By Anne-Lyse Wealth, Next Advisor
Davonne Reaves is not your typical 34-year-old.
Last year, Reaves and her former college roommate turned business partner, Jessica Myers, brokered a historic $8.3 million deal to acquire a Hilton hotel.
Through this deal, Reaves says they became the youngest Black women to co-own a hotel under a major hotel chain.
Investing in a hotel may seem like a faraway dream, and for most Black people, it’s an even bigger stretch. “Only 2% of hotel owners are African-Americans, and less than 1% are Black women,” said Reaves. But she is determined to change the narrative.
Reaves is a 14-year veteran of the hospitality industry, and in 2017 founded The Vonne Group, which provides coaching, courses, and advice about hotel investing, raising capital, and becoming a hotel owner. Reaves also sits on the board of her alma mater, Georgia State University’s Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality. But her path hasn’t been without challenges.
From Front Desk Agent to Hotel Owner
While attending college, Reaves worked as a front desk agent at a Hyatt hotel in Atlanta, which sparked her interest in hospitality. After graduating with a degree in sociology, she wanted to explore the corporate side of the business, but felt she lacked the financial skills that would make her a strong candidate for certain positions. Reaves accepted an unpaid internship to learn the skills she needed.
“That was my introduction to financial analysis, feasibility studies, and the investment side of hotels,” she said.
In 2017, after a few years in Boston and several positions with different organizations, Reaves took the biggest risk of her career and left the corporate world. “I’m continuously building other people’s brands, making other people wealthy,” she said, which led to a realization: “Why don’t I take that same initiative, drive, passion, hard work ethic and put it within my company?”
Reaves now lives in Atlanta and in 2019, she partnered with Jessica Myers to form the Epiq Collective, a real estate venture which pools community resources together to invest in commercial real estate deals. Through Epiq Collective, and in partnership with Nassau Investments, Reaves and Myers closed the deal to acquire a Home2 Suites by Hilton in El Reno, Oklahoma, in 2020.
Hotel Ownership as a Black Woman
At the Vonne Group, Reaves kickstarted the 221 initiative, her mission to create 221 Black hotel owners and investors in 2021. “I hope my story will inspire people to not only think big, but also think about hotel investing and ownership as a possibility,” she said.
Outside of buying a hotel, there are other ways to invest, like hotel real estate investments trusts (REITs), which allow investors to add hotels to their portfolio in a similar way they would add stocks or bonds. “I want more people to look at hotel investing as a way to diversify their retirement portfolio and build generational wealth,” she said.
According to the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD), Black people hold 1.5% of positions at the director level and above, with only 0.5% of those positions held by Black women.
Click here to read the full article on Next Advisor.
