Hotelie Hall of Fame Inductees
Game Changers – 2023
Steve’s professional life is defined as being the hotel valuation expert. His great contribution is to establish hotels as a financial asset that can be valued and understood in the context of other real estate investments. His support of Cornell and Cornell’s Hotel School has been unwavering since his graduation in 1967. At Cornell, Steve established a chaired professorship in “Hotel Finance and Real Estate”, participated in numerous speaking engagements in the classroom, taught extensive in the Hotel School’s executive programs and served on advisory committees, both at the Hotel School and at Cornell University.
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Jan deRoos ’78 occupied Cornell Hotel School’s HVS Chair from 2000 through his retirement in 2019. He offers the following thoughts as a tribute to Steve: “I first met Steve on one of his many trips to Cornell to teach in the Hotel School’s executive education programs. We instantly found a bond in our love for the minutiae of valuation and trying to “get it right”. I had the honor of working with Steve in the classroom and as a co-author.
In over three decades of working with Steve, I came to admire his great generosity. He grew his global platform by being generous and partnering with others. He was generous with his time and empowered others to be successful both within the firm and as “HVS alumni”, having worked for the firm at some point in their careers. I am the personal recipient of Steve’s generosity to Cornell, for that I am forever grateful. Steve is generous with his time, relentlessly traveling the world giving the “Hotel Valuation Seminar” to thousands of interested students.”
Rod Clough ’94, President of HVS Americas offers this tribute: “On behalf of all of us here at HVS, I congratulate Steve on this most deserving honor. Steve built an impressive foundation here at HVS that hundreds of us continue to build upon – for both our present team and for those that have moved on from the firm. Through many partnerships and alliances, he built a worldwide consulting organization where entrepreneurs could thrive. He hired brilliant minds to collectively build this extraordinary hospitality consulting organization and where they could all become industry’s valuation thought leadership. He then married this with an equity sharing structure where these minds would then stay. A culture that allowed both independent thought and collaborative thought to thrive was created; Steve ultimately created a very special place here, which continues to this day. His principles and brilliance still guide what and how we go about our work. Not surprisingly, alumni of HVS have risen to leadership positions throughout the industry, including most of the nation’s consulting firms, and they continue to reflect Steve’s foundational principles in their work.
Beyond HVS, Steve’s dedication to the hotel industry was far reaching. He spent countless hours teaching classes to industry professionals and students. Steve’s textbooks and articles are highly regarded in the industry and represent the gold standard in valuation and consulting. He was also a star in the courtroom, often serving as a sought-after expert in high profile cases. Steve’s involvement in industry committees, conference advisory boards, and speaking engagements was extensive. Looking back on Steve’s career and his contribution to the industry is just simply extraordinary. It is inspirational and we here at HVS are grateful for everything he did to make this a special practice area to work in.”
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Russell Kett is Chairman of the HVS London Office and has asked that we include the following:
STEVE RUSHMORE
By the time I first met Steve Rushmore ‘in the flesh’, as opposed to watching him from the audience making keynote presentations at hotel investment conferences, it was January 1995 and he was already considered a hotel valuation ‘guru’. At this time we found ourselves speaking at the same conference in Lisbon, Portugal, when I was working out my notice at Deloitte having been hired to join the London office of HVS which I did later that month.
What struck me most about Steve at that first meeting was how he chose to teach complex issues in a gloriously simplified way, something which I hope I have been able to copy in my own life – imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.
Steve had instilled an ethos within HVS from its inception which was partly my reason for joining in the first place but it has certainly been the reason for me staying for what is now nearly 30 years. That ethos was founded on the utmost integrity and a recognition that a successful consulting business relies on being client-driven on the one hand and people-focused on the other. Without having well-trained, enthusiastic and talented people to deliver the services, clients have no justification to commission the firm – and especially not to return time and time again as so many do.
Hiring the brightest and the best people available has long been a hallmark of Steve and HVS and, whilst many joiners have gone on to occupy senior positions within the firm, many of those who have left HVS have moved to senior positions within the hotel sector and gained significant reputations on the back of their HVS experience. Steve was quick to realise that having HVS on your resume was well-recognised by other employers and an outstanding cadre of alumni has been accumulated over the years, who are the cause of immense pride to their previous employers.
Steve also pioneered the recruitment and advancement of women and diversity more generally, along with encouraging both flexible working practices and rewarding associates in line with their performance and achievements, without the need for any external encouragement and well before most other entrepreneurs recognised the importance of these trends.
Finally, despite Steve’s achievement to be recognised as the guru of hotel valuation – and writing the book on the subject has done no harm to cement his reputation – Steve remains utterly modest in his demeanour, encouraging his colleagues around the world to develop their own reputations in this field, albeit whilst ‘riding on his coat tails’. I take immense pride in supporting Steve’s nomination for the Hotelie Hall of Fame and can only express surprise that it has taken so long for him to be so recognised.
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A summary of Steve’s accomplishments:
Steve Rushmore, MAI, CHA is the Founder of HVS- a global hotel consulting organization with more than 50 offices around the world. He has provided consultation services for more than 15,000 hotels during his 50-year career and specializes in complex issues involving hotel feasibility, valuation, and financing. He was one of the creators of the Microtel concept and was instrumental in its IPO. Steve is a partner in HEI Hospitality, LLC, a hotel investment fund.
As a leading authority and prolific author on the topic of hotel feasibility studies and appraisals, Steve has written all five textbooks and two seminars for the Appraisal Institute covering this subject. He has also authored three reference books on hotel investing and has published more than 300 articles. Steve developed Hotel Market Analysis & Valuation Software which is used by HVS and thousands of hotel consultants, owners, and lenders throughout the world. Steve is truly the Creator of the Hotel Valuation Methodology.
Steve lectures extensively on hotel trends and has taught hundreds of classes and seminars to more than 20,000 industry professionals. He is also a frequent lecturer at major hotel schools and universities around the world including Cornell, Glion, Hong Kong Polytechnic, EHL, Florida International University, IMHI, Michigan State, Penn State, Houston, NYU and the Harvard Business School.
Steve is the Chairman of the International Advisory Board at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and a Member of the International Advisory Board at EHL Hospitality Business School as well as a past trustee at the Culinary Institute of America. During his 50-year career, Steve has been on the Boards and provided guidance for many hotel schools including- Cornell, Michigan State, Penn State, NYU, University of Houston, Florida International University, and Johnson and Wales.
Link to Steve’s Home Page: Steve Rushmore- Creator of the Hotel Valuation Methodology
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Prepared September 12, 2023 by Jan deRoos ’78; many thanks to his colleagues for their tributes.
