Excellent Company with Growth Potential
Pros
Aimbridge is the global leader in 3rd party management companies for a reason - they know what they are doing. Their systems and processes are highly "dialed-in" and they are constantly on the leading edge of technology. In my experience, all of my VP's allowed a significant amount of autonomy in the day-to-day of my property, rarely showing up for unnecessary visits and the owners were very high-level, only showing up 1-2 times per year for budget reviews or renovation check-in's. This "hands-off" approach allowed our team to flourish and the hotel to become one of the top in the market / brand. Even the revenue management teams encouraged us GM's to be active participants in setting the pricing and learning the systems to be effective revenue managers for our hotels. I was allowed to build my own team and manage salaries to my liking in order to remain competitive with the market so that employee retention remained high (through due diligence of market research and compiling a business case, of course). I was also allowed, and often encouraged, to come up with my own systems and processes, invest in high levels of community marketing / participation, create my own back-of-house communication boards, and even budget and plan exorbitant holiday parties. Over the 6 years that I worked for Aimbridge, I was always treated with respect; situations were always handled with empathy and benevolence and treated as true coaching sessions versus simply being 'barked' orders. In the end, I had - and still do have - many of the VP's and other high-level folks at the company looking for a new 'home' for me, as my ending with the company was not ideal and not due to any performance issues with the hotel or myself. The people that I worked with at the company were always very encouraging and looking to develop their own people. And, as a large-scale company with properties of every vertical across many markets, the development opportunities are vast.
Cons
As you're reading this review and researching Aimbridge, it is important to remember that they are a 3rd-party management company - meaning Aimbridge staffs and manages hotels for independent owners. Each owner will be different and not all will be as "hands-off" as mine was, so one's experience from hotel to hotel may differ despite all being managed by Aimbridge Hospitality. Some owners are more hands-on; some are large ownership groups that do things their own way and may not utilize the Aimbridge systems in place; some owners may not have any hotel experience but want to be involved in hotel operations, which creates conflicts for the GM's and teams. That said, it should be noted that my review is on the management company, NOT the ownerships or hotels themselves. My time with Aimbridge came to an abrupt end because, despite my hotel's top performance and market-leading results & profit, our owners felt they could maximize monthly distributions (payments from the hotel) by switching to a 'cheaper' management company. Unfortunately, this change resulted in a change of hotel leadership as well (common when hotels transition). That said, because Aimbridge is the largest management company in the industry, that means they are also one of the most expensive for owners. While those expenses are justified (high-tech systems, fully-staff regional support including in-house revenue management, industry-leading national vendor partnerships, etc.), there are still several owners dropping Aimbridge due to rising costs in the industry. Mine was one of several hotels transitioning out of the system at the end of last year. Some questions you'll want to ask your interviewer / owner: How long is left in the hotel management agreement? Are they happy with Aimbridge as an operator and with their current financial agreement? Are there any major renovations or PIP items that require ownership investment in the near future? These will help you determine if you'll end up in the same position as me within the next few years. And of course, be ready for a lot of reports and paperwork - to be expected with a company operating on this caliber.
