Euan McGlashan grew up in a working-class family in Edinburgh, Scotland. He’s the co-founder and CEO of Atlanta-based Valor Hospitality Partners, which offers management, acquisition and development services – with a focus on distressed assets, a key skill set during this time of COVID.
He’s keeping close tabs on New York and New Jersey, along with the U.K. and Europe, and thinks more distressed properties will present themselves during Q1 2021. Valor, with some 60 hotels in its global portfolio, predominantly in the U.S. – and all open despite the pandemic – easily could consume another 20 hotels in the U.K. alone.
“We called this early and got our protocols – I hate that word – quickly established. We communicated, we implemented and got our clients comfortable that we were on our A game,” McGlashan told HOTELS Editor in Chief Jeff Weinstein in the latest HOTELSLife interview (read his views of how the pandemic has changed travel).
But as he looks for opportunities, he also is emphasizing what he’s seeing and hearing from guests.
“I do think that once we get past this, whether it’s a vaccine, therapeutics, whatever it is, there’s going to be this huge pent-up demand for people to get out and travel.”