In the latest episode of the NAREIT Podcast, Marcel Verbaas, president and CEO of Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: XHR), discussed the REIT's IPO this month.
Verbaas offered some insight into Xenia's business strategy. The company focuses on top 25 lodging markets and major leisure destinations. Xenia's properties consist of premium, full-service hotels; lifestyle hotels; and urban upscale hotels.
"We feel that strategy really affords us an opportunity to find the right type of acquisition and do the right type of investment in the right type of market," he said.
Xenia spun off from Inland American Real Estate Trust, Inc. Doing so gave the firm an opportunity to establish itself independently and focus on the lodging sector, according to Verbaas. That inclues a board of directors that concentrates exclusively on the lodging REIT.
"It's really the culmination of a strategy that we have had for the last few years," Verbaas said. "We are very pleased that we were able to go through this process and be able to set this company up in a way where we think we have a very strong foundation and a very strong strategy at this time."
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