Kevin Aucello is the Principal at Powell & Aucello, a Honolulu-based hotel brokerage and advisory firm specializing in hotel investment, transactions, and development across Hawaii, Micronesia, and the South Pacific. With over 30 years of experience in Hawaii’s hotel investment market, he has been involved in more than $1.5 billion in hotel real estate projects and is recognized for his deep market expertise and industry connections. Prior to Powell & Aucello, Kevin held senior roles with Marriott International, Outrigger Resorts, and CBRE Hotels, building a collaborative approach and deep insight into Hawaii’s complex, supply-constrained hotel landscape.
What actually drives a Hawaii hotel's value? Broker Kevin Aucello points to scarcity. New hotels are nearly impossible to build, so cap rates run about 150 basis points below mainland primary markets, even after rising interest rates pushed them up. Kin Sio sits down with Kevin on The Lights On Podcast to talk through how owners should price, position, and time a sale.
Kevin has spent more than 30 years in Hawaii's hotel investment market, first as a broker at CBRE, then leading development for Marriott and Outrigger, before co-founding Powell & Aucello in 2020. That dual seat, owner side and brand side, shapes how he reads a deal. Higher interest rates have pushed going-in cap rates 100 to 150 basis points above the 2019 peak, when prime Waikiki assets traded near a five cap. But because almost no new supply can come online, demand for well-priced assets stays strong, and owners who price realistically still find serious buyers.
The conversation gets specific on where owners lose money. Chasing an unsolicited offer or running a quiet sale alone can stamp a property as "damaged goods" once it sits too long, and a broker's 3 to 5% fee is small next to that risk. On the brand side, Kevin describes one owner who left an estimated $5 to $8 million in key money on the table by negotiating a franchise deal without help. He also explains why soft brands have become a practical middle path for boutique hotels, and what the Ko Olina land deal signals about appetite for major new development in Hawaii.
One theme repeats throughout: get professional help. Whether it is revenue management, distribution, or the sale itself, Kevin's view is that the right expert moves the top line and the exit price by more than the fee ever costs.
This episode is sponsored by Lights On.
Lights On helps hotels grow revenue more consistently by managing pricing, distribution, and digital marketing together.
We help hotels identify new revenue opportunities, so they don't leave money on the table. We also manage the full revenue and marketing operation, enabling the on-the-ground team to focus on the guest experience.
If your hotel needs stronger revenue growth, visit lightson.co to learn more.
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Kin Sio: Welcome back to the Lights On Podcast. I'm Kin Sio, CEO of Lights On and your host today. On this podcast, we share stories from across hospitality about building and growing hotel businesses.
This episode is sponsored by Lights On. Lights On helps hotels grow revenue more consistently by managing pricing, distribution, and digital marketing together. We help hotels identify new revenue opportunities so they don't leave money on the table. We also run the full revenue and marketing operation so the team on the ground can stay focused on the guest experience. If your hotel needs more revenue growth, visit lightson.co to learn more.
Our guest today, Kevin Aucello, principal and co-founder of Powell & Aucello, a Honolulu-based hotel brokerage and advisory firm. Kevin spent over 30 years in the hotel investment market in Hawaii, first as a broker at CBRE, then as a VP of development at both Marriott and Outrigger, before co-founding Powell & Aucello in 2020. The firm advises hotel owners, lenders, and investors across Hawaii, Micronesia, and the South Pacific and has been involved in over $1.5 billion in hotel real estate projects. Kevin, welcome to the show.
Kevin Aucello: Thanks for having me, Kin.
[2:00]
Kin Sio: Super excited because this is a very interesting angle from all the other interviews that we've done in the past. You're the first brokerage and advisory firm coming on the show here. Before we get into the meat of the questions, how you and your partner got started will be interesting. You co-founded Powell & Aucello in 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. After decades of working for other people at big companies, what made the moment to start your own firm feel right at that time?
Kevin Aucello: Well, I enjoy telling the story about Tim and I meeting because we were competing. I was working for Marriott Development and Tim was working for Hilton Development, and we were competing on a property over on Kauai. It used to be the Courtyard in Kapaa, but now it's the Sheraton in Kapaa.
