Undergrad trying to break in to Hotels & Hospitality

Have you tried ownership groups? Go on CN Traveler or something, look up the top hotels in the metro near you, and see what companies actually own and/or operate them?

Hey, I currently work in hotels / hospitality, and honestly I fell into it by chance. Beyond the paths you mentioned, working for one of the major brands like Marriott or Hilton could give you great exposure, and a luxury brand in particular could be a cool experience. It's also worth knowing that most of the big operators (Aimbridge, Highgate, HHM, Remington, etc.) run annual hiring cycles, so keep an eye on their timelines. If you happen to be at Michigan State, there's a strong alumni network in the hotel space you should take advantage of. Either way, I'd network as much as you can with alums working in the industry. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

Hey, I currently work in hotels / hospitality, and honestly I fell into it by chance. Beyond the paths you mentioned, working for one of the major brands like Marriott or Hilton could give you great exposure, and a luxury brand in particular could be a cool experience. It's also worth knowing that most of the big operators (Aimbridge, Highgate, HHM, Remington, etc.) run annual hiring cycles, so keep an eye on their timelines. If you happen to be at Michigan State, there's a strong alumni network in the hotel space you should take advantage of. Either way, I'd network as much as you can with alums working in the industry. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

Feasibility and investment analysis with one of the major brands is a common starting place. Also look into larger owners, like Trinity Investments, that have on-cycle internship programs.

I was in an extremely similar situation, same background, etc. The best ways I found to break in so far have been chats with people in the Hospitality industry (Professors, not RE) and getting referrals through them to talk with people in Hospitality RE. There's also a surprising amount of smaller groups that do investing on a smaller scale and can sort of cold call or chat to see if there's a position available, but that work is usually all-encompassing and can work across all the different parts (AM, Acq, Operations, Syndications). 

I'd say from my personal anecdotes the 2 main paths into buy side is through REGAL/Real Estate M&A and also brokerage shops (JLL, Eastdil). It is very difficult to break straight into MF as a summer analyst (mostly taken by Nolan kids), and most prefer recruiting at the associate level with some prior experience in Hospitality. 

There's a lot of smaller shops as well that usually left from a top Hospitality team, but everyone within the industry is very well connected and don't underestimate the experience you might get at a smaller shop. 

I’m on the buy side at a hotel owner/operator and honestly wouldn’t overthink the first seat too much. 

Hotels is a pretty small world and IMO it’s also a tough asset class to break into without some understanding of hotel operations and the P&L. A lot of the roles you’ll see posted are looking for experienced analysts and/or specifically want hotel experience, so there’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem getting your first seat.

Depending on what year you are, I’d seriously consider using a summer to get actual hotel experience. Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, etc. all have internships where you can get exposure to different departments of the hotel. It may not look as sexy as a CRE internship on WSO, but understanding how a hotel actually operates is useful when you eventually get to the real estate side.

Cornell also has a massive presence in the hotel world, especially on the institutional side, and you’ll be competing with a lot of Hotelies who already have the alumni network + hotel-specific coursework/internships. I went to UH, so definitely did not have that network lol. I was fortunate to break into a Houston shop through my operating experience and connections I made along the way.

Also, look at franchised hotels near you and figure out who actually owns them. There are a ton of hotel owners/operators that aren't necessarily going to be the first names that come up when you're looking at the traditional CRE recruiting pipeline. Reach out to them directly.

If you can get directly onto a hotel IS/CM team at Eastdil/JLL/HWE/HREC/etc., obviously do that. But I wouldn’t turn down a solid generalist CRE experience just because it isn’t hotels. Get the underwriting reps, learn how deals actually get done, and recruit specifically for hotels FT.

I also wouldn’t overlook the ownership/management side. Especially with hotels, understanding the actual operating business can be pretty valuable on the real estate side. There are plenty of people in acquisitions/AM/IS who didn’t start in hotel brokerage.

Biggest thing IMO is networking directly with hotel teams. It’s a small enough space that reaching out to people actually works, especially if you can articulate why hotels specifically.

TLDR: Shoot for hotel-specific seats first, but I’d take a good CRE opportunity over holding out for the perfect hotel offer. Hotels can be tough to break into, so getting relevant reps + networking your way into a hotel seat is probably more important than having the perfect first job.