Lisa Kabot talks about what it takes to be a competitor in the hotel industry today.

Photographed by Doug Workmaster

Most people see hotels and think of swimming pools, big lobbies and fresh mints on the bedroom pillow. Lisa Kabot thinks of opportunity, value and rates of return. As Assistant Vice President of Acquisitions for the San Francisco office of Lowe Enterprises, a real estate company based in Los Angeles, Kabot seeks to buy hotels and resorts for her company's pension fund clients. These properties are then managed by Destination Hotels and Resorts, the hospitality subsidiary of Lowe Enterprises.

"Tons of faxes and packages come across my desk every day. I look at everything, balancing our interests with the opportunities that arise--looking for properties that fit our current portfolio," Kabot says. "Ever since we bought the Hotel Del Coronado in August of 1997, everyone has had a much higher expectation of us. Our competition is looking at us as a nationwide player for very high caliber assets, and that's the way we have thought of ourselves from the beginning."

As the bid process intensifies, Kabot says that pension funds--the source of much of Lowe's funding--present an increasingly challenging situation. "Pension funds are understandably cautious. They have an obligation as holders of people's pension fund dollars; most of the investing that they do is very risk free.

"Unfortunately, our clients sometimes have trouble reacting quickly. Some of them understand what the market demands in terms of response time, but they still have their process--generally they must get either staff approval or board approval or both. To a certain extent, we are at their mercy."

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