“From start to finish, Chris and the METIS team did a tremendous job guiding me through the process of selling my business. Their expertise and creativity was invaluable as we worked through numerous obstacles in getting this deal across the finish line.

I couldn’t have been better represented and would highly recommend Chris and METIS to any hotel management company looking to explore a sale or merger.”

 

-Doug Nealeigh, Owner of Vacation Villages of America, Inc, Client

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“My team and I were very impressed in our dealings with Chris and the METIS team. Throughout all of the twists and turns, Chris and his team  kept the deal on track with their expertise and professionalism. We are thrilled with this acquisition. I would highly recommend METIS to anyone looking to explore a sale of their hospitality business.”

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-Brett Wilkerson, CEO of COHO Services, Buyer

CLIENT

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Vacation Villages of America, Inc (VVA) is a successful hotel, resort, and condominium management company with a 50-year track record of providing exceptional guest experiences among premiere destinations throughout the Pacific Northwest. VVA currently manages over 500 rooms at various properties along the Oregon coast, including its flagship property, the Tolovana Inn in Cannon Beach, OR. Owner Doug Nealeigh worked for the company since 1982 and purchased the company in 2004. Doug developed an excellent team and was ready to explore retirement and sell the company. Given METIS’ expertise in advising privately held companies in the hospitality industry, Doug hired METIS to explore such a sale.

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CHALLENGE

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VVA is unique in the hotel management space in that it specialized in managing properties that are owned and managed by an HOA and have successful nightly rental programs. Thus, it was key to find a buyer that had the expertise and resources to manage a robust hotel program, while also having experience in dealing with the nuances of a board managed HOA. It was also imperative for METIS to work with Doug to ensure the hotel management agreements were renegotiated to be both assignable and in force over a longer duration, ensuring both a more probable and a higher exit value. This entire process needed to be done discretely and confidentially, to ensure the continuity of VVA’s management contracts would stay in place and retain the current management, staffing, and guest loyalty teams in the very competitive Oregon Coast visitor marketplace.

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PROCESS

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METIS began with a thorough evaluation of VVA’s business and its hotel management agreements. This evaluation helped determine a probable market valuation, as well as recommended changes to modernize its current management agreements to make VVA more marketable to potential buyers. During this process, the METIS team outlined various exit scenarios based upon financial modeling of the business, and unpacked how deals would likely be arranged, given the unique nature of his business. This ensured Doug was aware before VVA went to market what he should anticipate in terms of exit valuation and deal structures.

 

METIS then approached a targeted subset of its buyer pool deliberately and discretely, including only those that had the experience and track-record in managing similar hotel assets. All qualified interested parties signed NDAs before VVA’s identity was revealed to ensure the sales process remained confidential. While there were multiple interested parties, COHO Services quickly became the most appealing potential buyer to Doug. COHO Services had an impressive portfolio of management agreements in place, including the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver, while also having excellent experience managing properties and hospitality companies owned by HOAs and a Board of Directors. METIS and Doug met several times with the COHO leadership team and became confident its company culture would mesh well with VVA. Once the LOI was negotiated and signed, and due diligence commenced, METIS ran point on every aspect of diligence.  Given the importance of the value of the contracts and the unique decision-making structure of HOAs, METIS helped obtain HOA approvals and assignments of management agreements.  METIS further refined the deal structure, creating further future upside for the Seller based upon the Buyer’s future success with the properties.

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OUTCOME

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The new owners are thrilled with the acquisition and the Client is excited that VVA’s 50 year legacy has seamlessly been incorporated into the COHO family of services.