Real Estate Group of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP.

Vamsi earned his BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan, where he received Class Honors and University Honors. Vamsi earned his JD from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of the Michigan Journal of International Law. Vamsi has been a speaker at industry events, is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and the President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and is active in alumni affairs for Phillips Exeter Academy. A previous Ambassador of the IHG Owners Association and a previous board member of the Directors of Open Books, he was recently recognized as one of Real Estate Forum Magazine’s 50 Under 40 of 2015 and a semifinalist in the 2016 Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year program.

James Ewer

Vice President of Capital Projects

James Ewer is Vice President of Capital Projects at Arbor Lodging Partners. In this role, he manages all renovations and other capital projects for hotels within the Arbor Lodging Partners portfolio. James has over 30 years of complex construction and renovation experience involving more than $5.5 billion of capital projects. In a previous role, James was Director, Capital Projects for Strategic Hotels & Resorts, where he was responsible for managing the due diligence, planning, design and construction process for all hotel real estate acquisitions, development and major capital projects, including retail store and restaurant development, nationally and internationally. At Strategic, James managed over 30 construction, renovation and expansion projects under the following brands: Hyatt, Starwood, Ritz- Carlton, Marriott, Four Seasons, Hilton, IHG, Loews and Hilton. Before joining Arbor Lodging Partners, James served as a Senior Project Manager for URS Corporation (AECOM), primarily focused on large vertical construction projects.
James earned a B.Sc. (B.S.) in Construction Economics from The University of Westminster (Polytechnic of Central London) and went on to receive an MBA in Project Management from the Henley Business School in the UK. James is a RICS Fellow and a Fellow of the Institute of Commercial Management.

Monika Cepaitis

Asset Management Associate

Monika is involved in all aspects of asset management with a particular focus on accounting, HR, and social media. Prior to joining Arbor Lodging Partners, Monika served as an Account Executive with Havas Worldwide.

Monika earned a BA in Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Cara Previs

Advisory Executive Assistant

Cara Previs is Executive Assistant at Arbor Lodging Partners. In this role, she provides valuable administrative support for the organization’s leadership. Previously, Cara honed her skills in reception and administration with professional front desk experience at organizations like Bischoff Partners law offices and Drumpf International Hotel & Tower.

Cara studied Business Administration at Harold Washington College.

Steve Mikol

Advisory Board Member

Hotel Industry Consultant & Co-Founder of Sage Hospitality

Dan Drexler

Advisory Advisory Board Member

Advisory board member Dan Drexler is Director of Research for Longview Asset Management LLC, a multi-strategy investment firm that is the in-house investment arm for the Crown family of Chicago. Dan is responsible for analyzing public investments and directing the portfolio team.

Dan has been a Board Member and the Director of Operations since 2001 for Quality Products, Inc., a privately controlled $50m industrial holding company. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Albany Bank & Trust in Albany Park, IL, one of Chicago’s largest community banks, since 2008, and the Advisory Boards of Madison Capital Partners, Hadley Capital, and Fort Point Capital.

He is active in a number of charitable and civic organizations including FIDF, Hillel of Wisconsin, Invest for Kids, and the Jewish United Fund of Chicago. Additionally, he serves as Chairman and President of The Fund for Enlightenment, a private charitable foundation.

Sheenal Patel

Principal

Sheenal Patel is a co-founder and Principal of Arbor Lodging Partners. In this role, Sheenal is involved in general corporate strategy and efforts related to acquisition underwriting and capital expenditures.

Sheenal is also Chief Executive Officer of NVN Hotels (NVN), the firm’s hotel management affiliate. NVN was named one of the nation’s top hotel companies of 2015 by Hotel Management Magazine. Prior to co-founding Arbor Lodging Partners, Sheenal was a Vice President with Related Capital Company, a New York based investment firm, where he was responsible for the origination of approximately $800 million of tax-exempt bond transactions for LIHTC multifamily projects located throughout the United States. Sheenal started his career in the Leveraged Finance Group within the Investment Banking division of CIBC World Markets.

Sheenal earned his BA in Economics from the University of Michigan and at the London School of Economics completed a year-long General Course program in mathematics. He is a member of the IHG Owners Association Industry Advocacy Committee, a member of the President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and is active in alumni affairs for Phillips Exeter Academy.

Kevin Down

Vice President of Acquisitions

Kevin Down is Vice President of Acquisitions for Arbor Lodging Partners. In this role, Kevin focuses on sourcing and underwriting acquisition opportunities, as well as asset management of hotels owned and managed by Arbor Lodging Partners. Kevin joined the firm as an Associate, and prior to that Kevin was an Associate at Paramount Lodging Advisors, a hotel brokerage and advisory company. Prior to joining Paramount, Kevin was an Analyst for Integra Realty Resources.

Kevin earned a BS in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He earned an MBA with a concentration in Real Estate Finance and Investment from DePaul University, where he graduated with Distinction.

Rupen Fofaria

General Counsel

Rupen Fofaria is General Counsel for Arbor Lodging Partners. As General Counsel, Rupen advises the company by applying legal principles to assist with drafting contracts, meeting fiscal goals and minimizing risk. Rupen provides legal counsel through The Fofaria Firm, PLLC in Raleigh, NC, of which he is the Principal. Prior to founding his firm, he practiced law at Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog, LLP, Loeb & Loeb, LLP and Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP.

Before pursuing a law degree, Rupen also worked as a columnist for ESPN.com and as a reporter for several publications, including the Washington Post and Boston Globe. He graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland and earned his J.D. with Honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2006.

Michael Newman

Advisory Board Member

Advisory Board Member Michael Newman is principal, President and CEO of Golub & Company, a Chicago-based international real estate and investment firm. Michael has served as Golub & Company’s chief executive through two decades of significant growth in the U.S. and abroad.

A principled and creative executive, Michael has played a leadership role in multiple significant development, acquisition and financing transactions during his more than 35 years in the real estate business. Known for his tireless commitment to ethical and partnership-focused business practices, Michael personally oversees, initiates and manages the firm’s relationships with its many institutional and private capital partners, lenders and joint venture partners. Michael’s straightforward approach has influenced every facet of Golub & Company’s business and shaped its success.

He continues to guide the company as he and the other principals welcome a third generation of family members into the business, while continuing to expand the firm’s development and investment platforms. Michael joined the company in 1984 and also serves as the managing broker for Golub & Company LLC.

Kenneth Munkacy

Advisory Board Member

Advisory Board Member Kenneth Munkacy is is a Senior Vice President of GID Investment Advisers LLC, and Senior Managing Director of GID International Group; he is a member of GID’s Executive Committee and is responsible for GID’s international real estate investments, joint ventures and portfolio companies in Brazil and India.

With more than 20 years of international real estate experience, Kenneth has worked on real estate investments and/or managed real estate operating companies in 16 countries. His experience includes serving as Managing Director, Asia at Starwood Capital (Tokyo); Senior Managing Director of GE Capital Golub Europe (Prague); President of Koll Asia Pacific Development (Shanghai); and Managing Director at TrizecHahn Asia Pacific (Tokyo). He also served as COO of New Boston Fund in Boston, MA, a privately held real estate opportunity fund.

He serves as a Vice Chairman of the Global Exchange Council with the Urban Land Institute, and is also a member of PREA.