My boss at Marriott encouraged me to meet Tim. He said, "You should meet Tim. He's a great guy." And I was wondering, these guys are really friendly among their competitors. That is one of the nice things about the hotel industry — even among competitors, people are pretty nice to each other.
Long story short, I got to meet Tim. Over the years, we stayed in touch and we tried to do work together on things. Then finally in 2020, when Tim retired and moved to Hawaii, we sat down and said, "We should work together because our skill sets are very complementary." Tim's really strong on hotel operations, hotel construction, franchise agreements, management contracts. He's done thousands of franchise agreements at Hilton. And then I'm better on the valuation and financing and underwriting side, the finance and numbers side of the business. So we make a nice partnership because we have very little overlap in our skills. It's been a lot of fun to work with Tim.
I will add, though, that that property we were competing for did become a Courtyard by Marriott. So I never hesitate to tell anyone that story so that I can rub it in, of course.
Kin Sio: Got the upper hand on your partner.
Kevin Aucello: Exactly. I enjoy telling that. But we formed in 2020 and we've really enjoyed watching our business grow. We're starting to develop a good reputation in Hawaii as go-to people on the hotel investment market here. We take it very seriously. We do our homework. We try to know everything that's going on in the market, whether it's visitors coming to Hawaii or the financial markets — who owns, who's buying, who's looking to buy, and who's looking to sell in the Hawaii hotel investment market.
[5:00]
Kin Sio: And just me personally, I got to say, when it comes to anything on the ground — knowing the latest and greatest about the transaction landscape in Hawaii — Tim and Kevin are who we go to. Honestly, no one else is more informed, more in the scene at the forefront of everything happening on the ground. Good tip for everyone thinking about the market in general right now.
What did the first year in business look like? Because you got into starting the business together in an interesting time, during the pandemic. What was the activity like? Was it pretty quiet? Was there lots of activity going on? Were people calling all the time?
Kevin Aucello: It was an interesting time because we decided to partner up at the end of 2019, just as Tim had his plans to retire. And then obviously the pandemic hit and the islands got shut down. So our business plan of the same old market cruising along like 2019 — which was a very good year for the hotel industry — that all changed.
We were actually looking at a market where it looked like everyone would get foreclosed upon if the state didn't open, because the state was shut down for quite a long time. We were one of the more conservative states in terms of shutting down entry. So for a while, it looked like there was just going to be a bloodbath. We actually partnered up with some other folks and were offering receivership services and helping people through tough times.
But that changed very quickly too, because once the state reopened, we had a real big boom in travel and we got a real big push post-pandemic. So the market changed again and it was doing great — more so the neighbor islands than Oahu. We still see that to this day because we've really only received about half of our Japanese visitors coming back from prior to the pandemic. So Oahu hotels are struggling a little bit, but the neighbor island hotels have done well since the pandemic.
To answer your question, there were very few transactions at that time. But the good news was the state opened up and most of the hotels survived. So that part was good.
[8:00]
Kin Sio: That's interesting. So getting into that side of the world — especially you guys have touched on quite a few transactions on the island here. When you look at a Hawaii hotel today and you're trying to assess its investment value, whether from a buyer perspective or a seller perspective, what are the two or three things that actually move the valuation? And what do owners tend to overweight?
Kevin Aucello: That's an interesting question. Most owners, of course, overweight the value of their property because we all think our property is worth more than it is. And there are extreme cases where it's really hard to work with a client because they're completely unreasonable. But that's sort of just human nature to an extent.
One of the challenges we have in the market now is that the going-in cap rate on transactions is higher than it was a few years ago. That's mostly because interest rates have gone up, and with that, cap rates have gone up. So we're probably looking at 100 basis points, maybe 150 basis points above the peak.
I would say the peak was probably 2019 when properties in Waikiki would be somewhere at a five cap and could be lower if there's a story. You would even see three, four, or five cap deals in Waikiki and a little higher on the neighbor islands — another 100 basis points or so higher on the neighbor islands.
