Bob Olson, founder and CEO of Newport Beach’s R.D. Olson Development, said he’s on the hunt for new hotel opportunities after selling a trio of properties to locally based Dauntless Capital Partners.
“It’s an exciting time,” Olson told the Business Journal last week. “We’re very bullish on the industry.”
The leisure industry is a focus for the development company right now, as business travel remains sluggish, particularly in large metropolitan areas, he said.
“Leisure travel is out in force, like never before,” said Olson, who was named the Business Journal’s Businessperson of the Year in 2019 following the opening of the Lido House boutique hotel in Newport Beach, as well as the Marriott Irvine Spectrum.
“Big-box hotels in CBDs [Central Business Districts] will be slower to recover,” he said.
“It’s an unequal market. What matters most is the market and the product.”
Olson said none of his properties closed during the pandemic, though some operated with limited capacity. As travelers return, he said the biggest challenge these days is staffing up the hotels to meet the increased demand.
Along with a pair of hotels in the works at the revitalized Dana Point Harbor, he’s planning his first development in Arizona, at an 11-acre site along the river in Sedona. It’ll be a five-star, bungalow-style retreat for leisure travelers, he said. A brand hasn’t been announced yet.
Olson declined to discuss specific terms of his company’s three sales in 2021 to Dauntless, two of which set per-room records for their asset type when sold, according to industry sources.
The three sales, two in Maui and one in Pasadena, sold for a combined $290 million, sources tell the Business Journal.
While saying he got a “respectable price” from Dauntless, Olson noted that “it’ll prove to be a great investment for them.”
