Market-leading Hotel Investment Sales Team Joins CBRE

ATLANTA—CBRE announced today that industry veteran Robert J. Webster and his leading hotel investment sales team have joined CBRE Hotels, based in Atlanta.

Mr. Webster will serve as vice chairman of CBRE Hotels and president of CBRE Hotels’ Institutional Group. He will work closely with Kevin Mallory, global head of CBRE Hotels, and CBRE Capital Markets leadership to further penetrate institutional segments of the lodging sector throughout the Americas.

Tim Southard will serve as executive vice president at CBRE Hotels; John Harper as senior vice president; and James Savier as vice president. The team, who join from JLL, will serve clients in full-service and luxury hotel investment sales and financing.

“Bob and his team are the country’s leading hotel investment brokers, executing the most notable transactions in our sector year after year,” said Mr. Mallory. “Bob will work closely with me and members of our team to refine, evolve and further elevate our efforts in the institutional segment of the market with a specific focus on large resort and full-service transactions.”

Mr. Webster’s hotel career spans more than 40 years, from working as a management trainee at the Plaza Hotel, to director of real estate for Ritz-Carlton Hotels, to 30 years of hotel brokerage for Hodges Ward Elliott, and most recently JLL. He has sold well over $20 billion of hotels and resorts, including the Montage Beverly Hills, Mandarin Oriental Boston, Waldorf Astoria Chicago, Montage Laguna Beach, and Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Mr. Webster is recognized as one of the country’s leading hotel brokers and is the only multiple winner of the Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor of the Year Award, given to the top hotel investment advisor in the lodging industry.

“CBRE has a truly global footprint, and the depth of the company’s hotel platform, including unrivaled hotel research and advisory services, adds tremendous value for our clients,” said Mr. Webster.

Mr. Southard has partnered with Mr. Webster since 2000, representing clients in the sale and financing of more than 250 hotels totaling nearly $20 billion. He also previously worked for Hodges Ward Elliott and JLL, and he was a pension fund consultant for LCG Associates.

Mr. Harper has been involved in the sale of over $7 billion of hotels and resorts, including 20-plus transactions exceeding $100 million. With an undergraduate degree in business, a master’s degree in real estate, and a law degree followed by practicing commercial real estate law, Mr. Harper specializes in understanding and explaining complicated hotel assets.

Mr. Savier has contributed to the sale of more than 20,000 hotel rooms, totaling over $5 billion. His specialties include financial underwriting, valuations, marketing, due diligence and property logistics. He has previously worked as a consultant at Deloitte, where his focus was financial modeling.