What's happened is that since interest rates went up and cap rates do float a bit with interest rates, especially because there's less arbitrage available through financing, owners' prices have had to come down. But we haven't had a lot of transactions since then, so there's not a lot of hard proof on where cap rates have settled for Hawaii hotels. That's a bit of a challenge.
[10:15]
Kin Sio: It's also due to the lack of enough transactions to really catch a more objective cap rate because everything is based off of comps. So that creates a gap. There's always that bias — people are probably still stuck with the previous four or five cap because that was the high point of the market, versus the reality right now where interest rates have gone up and lots of hotels are struggling with the top-line revenue. We've been running operations for hotels in Waikiki too, so that definitely creates a gap.
For the most part, especially investors coming from the mainland, I'm sure it's a different dynamic. They're probably going to have motivations based on what they see on the mainland, then having a conversation about what's happening in Hawaii. So there are quite a few disconnects throughout that communication circle. How do you facilitate telling potential investors what the best course of action is in terms of interpreting the current state of the market in Hawaii?
Kevin Aucello: That actually brings up an interesting point because you talk about mainland investors. Historically, I feel like Hawaii is about 150 basis points below the mainland in terms of cap rates. And I'm talking primary markets on the mainland, not tertiary markets where cap rates could be 10, 12% — but primary markets, we're still lower than most mainland markets.
The reason for that is that adding to supply here is extremely hard. If you buy a hotel in Hawaii, it's extremely unlikely someone's going to build a hotel across the street from you and compete with you. So first of all, getting new mainland investors comfortable with that is a big challenge. But once they learn and they see the way the market works — and it's consistent, it's not changing — that's going to stay that way for a while.
So if you want to play here, you have to go in a little more aggressive and then hope to make your money on your exit, because when you go to sell, there's still not going to be any new hotels built around your hotel.
[13:00]
Kin Sio: So flipping the table to the seller mindset — current hotel owners on the island, especially with the limited supply growth, which is more like a moat for the seller side. How does that scarcity shape the way that you would advise sellers on timing? People like to time the market one way or another. What would be your take when a seller comes to you and asks, "Hey, Kevin, is now a good time to sell?"
Kevin Aucello: Well, I think it is a good time to sell. Part of that's because there's a lot of demand still. A lot of our closest friends in the industry who keep tabs on Hawaii and want to buy things here haven't really had much to buy in the last few years. There have been very few properties offered to market and even fewer at reasonable prices. So if you're coming to market right now with a reasonably priced asset, there's going to be a lot of demand for it.
The other important thing is financing is getting easier to obtain lately. So if your deal makes sense, you'll definitely be able to get the financing you need. A combination of those makes it a good time.
Further, a lot of owners — probably because it's been a tough time to sell — have long exceeded their normal hold period. So hopefully we're going to benefit from some of those owners saying, "Okay, we've been in this seven years. We were only planning on being in it five years. Let's sell."
Kin Sio: And does that perspective hold the same for properties that are bigger versus smaller? A lot of the audience for this show is the more boutique and independent hotel owners that are smaller. Is that niche attracting the same level of interest? Because, as I understand it, private equity and institutional money investors are typically not as interested in smaller properties like that.
[15:15]
Kevin Aucello: Yeah. If you get down to eight rooms or so, then you're probably talking a mom-and-pop kind of thing. It's going to be someone who wants to have a hobby or someone who wants to add to a portfolio.
But then again, there are some entrepreneurial investors when you start getting into 20 rooms, 30, 40 rooms. There's going to be some mainland capital that's going to want to add that to a portfolio and oversee the management of that asset in Hawaii, even though it's only 20, 30, 40 rooms. So at that point you're going to get some interest from mainland buyers for those properties.
Kin Sio: So now thinking about hotel operators who are thinking about an exit — some people will think about owning the property forever, some will think about an exit at some point. To make that exit realistic, what are the things they have to prepare from an operating history standpoint? People sometimes don't get the price per key they expect. Obviously as a business, the operating history, the P&L — those matter a lot too. How should operators be thinking about this? From your perspective as a broker, looking from the outside, what are the things people tend to miss that you look at to gauge performance?
