The Summit Group: One Step at a Time
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Written by Meghan Flynn   
Monday, 01 June 2009
The Summit Group: One Step at a Time
An old-fashioned work ethic and attention to detail have helped this hotel investment company succeed.




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According to Dan Hansen, president of the Summit Group, in order to understand this Sioux Falls, SD-based hotel investment company one needs to understand its founder, Kerry Boekelheide.

“Boekelheide was a Midwestern farm boy who grew up to be a pilot, and brought his old fashioned work ethic and detail oriented nature to the hospitality industry with great success,” Hansen said. “Our company would not be where it is today without his example.”

The Summit Group: One Step at a Time
Kerry Boekelheide, founder
Hansen explained that Boekelheide founded Summit after leaving his position as a corporate taxi pilot for Super 8 to buy a hotel with his wife. From the beginning, Boekelheide and his team preferred to keep as many operations inhouse as possible, taking to heart the adage if you want something done right, do it yourself. That makes Summit unique among hotel investment firms as it also operates each of the 63 hotels across 19 states that it owns.

Boekelheide, Hansen, and the firm’s COO Craig Aniszewski must all approve every deal Summit engages in and are personally in touch with the company’s franchise partners and network of brokers across the country. The three are also involved in most hiring decisions, bringing in new corporate team members who share the same core beliefs in hard work, honesty, and integrity.

The Summit Group: One Step at a Time
Dan Hansen, president
Hansen said he joined the company in 2003 with the goal of raising capital through private investments to fuel future acquisitions. He joked that he’s been slowly working himself out of a job with Summit, as he is currently planning the company’s strategy to continue to acquire and improve properties to liquidate at the peak of the next cycle.

“We’ve never tried to rocket to infinity and beyond and we aren’t the highest bidder for top tier, urban markets,” Hansen said. “This company has always been about hard work, and little successes have allowed our team to grow into something special.”

Keep it simple
That strategy has paid off. The company manages hotels across a wide swath of the country from the Northwest through the Rocky Mountains and down into Texas and the Gulf States. In the last 12 months, the company has refurbished or renovated half a dozen hotels and plan to complete at least another 10 in the next year.

The Summit Group: One Step at a Time
Craig Aniszewski, COO
Hansen said Summit has been preparing for the current industry slowdown since June and that, while the severity of the recession bodes for a longer recovery time than he and his team predicted, the company is still in a good position to acquire the highly leveraged properties that are hurting the most right now.

“Buying and running hotels is math to us: we purchase unprofitable properties in the markets we can make the most money in and implement conservative capital structures that are proven to be effective,” said Hansen, who added that the biggest part of his and Boekelheide’s job is to review every market the company is looking at as frequently as possible to keep on top of trends in the area and demand generators.

Hansen said Summit is by no means a “field of dreams” developer. Summit uses a specific formula and set of criteria before making a purchase, which includes proven locations and more than one demand generator for each location instead of relying on a single industry.

Additionally, Summit relies on its good people and great service to keep guests coming back. To that end, the company offers bonus programs and retirements plans that are among the best in the industry, assigns only eight hotels to each regional manager, and invests in training for all employees whenever possible.

“The hospitality industry is a hard one to work in, but it’s not overly complicated: we rent rooms, clean them, and rent them again,” Hansen said. “The difference for us is our people, who know that they matter to the company and are a part of its success.”

He conceded that the current economic climate has reduced the number of deals Summit would ordinarily be engaged in, but said the company’s strategy hasn’t changed. He described it as vacuuming nickels: the company keeps track of even the most minor expenses that ultimately add up. His example was saving just one dollar per rented room per year. With a million and a half rooms, that adds up to a large chuck of change, especially in a tough market.

“Since our founder was a pilot, as you might expect we have checklists for our checklists, but we also never punish someone for making a mistake. It’s impossible to be successful without a slip up now again, but everyone knows not to make the same mistake twice,” Hansen said.
 
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