Consulting | Feasibility | Design & Development Strategy

Hotel Santa Teresa, Development Consulting & Disposition Strategy

Rio de Janiero, Brazil

Hotel Santa Teresa owner François Delort commissioned Scott Mitchem to consult on several elements of his go-forward strategy: the feasibility of a potential expansion to event space and the addition of a small number new rooms, as well as a disposition strategy for the hotel and an additional parcel one block away, where he planned another boutique hotel at a lower level of service.

The hotel is a landmark in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, originally a coffee plantation and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was a true passion project, and Mr. Delort spent more than five years restoring the property. He had been operating it in earnest for roughly one year when he engaged Mr. Mitchem, at a time when both the World Cup and the Olympics loomed large on the Rio hotel market horizon. Details of the engagement are confidential, but Mr. Delort did execute the plan originally outlined in the assignment, selling the hotel after stabilizing the asset’s performance.

Today both properties are owned by Accor. Hotel Santa Teresa is managed under its M Gallery division, and the event space was never expanded. The second parcel was developed as Mama Shelter Rio, the limited-service boutique brand owned by the company.