It’s a new day at Richfield Hospitality, one of the industry’s oldest and most-respected management companies. The Denver-based group, which works with nearly 500 hotels and offers revenue and channel management and GDS connectivity though its Sceptre Hospitality Resources sister, recently hired industry veteran Greg Mount as its new president. Mount, whose background includes tours of duty with Marriott, Starwood and Interstate Hotels, most recently was vice president of acquisitions for Sage Hospitality, another Colorado-based management and ownership firm.

We chatted with Mount a couple of months following his appointment, giving him time to devise his strategy to bring Richfield back to what he calls its days of “grandeur.” He recently bolstered the company’s leadership with the hiring of two veteran hotel industry executives: Bill Linehan as chief marketing officer and Angela Landgraf as senior vice president of development and management services.

How did you find the company when you arrived, and what is the state of the company now?
The company has a 40-year history with an excellent operating platform and a great infrastructure. When you add  Sceptre, which is part of the company that does revenue and channel and interactive management for 465 hotels, the company is really in good shape.

One of the reasons I was brought on board and what interested me in the opportunity is to bring back the grandeur Richfield had for so long. It has the foundation to do some fantastic things; it just didn’t have the leadership in place to monetize those opportunities.

What are your major initiatives for 2010?
Since I hit the ground in late November, we’ve been working to put together strategic relationships with some strong partners to provide us with access to capital to take advantage of what we believe will be the many opportunities available over the next 12, 24 or possibly 36 months.

Secondly, we’ll use the resources of our parent company, City Developments Limited of Singapore, which is real estate conglomerate with a nearly $7-billion market cap. One of the reasons they brought me on board is to get active in the acquisition of U.S. bricks and mortar and specifically hotels

How plentiful are the opportunities for a company like Richfield?
There are some good opportunities but not necessarily at the levels as many people believe. The challenge is that many of the opportunities will be well-publicized and everyone will be  vying for them. Our job is to find those opportunities that are off-market. We’re focusing on getting to them before they get to the broker stage.

What about the management side of the business?
We have an excellent operating platform so we’ll continue to focus on third-party management. We have good access to capital, either for working capital loans or equity investments or other things necessary to succeed in third-party management. In the meantime we’ll have excellent and nimble capital partners, along with ourselves, actively pursing acquisitions.

What are the advantages to an owner selecting a large management company?
One of the differences is having the resources and reach we do. Recently, we were looking at the revenue management strategy of a self-operated property. The hotel’s plan was to go after more occupancy by lowering rates. What no one ever figured out was at the end of the year they’re cleaning more rooms for a million dollars less in total revenues. That’s a great example of a myopic approach from a general manager or a small management company versus someone like us that has the resources and reach and abilities to correctly interpret market conditions.

How do you approach the management of a property in financial distress?
We become a partner with them, which may involve deferring management fees to some future capital event or providing working capital dollars, perhaps to complete a PIP to keep the franchise in place. In times like this in particular, it makes sense to form longer-term partnerships. We’ll continue to invest in a number of ways with our partners to help them; at the same time, we’ve got to be as good managers when the tide is receding as when it is rising. We’ve got to be nimble and creative and that comes from our human capital.

What are the keys to success at a property level?
One of the things I learned as a VP of operations is if I surround myself with good people I can deliver on the bottom line. Where it gets a little fractured is at the top line. That’s really where companies like us need to focus to be more creative and more nimble. If we can get the dollars in the door, we’re pretty good at bringing them down to the bottom line.

Where will Richfield be in five years?
In its heyday, this was a company that operated well over 100 hotels. One of the initiatives our parent has asked for is to look at mergers and acquisitions. We’re in negotiations with a couple of companies to acquire them. Through acquisitions we look on the horizon at 50 to 100 hotels in the next three years.

How did you get into the hotel business?
I was going to school for commercial and structural design in the early 1980s when interest rates were sky-high. I was working in a full-service hotel while I was in school as a line cook and as an assistant bar manager. There weren’t a lot of opportunities for me so I went to work with Marriott and spent 10 years with them. I got so enamored with the business I never looked back.

Who were your mentors?
One very key mentor who I worked with at Interstate and at Starwood Hotels was Ted Darnall. He gave me my first GM assignment when I was at Interstate Hotels and through the years he’s provided me with some excellent advice and mentoring.

When will the hotel business improve?
Our sense is we probably won’t see recovery until 2011. This will be more of a stabilizing year for us, and we’ll see some improvement in ’11 and then be much stronger in ’12.