A very intensive week of asset management

By Marion Neveu, MBA in Hospitality Management, France, 2013-2015 2nd Year

Last week, the 2^nd year and 1-year track IMHI students had an intensive week of Asset

Management with Professor Daniel Lebret, a former IMHI student with a PhD in Finance from Cornell.

The Hotel Asset Management week happened during the IMHI break, but nothing looked like holidays, except the location of the project we had to work on: Santa Monica, CA. Intensive? Yes, 5 days, 25 hours of class, and about 40 hours on the project!

During these five days, we have been overwhelmed with new information: market research, excel models, finance, a step back in Corporate Finance and Quantitative Methods classes from last year and a little more finance! Despite a lack of sleep starting from Day 2, the motivation was here! Daniel knew how to arouse our curiosity and keep our level of concentration high. As he said, at the end of Day 2 class, “fried brains”!

The Santa Monica project focused on providing recommendations to a real estate investment fund, on whether or not to bid for an investment opportunity. 

We had to value the existing property and then calculate its exit value after the modifications due to our recommendations. Some students decided to create an hospital or a hotel. In my group, we decided to create a mix-use property with a service hotel, condominiums and townhouses.

The Asset Management class was exhausting but the amount of learning that took place was incredible.

On behalf of all the students, I would like to thank Daniel for sharing his knowledge and passion. We would all have loved the course to last longer! He is one of the inspiring professors we have the chance to meet at IMHI.