Kevin Aucello: One of the keys would be making sure you're doing good revenue management and that you're using channels appropriately. Because some small hotel owners — and I actually own a small hotel in Michigan, so I can speak to this — you hate to pay 18% to Expedia and Booking. You're like, "Damn, I just wish they'd go to my website."
But I know that you need those intermediaries, you need those OTAs, and you have to play with them and figure out how to best use and utilize them. Some small hotel owners completely avoid those OTAs, and usually that means they're running a pretty low occupancy. So they're missing out.
I will say, if I encounter something like that, we can at least help them when we sell their property — explain to buyers that there's real upside here if you effectively use OTAs. But having good revenue management, good marketing, a social media presence — those are important. And they don't cost that much money. They obviously also increase direct bookings. So spending time on that would be one of the first things I say to most folks: really look at your marketing and see how you're doing that.
[19:00]
Kin Sio: And aside from that, Kevin, when you mentioned that channel and distribution side — it's actually one thing we do a lot of education about with our clients, the more boutique hoteliers. We often come in with these questions as an agency. They'll be asking, "OTAs are eating our margins. We want to focus on direct." We usually tell them, yes, definitely direct — we want to help you increase that for sure. But the important point you just mentioned is having a healthy, diversified channel of distribution.
When the market was great the past few years, tourists tended to spend more time looking for the right experience. Now the market isn't as great, and OTAs are actually having a really great time on their business side, which means they still bring quite a bit of traffic and business to the hotel.
So having a diversified healthy mix of different channels so that you can pull the levers when the time calls for it is definitely a more resilient way of not just making revenue growth, but it's a defense play to make sure a property is healthy relative to the economy and the shifts of the market.
Kevin Aucello: Yeah, I think that's where you guys could definitely help some folks out. I know it firsthand from what I've done on the mainland. Revenue management — I didn't come up through the revenue management side of the business. You got to know what you're doing there. You need expert help, and you need to spend some money to get that expert help. It's not ridiculously expensive, but you do need to spend that money to get that help because that will really change your top line. And then of course, your bottom line.
Kin Sio: Sometimes people tend to think, "Oh, web direct — there's no cost associated with that." In reality, that's not the case. To your point, you have to spend — you don't have to spend extravagantly, but there's going to be some investment, whether you're hiring teams of people, experts, or building your website, running Google Ads, Facebook ads. Those are all costs associated with gaining web direct business.
What we find many times is hoteliers don't compare that cost side by side to the OTA commission. When you stack everything together and look at the cost of acquisition per channel, people are many times surprised — they're actually not paying that much less in terms of acquiring direct business.
For the most part, direct is still great because you own that relationship with the guest. Now you can target them with email and things like that. There's a lot of good in that. At the same time, don't overlook any channels. There's a need and use for anything that brings you business.
Kevin Aucello: No, I think we're in agreement on that. We encourage people to talk to guys like you that understand that.
[22:00]
Kin Sio: So aside from that, from a seller perspective, what are the other common mistakes when it comes to deciding whether it's time to sell? You mentioned earlier that people always tend to have a higher value — they think it's worth a lot more than what realistically the asset is going to be. Are there other mistakes like that?
Kevin Aucello: Oh, yeah. Probably the biggest mistake is for owners to take unsolicited offers and run with them. It hurts them in a couple of ways.
First, usually what happens is the owner has a higher-than-actual estimate of value. When they talk to people, if the asset's worth 40 million, they want 50. So someone will come along and offer them 50, but then pull out because the deal doesn't make sense at 50. And now a couple of things happen — and some of this is just human nature, so I'm not blasting anyone in particular, it's just what we do. Once I've got a $50 million offer, now I think my hotel is worth 50. The reality was they couldn't get financing because 50 was too high of a price. So now the owner has that expectation.
