Michael C. Mueller

Michael has been in the hospitality industry over 25 years and has led the acquisition and/or development of more than $20 billion of hospitality assets and has been directly involved with the creation and growth of several hospitality companies and brands, including; Starwood Hotels & Resorts, W Hotels & Resorts and NYLO Hotels. Michael’s vast experience with numerous lifestyle brands have made him one of the preeminent boutique hotel executives in North America.

Since 2015 Michael has been engaged in hospitality development, asset management and consulting via Archtower Capital, LLC a private company controlled by Michael and the initial sponsor of NYLO Hotels.

Michael was the visionary of NYLO Hotels, which he founded in 2004, and served as President and CEO until 2014 (New York, NY & Dallas, TX). Michael secured over $100M of equity and debt from Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch to launch the NYLO brand and develop the first three NYLO hotel properties in Las Colinas, TX; Plano, TX; and Warwick, RI. Michael led NYLO through the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the recession of 2008-2010. In 2010 he negotiated a recapitalization that allowed NYLO to not only survive, but prosper. Michael added three additional third party owned properties to the NYLO brand in Dallas, TX; New York, NY; and Nyack, NY.  Under Michael’s leadership, NYLO grew into one of the top boutique hotel companies in the United States with 6 hotel properties (3 owned, 5 operated, 1 franchised), $55M in revenues, $20M of EBITDA, over 200 employees and a brand RevPar penetration of 110%. Michael oversaw the sale of NYLO to an off-shore investor in December 2014.

Prior to founding NYLO Hotels, Michael spent 14 years with Starwood Capital Group and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Michael played an instrumental role in the formation and growth of Starwood Hotels into one of the world’s largest hotel companies as well as the creation and expansion of the innovative W Hotel brand.

From 2002 to 2004 (New York, NY), Michael served as Senior Vice President for Starwood, in charge of global development, acquisition and construction for W Hotels. His efforts more than doubled the size of W, mostly via new-build projects such as the W Montreal, W Dallas and W Fort Lauderdale. He also developed and launched the W Residences product.

From 1998 to 2002 (London, UK) Michael served as Senior Vice President of development for all of Starwood’s brands in Europe, Africa & the Middle East, and he executed more than 50 transactions on behalf of Starwood’s hotel brands (St. Regis, W, Westin, Sheraton, Luxury Collection & Four Points).

From 1996 to 1998 (Phoenix, AZ) Michael served as Vice President of development for Starwood Lodging Trust (then a REIT), which underwent an incredible expansion, from a few dozen hotels and no brands, to well over 100 hotels and several brands, fueling an increase in its stock price from $15 in 1996 to over $50 by 1998. Michael was responsible for the acquisition of dozens of these hotels, hotel companies and hotel brands, including Westin Hotels (1998: $1.6B), and ITT Sheraton (1998: $14.6B).

From 1992 to 1996 (Chicago, IL & Greenwich, CT) Michael was one of the original members of Starwood Capital Group’s acquisitions team. During this time, he acquired real estate assets, businesses and loans on behalf of Starwood Opportunity Fund I and IA ($52M), Starwood Opportunity Fund II ($102M) and Starwood Mezzanine Investors LP ($220M). Michael was also intimately involved with the Starwood & Goldman Sachs acquisition of Westin Hotel (1998: $537M)

Prior to Starwood, Michael worked for City National Bank (Los Angeles, CA) in asset-based lending. Michael was born in Alaska, raised in Michigan and earned a BBA degree from the Undergraduate Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.