A small, relatively unknown company has been quietly taking over struggling hotels across the country in recent months, hoping to build an empire from the rubble of the pandemic.
LuxUrban Hotels Inc. has snapped up more than 1,000 rooms this year alone, signing long-term leases with hotel owners grateful for a reliable stream of income in trying times.
But the Miami-based company, eager to capitalize on market distress, has serious questions of its own to address, including dozens of customers waiting months for promised refunds, employees suing for unpaid wages, a CEO who has been fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and an executive team with little hotel experience.
The company spent the first four years of its existence as short-term rental provider CorpHousing Group, changing its name to LuxUrban Hotels earlier this month. The collapse of its short-term rental business when the pandemic hit has left financial scars that still haven’t healed.
But LuxUrban executives say its legal and operational troubles have been resolved and that its new business model is sound. Real estate experts likened LuxUrban’s strategy to that…