Then the other mistake they make is to continue talking to buyers one at a time, so word gets around that the hotel is on the market. We have a coconut wireless here that's pretty efficient. If someone's looking at a hotel, we're probably going to hear about it. If it goes on for a year or two, then you're going to think, "This guy's been trying to sell this hotel for two years by himself without any help, and it's never sold." So it immediately gets this damaged goods reputation. "There must be something wrong because the guy's been trying to sell it for two years and it never sold."
I would encourage owners to be strategic about that — talk to an advisor, find out what it's really worth, and then engage with the advisor to control that process. It can be a quiet process. That keeps confidentiality without the market and everyone hearing about it.
[25:00]
It's also a quicker process. It doesn't drag on over a long period of time, which is distracting for the owner, distracting for the employees. If you're thinking about selling, you should get an estimate of what it's worth. And then if you're going to do it, go for it with an advisor representing you on an exclusive basis — not trying to do it yourself to save the commission.
We talk about 18% commissions for Expedia, but brokers are only looking for about 3%. So it's a pretty small number — I should say 3 to 5%, depending on the size of the transaction. That would be my biggest advice. In my 30 years here, I've just seen people shooting themselves in the foot trying to do it themselves. I guess our running theme here is that you get professional help, whether it's revenue management, marketing, or selling your hotel.
Kin Sio: That's the importance of going to the experts and having the expertise. I think in general, across all asset classes, it's the same thing. People think you could be saving the commission, but the reality is, having a professional helping you, you are much more likely to sell at a higher value — which by itself pays the commission — versus setting aside hotel for a moment, even selling a single-family house. There are people who get agents versus the for-sale-by-owner sign, and those for-sale-by-owner listings tend to sit on the market for a long time. You get essentially the same phenomenon you described — everyone knows about you being on the market for so long. Not that there's anything wrong with your property, but people start thinking there must be something wrong, and that's why you're stuck on the market.
[27:10]
So buy and sell is obviously one big piece of what you guys do. I also know you do quite a bit of advisory — educating people on the current state of the market. You and your partner also have the brand experience, negotiating and looking at franchise and management agreements. These are all key moments for owning and operating a property. Owners sometimes constantly think about whether they should add a flag versus staying independent. From that regard, what are things that owners and operators don't know that they should have known when they get into those situations of brand or management agreement negotiation?
Kevin Aucello: I would say it's been interesting. A pretty good portion of our consulting practice has been in brand and management contract RFPs — helping people pick a brand and helping people pick a management company. Most often they're two different entities nowadays. There'll be a flag on the hotel and then a separate manager. On some very large hotels or luxury hotels, the brand will manage the hotel.
But we've found we can really add value here. We charge a flat fee. We're also willing, if anyone wants to, to do some kind of percentage deal if we get them a better deal.
The reality is that we know what all the brands are willing to do, how much key money they're willing to give an owner to put a brand on a property. That's huge. There's one example of a pretty large hotel here — we won't mention names — that didn't get any key money on a large deal. Our estimate was that was about $5 to $8 million that the brand didn't have to pay. I think the owner left that money on the table. It was sad to see from our perspective because we know how much the brands will do.
Some of the other major features of the contract are the length of the term, the rates you have to pay for franchise fees, and some ramp-up period on those fees. Those are the kinds of things we can help people with. And we usually find it's better — just like selling a hotel — to create a competitive environment. We usually want to talk to three or four brands and have them competing with each other to get the owner the best deal.
That's exciting for us because it's nice when we can get the owner a large key money check to help them with their renovations, help their capital situation, and get them a good deal with the brand. That's an exciting part of our business that we really encourage people to explore. That's another one — don't do that yourself. And don't just rely on a local attorney who's a good attorney. If they aren't really skilled in franchise contracts, you're going to miss out. In that case, give us a call.
[31:00]
Kin Sio: That is a million-dollar cheat code Kevin just shared. For anyone considering that, especially when brands do their sales and business development — they solicit hotels all the time. If you get interested and your hotel isn't necessarily doing its best without a brand, that's usually when those conversations happen. Just knowing that there could be six, seven, eight figures on the line when you use the right professional on your side — if you're going to sell your home with a broker, why wouldn't you do that for anything bigger, at the scale of a hotel property?
