In early 2006, Gencom formed Gengate Europe with its frequent joint-venture partners Whitehall Real-Estate Fund and Highgate Holdings, based in London, to purchase a portfolio of four-star hotels in Europe. The joint venture brings together over 20 years hotel-capital market experience of the partners in the US, and an aggressive asset management and project management approach. Gengate Europe, together with its capital partners, is quickly establishing a portfolio of high quality hotel assets in sought after Western European markets. Gengate has since added two more assets to its European portfolio and continues to pursue additional opportunities.
The portfolio currently consists of 6 Marriott branded hotels representing 1,933 hotel rooms in Paris, Amsterdam and Dusseldorf. Gengate Europe is overseeing a targeted €40m investment program which will further enhance the assets' strong growth prospects. The European hotel market is characterized by high barrier to entry cities that are currently experiencing, and are projected to continue to experience, growth in revenues and occupancies. These positive influences are causing cap-rate compression that is increasing the value of properties.