JLL Hotels Appoints New CEO

John Strauss, Gilda Perez-Alvarado, Jeffrey Davis

JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group has appointed Gilda Perez-Alvarado as CEO of the company’s Americas Hotels & Hospitality Group. She will work closely with Global CEO of Hotels & Hospitality Mark Wynne Smith, to transition into her leadership responsibilities. 

Perez-Alvarado will be in charge of leading JLL’s Americas hospitality real estate services, which will include investment sales, strategic advisory, debt and equity placement and asset management. She will also maintain leadership of the Global Hotel Desk, an international team focused on facilitating cross-border transactions, as well as continuing her global advisory work for JLL’s Capital Markets. 

“The current environment requires us to be nimble and provide speed to market to maximize certainty of execution for our clients,” Perez-Alvarado told Commercial Property Executive. “This leadership appointment draws from my global role and my domestic experience, allowing us to fully integrate the largest investment market in the world with the most comprehensive global investor coverage. We will have the ability to implement best market practices that we see anywhere in the world into any local situation in real time.”

Perez-Alvarado brings 16 years of hotel experience to the new role, 14 of those spent with JLL in Madrid, Miami, London and New York. Before this role, she served as managing director, where she was responsible for the full-service global investment sales and managed high-profile transactions. 

Additional appointments

The company also promoted Senior Managing Directors Jeffrey Davis and John Strauss to co-lead Americas Hotel Capital Markets, working with Perez-Alvarado in executing the firm’s business strategy. They will be responsible for overseeing investment sales and debt and equity placement across the Americas. Davis brings more than 25 years of experience to the role, where he will lead full-service investment sales in the Mid-Atlantic region and oversee the national Hotel Investment Banking platform. Strauss also brings more than 25 years of experience to the role, where he will lead full-service investment sales in the West, including Hawaii. 

“The growing competitiveness and complexity across the hotel investment and advisory landscape made it the right time for these changes,” said Arthur Adler, chairman, Americas, Hotels & Hospitality, in a prepared statement. “We are committed to remaining the leading hotel investment advisory business in the Americas. I have the utmost confidence in Gilda, Jeff and John’s ability to continue to drive the business forward, to deliver exceptional results and to exceed our clients’ expectations.”

JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group has completed more than $71 billion in transactions over the last five years worldwide. Last April, the firm arranged the sale of the Westin Atlanta Airport, working on behalf of Thayer Lodging Group. The facility was acquired by Columbia Sussex.

Image courtesy of JLL