So if you are advising an independent owner who is considering adding a flag right now, what questions should owners be asking the brand that they almost never think to ask?
Kevin Aucello: The first one is the key money. Hopefully most owners know that — not all do — how much key money you can get, because that really can change the situation. The other big question is going to be how big of a PIP — a property improvement plan — is the brand going to require?
And then the keys from the brand side are how much of a contribution they can provide. Some of that depends on the hotel right now, assuming it's independent. You're going to want to see how much of the hotel's business comes directly through their website, and then how much they're relying on OTAs. If they've developed a great reputation and are getting a pretty high percentage of their business direct without having to pay intermediaries, then they're more likely to be a candidate to stay independent. But if you've got a hotel that hasn't established a strong reputation yet and needs more marketing oomph, that's the time you want to look hard at the brands to help you do that.
Kin Sio: Especially right now, I think soft brands are a thing that's been pushed a lot lately. You're not necessarily a Marriott or Hilton hard brand, but underneath they have the soft brands that try to retain certain unique aspects of independent hotels. What's your viewpoint on that push, and how should hotel owners and operators think about the differences, the pros and cons between a soft brand, staying independent, versus having a proper hard brand?
[34:00]
Kevin Aucello: Soft brands are great for boutique hotels, unique hotels, and existing hotels that are unflagged. If you're doing a ground-up development, it's easy to build it to a certain hard brand spec. If you're building a Courtyard, you just build a Courtyard. But if you've got an existing hotel and it doesn't fit a hard brand, that's when soft brands come in.
I remember when Marriott launched the Autograph Collection when I was there in 2007 — I was all excited because I had a bunch of properties in Hawaii to go chase with that Autograph. Subsequent to that, Marriott has probably rolled out four additional soft brands, and likewise so has Hilton, so has IHG. They've all rolled out a bunch of different soft brands. These brands just keep coming out. Every single hotel conference we go to, there's a new launch of a new brand.
It's been tough for people — even people in the industry — to keep track of what every new brand is. But what that does is allow someone like Marriott to come in and look at my hotel and say, "Okay, we can make this an XYZ soft brand." And as the owner, I'm like, "Great, I get to affiliate with Marriott but I don't have to completely change my hotel and I don't have to spend a fortune on a PIP." Then Marriott or Hilton or one of the big guys will put it in their system, they'll run it, and I get to keep my independent name on my hotel. It's a real win-win for the industry, and that's a big area of growth, especially among existing hotels.
Kin Sio: It just provides a lot more flexibility on both sides of the table. There's no one silver bullet that's the holy grail. More than anything, all these soft brand introductions create a more complex landscape of selections and options for negotiation and for hotel owners to choose from. Just another reason why having an expert on your side makes sense when it comes to navigating all of these options and figuring out what will be most optimal depending on the situation.
[37:15]
So actually, getting to the last segment of the show right now — and this is more from my own curiosity as well — you and Tim landed a really big deal for Hawaii last year. You guys represented the buyer on the Ko Olina land deal that kicks off plans for a $2 billion Atlantis resort. It is the largest proposed hotel project in Hawaii. What did putting such a huge deal like that together require to even get it going?
Kevin Aucello: We were fortunate in that Tim has had a long relationship with the principal at Kam Sang and known him many years. They're good friends. It was interesting — we got really lucky as brokers. The Ko Olina resort land, which was owned by China Oceanwide, a Chinese company that was in a challenged situation, had been put on the market and their brokers didn't, for some reason, contact Kam Sang.
They were trying to sell it, they had a buyer in, and that fell through. We bumped into Kam Sang at a hotel conference that we go to, told them about the opportunity, and they jumped in. Everyone was fortunate because Kam Sang is a luxury developer with an impeccable reputation. They own other really fine luxury properties in the western U.S., so it worked out well.
