Hospitality Real Estate Counselors

What Hospitality Real Estate Counselors does

Hospitality Real Estate Counselors (HREC) is a U.S. private hotel and casino advisory firm founded in 1994 by Michael Cahill and headquartered in Greenwood Village (Denver), Colorado. The firm operates exclusively in the lodging and gaming industries, offering property sales brokerage, debt financing placement, and consulting/advisory services including market feasibility studies, appraisals, litigation support, asset management, and development consulting. Clients are hotel owners, institutional investors, REITs, private equity funds, casino operators, lenders, and franchisors across the United States, with selective international engagements in the Caribbean, Mexico, Panama, and China.

The firm executes its work through a 23-office national platform staffed by senior brokers who typically bring prior operator, owner, lender, or franchise-side experience — a positioning the firm markets as providing an "owner's perspective." Core revenue is generated through transaction-based commissions on hotel and casino property sales, placement fees on debt financing, and negotiated professional-service fees for advisory engagements. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is structured on a per-engagement basis. The firm owns no proprietary software or technology platforms; delivery relies on financial modeling, valuation analytics, and industry databases.

HREC Investment Advisors (established 2002) is the core operating subsidiary delivering the firm's investment banking, mortgage brokerage, and equity placement services; a parallel subsidiary, HREC Development Resources, operated from 2002 to 2015 before being discontinued. HREC is founder-owned, with no external private equity or venture capital investment disclosed. Marketing is conducted primarily through industry conferences (ALIS, NYU, Meet the Money, The Lodging Conference), thought-leadership content authored by senior staff, and the firm's co-chairmanship of the Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC).

Name

Hospitality Real Estate Counselors

Legal name

HREC Licensing, LLC

Website

https://hrec.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Hospitality Real Estate Counselors (HREC) is a U.S. private advisory firm founded in 1994 that provides property sales brokerage, debt financing placement, and consulting services exclusively to the lodging and gaming industries, serving hotel owners, investors, REITs, lenders, and casino operators through a 23-office national platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Greenwood Village

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices23 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Property Sales Brokerage: HREC earns commissions on the sale of hotel and hospitality properties, acting as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of lodging assets.
2. Mortgage/Debt Brokerage: HREC arranges debt financing for hotel acquisitions and refinances, earning placement fees from lenders or borrowers for capital markets transactions.
3. Consulting & Advisory Services: HREC provides market studies, appraisals, litigation support, asset management, and development consulting services to hotel owners, investors, and lenders on a fee basis.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

HREC is a specialized hotel and casino advisory firm that brokers the sale and disposition of hospitality properties, arranges debt financing for hotel acquisitions and refinancings, and provides consulting, market studies, appraisals, asset management, and litigation support exclusively to the lodging and gaming industries. Engagements are executed by senior brokers and principals across a national network of full-staffed offices and are priced on a per-engagement transaction or fee basis.

Product overview

HREC Investment Advisors operates as a unified hospitality advisory platform offering property sales, debt financing, and consulting services. The core offerings include Property Brokerage for hotel and casino dispositions, Mortgage Brokerage for debt placement, and Consulting & Advisory Services for market studies, appraisals, and litigation support. Asset Management services and Market Studies function as integrated modules within the broader advisory platform. The firm has maintained 16 offices nationwide since 1994, providing coast-to-coast representation in the lodging and gaming industries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Property Brokerage Investment banking and brokerage services for the sale and disposition of hotel and casino properties, including preparation of investment offering memorandums (BOVs/OMs) and marketing support. Aimed at hotel and casino owners, investors, REITs, and operators seeking to buy or sell hospitality assets.
• Mortgage Brokerage Debt financing services for hospitality properties, including debt placement and structured financing through HREC Investment Advisors. Targets hotel owners, investors, and operators seeking acquisition financing, refinancing, or recapitalization of hospitality assets.
• Consulting & Advisory Services Expert advisory services including market studies, feasibility analyses, real estate and business valuations, and litigation support for the lodging and gaming industries. Serves hotel owners, investors, lenders, franchisors, brand companies, casino operators, and legal counsel requiring independent hospitality expert advice.
• Asset Management Services to assist owners in optimizing performance of hospitality real estate investments, including strategic planning, repositioning, and capital planning. Targeted at hotel owners and investors seeking ongoing operational and capital strategy support.
• Market Studies In-depth market research and analysis for hotel and casino properties, including competitive position assessments and market impact studies. Used by hotel owners, investors, lenders, franchisors, and brand companies for development, acquisition, and brand expansion decisions.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHREC's CEO Michael Cahill serves as co-chairman of the Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC), a hospitality industry think tank. LIIC serves as a platform for industry networking, research, and policy advocacy, and HREC actively contributes through the LIIC Top Ten Lists and conference panels at ALIS, NYU, and Meet the Money.

Scale indicators19 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Cushman & Wakefield: Global CRE services firm with a Hospitality Division. Multiple HREC brokers (Ronn Thomas, Tim Storey) previously led Cushman & Wakefield's hospitality practices in Minneapolis and the Midwest, suggesting direct competition on hotel transactions across multiple regions.
• Avison Young: Global commercial real estate services firm with a hospitality practice. Adam Lallani and Wendy Blissett joined HREC from Avison Young, indicating active competition on hotel investment sales mandates within a much broader CRE platform.
• Colliers International: Global CRE services firm with a national hospitality team. Jon Grantham joined HREC in 2022 from Colliers where he transacted the top dollar and transaction volume for their National Hospitality team — direct overlap on select-service and limited-service hotel mandates.
• JLL Hotels & Hospitality: Global CRE and capital markets firm with a dedicated Hotels & Hospitality group. JLL competes with HREC on large hotel investment sales, debt and equity placement, and advisory mandates, particularly for cross-border and portfolio transactions.
• CBRE Hotels: The largest global CRE services platform with a dedicated Hotels practice. CBRE competes with HREC on institutional hotel investment sales, debt placement, and portfolio advisory mandates — though at meaningfully greater scale and global reach.
• Newmark: Global CRE services firm with a hospitality practice. Bhavesh Patel joined HREC from Newmark where he was Senior Managing Director focused on lodging, indicating direct overlap on hotel investment sales for institutional and private clients.

Direct peers

• Paramount Lodging Advisors: Midwest-focused boutique hotel brokerage firm where HREC's Beau Mullenix previously served as Designated Broker. Directly competes with HREC on individual and small-portfolio hotel transactions, particularly in the Midwest U.S.
• HVS (Hospitality Valuation Services): Global hospitality consulting and valuation firm. Multiple HREC team members (Mark Mitroka, Jeffrey Duni, Michael Cahill) came from HVS, and HVS offers overlapping market studies, appraisals, and hotel investment advisory services — making it a foundational peer.
• Marcus & Millichap: Large investment real estate brokerage with a dedicated hospitality division. Niven Patel and Zack Freeman joined HREC from Marcus & Millichap where they were top-performing hotel brokers, indicating direct competition on net-lease and select-service hotel sales.
• Hodges Ward Elliott: Boutique hotel investment sales and capital markets advisory firm. Multiple HREC producers (Bhavesh Patel, Wendy Blissett) were previously senior MDs/brokers at HWE, and the firms compete head-to-head on individual asset and portfolio hotel sales mandates for institutional clients.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hrec-investment-advisors

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hospitality Real Estate Counselors