With five nominees awaiting the opening of an envelope, Tonight Show host Jay Leno reached in and then read the words, “Michael and Steven Roberts.”
The Roberts brothers’ Roberts Hotels Group LLC is winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 national award in the Emerging Business Category.
Michael Roberts is co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the Roberts Companies, and Steven C. Roberts is the parent firm’s co-founder and president and also chief operating officer of Roberts Hotels Group.
“It really was just like The Oscars. Jay Leno was the host, and everything was so dramatic,” Steve Roberts said.
“We did not have a clue that we would win. It was amazing.”
The Roberts were recognized for expanding Roberts Hotels Group from a single hotel in 2003 – The Roberts Mayfair Hotel in Downtown St. Louis – to nearly a dozen properties in the Midwest and South in less than five years.
In what has been an outstanding year for acquisitions and recognition, Roberts Hotels also made its first appearance in the B.E. 100 at number 53, with reported sales of $78 million.
“It is our understanding that we are the first African Americans to win this recognition in this category, and it is especially pleasing because we represent the hospitality industry,” Steve Roberts said.
“It’s a trailblazing thing to be selected. We can’t find anyone who has ever won this award in the hospitality industry.”
Roberts added that he and his brother “are blown away” and are especially honored because they are among few major African-American hotel owners.
Ernst & Young noted the rapid growth of Roberts Hotels, which includes two new St. Louis properties.
The brothers bought the WS Hotel at 400 Washington Avenue downtown earlier this year for $5.8 million, and it is being converted into a Hotel Indigo. The Roberts also now own the former Best Western 120-room three-story property at the east end of Forest Park in the Central West End, which is under conversion to become a Hotel Indigo property, as well.
“St. Louis is ripe for the Indigo Hotel brand,” Michael Roberts said.
“It’s the hotel of the future – cool, hip and stylish,” he said when announcing the venture.
The new hotels will feature signature design elements including oversized lobby chairs, which create a personal work or dining space within the public areas of the hotel; guestrooms with plush bedding, hardwood-style flooring and spa-style showers; and a fitness studio with cardio equipment and free weights. The hotels will also offer high-speed internet access in all guestrooms and wireless in the hotel’s public areas, as well as meeting rooms for business functions or special events.
In late 2006, Roberts Hotels joined the Marriott system as owner and operator of the 146-room Courtyard Dallas Northwest Highway.
“The Roberts Hotel Group recognizes Marriott as a world-class hotelier, with a reservation system and points program known historically for driving business and value to their franchisees,” said Michael Roberts, who also serves as chairman of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD).
The association’s mission is to increase the number of African Americans in developing, managing, operating and owning hotel properties thereby creating jobs and wealth in the African American community.