It was a very challenging transaction, but we've really enjoyed it. I've gotten to know the principals of Kam Sang and really enjoy working with them. They're really talented and it's good for Hawaii because they're going to be successful. They're going to create jobs, they're going to create some new luxury product in our market, which Hawaii really needs. Right now we're in a situation in the world where luxury travel is booming and Hawaii needs more luxury product to attract those travelers. Kam Sang is going to come along and do a great job of building some really nice properties at Ko Olina.
Kin Sio: And that parcel on the west side of Oahu in Ko Olina is one of the last few oceanfront entitled parcels. Going back to the limited supply theme — especially when you have a solid developer with a good reputation coming in with a high chance of success, it's not just one property. From a destination perspective, it definitely helps a lot for the whole industry as a whole.
Kevin Aucello: Oh yeah, it'll be a positive for Hawaii all around.
[40:40]
Kin Sio: So what does a deal of that scale tell you about the appetite for major new hotel development in Hawaii? Because we don't come across that often.
Kevin Aucello: It's tough. Luxury has been tough to make pencil for quite a while, which is probably why we see most of the new hotels built in the U.S. are more select-service, limited-service hotels. You have to be really good at what you're doing to make luxury work. Fortunately, Kam Sang is very good at what they do. But it can be challenging because the numbers are very big and you really have to nail it because the luxury market can be fickle. Those folks can choose where they want to go, and if you don't do it right, they'll go to some other luxury property. The good news is these guys are really good at what they do and they understand that market.
Kin Sio: It would be great maybe some point down the road to bring you back just to follow on the progress, because it's going to take some time but it's a super exciting project for the state, for the destination as a whole.
So the last question for you, Kevin, before we wrap up here. Going back to the theme of the conversation today — if we are now talking to a Hawaii hotel owner who has never thought seriously about an exit, they've never had a valuation done, they've never met with a broker, where does that conversation need to start? I have my opinion — I think people should always keep a tab on what their business is worth. But how does somebody even start having that conversation?
[42:40]
Kevin Aucello: Yeah, well, one, I would just say call us. If it's a hotel asset in Hawaii, we're the best guys to tell you what it's worth and then to identify opportunities for you. As we've talked about, there are probably some value-adds that, when we're representing you to sell your hotel, we're going to be able to identify — whether it's in management, revenue management, marketing, or positioning.
We can help out on those items to maximize the value. When we're selling that asset, we can convince investors — because we have the credibility with investors — that here's a bunch of great value-add strategies you can embark upon which will increase the value of this property.
So the first thing they should do is talk to us. Have us give them an opinion of value to let them know what we could sell it for, and then talk to them about what opportunities they need to work. Essentially, go through a SWOT analysis — what's good about your property, what are the weaknesses, what are the opportunities, what are the threats — go through that with owners so they fully understand and are realistic about their property. Because a lot of times when you own your own property, you don't have the same view as the general public or investors are looking for. We can help provide that.
Kin Sio: What do you wish those owners understood about the process before going into that initial conversation, especially if this might be the first time selling?
Kevin Aucello: I think it's that we've spent many years working with investors and we know what investors want, but we've also spent many years in the hotel business where we've seen ways to run properties more efficiently, to position properties and to get your hotel performing better.
We're not just a broker that tells you we'll put it out on the market and get you $50 million for it. It's going to be a much deeper conversation. That's the thing we want them to appreciate — we take this really seriously, we've been at it a while, and it's our specialty. It's not a hobby for us, it's what we do all the time.
Kin Sio: That's what separates the pros from the enthusiasts. Real results and the track record to stand behind it.
I've enjoyed chatting with you today. Thanks very much for your time. Where can people learn more about you, Kevin?
Kevin Aucello: powellaucello.com — that's P-O-W-E-L-L-A-U-C-E-L-L-O dot com. That's the best way to find us. Our website gives a good understanding of what we do, and we'd love to hear from you.
Kin Sio: We'll make sure to put the website in the show notes. Thanks everyone. Thanks, Kevin.
Kevin Aucello: All right, thanks, Kin. Great talking to you.
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