Walter Isenberg: Sage hotelier recaptures old buildings' magic.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Attitude at Altitude - Sage Hospitality Resources and its owner profiled - Company Profile

BACK IN OCTOBER WALTER ISENBERG ZACK NEUMEYER were invited back to their alma mater, to speak as part of Cornell University's distinguished lecture series.

Isenberg told 350 students from Cornell's hotel-administration school, where he studied 22 years earlier, "Don't just focus on the destination, but focus on the journey. If you focus on the journey and you're passionate about what you do, and you do it with integrity, you'll be successful." Isenberg and Neumeyer have enjoyed quite a journey since founding Sage Hospitality Resources in 1984. Starting out managing distressed hotel properties, the Denver-based company today owns and operates 90 hotels in 33 states, ranging from large, urban, full-service hotels, to smaller, limited-service suburban properties.

The company, which has 3,000 employees nationwide, is part-owner and manager of the downtown Oxford Hotel, Denver's oldest grand hotel, built in 1891 at the zenith of Colorado's silver boom. The Oxford was Sages first equity stake in a hotel, which it helped "recapitalize" in 1990 and owns today along with Dana Crawford and Charles Calloway.

The company also has renovated and opened four historic, urban buildings that were previously something other than hotels: Denver's downtown Courtyard by Marriott, formerly a Joslin's department store; San Diego's downtown Courtyard by Marriott, formerly the San Diego Savings & Trust Bank building; Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel, in the former Fulton building; and Residence Inn by Marriott, formerly Gimbels/Marshall Fields department store in Milwaukee.

"We're primarily a Marriott franchisee, so we own and operate Marriott Hotels," Isenberg says. "We pay them a licensing fee to use their name and reservation system."

Isenberg, Sage's...