John Wijtenburg on Transforming a $100M Resort and the CRE Growth Operating System

In this episode, Brad chats with John Wijtenburg, founder of LXK Group, an expert in commercial real estate operations and systems, who helps investors and operators scale their portfolios while maintaining their core values. John shares his journey from an economist at Fannie Mae and an apartment broker to a successful hotel operator and asset manager, and discusses his framework for growth in the CRE space.

🔑 Key Topics Covered:

• John's career path: from institutional roles to building an eight-hotel extended stay portfolio and now consulting on luxury and boutique properties.

• The persistence of the same operational challenges in portfolios ranging from $5 million to $1 billion.

• How John built systems to scale businesses beyond the "three to five property bottleneck".

• The importance of vision and execution in the $100 million Fort Lauderdale resort renovation.

• Why hospitality is an "operating business with a real estate component," requiring constant renovation due to nightly leasing and wear and tear.

• Creative value-add strategies, including blowing out a light well and converting a roof into a skylight to enhance the guest experience.

• The concept of a "generational hold" and how it fundamentally changes how risk and investment decisions are underwritten.

• Why full-service hotels take longer to stabilize (around four years) compared to limited-service properties.

• Lessons from a struggling deal: accepting a loss to avoid "sunk cost bias" and the power of over-communicating with LPs.

• The "home run" deal that became a "machine for printing talent" by developing a strong internal system and culture.

• The "boring brilliance" of having a process for creating and improving processes.

• Introducing the Commercial Real Estate Growth Operating System (CRE Growth Operating System), designed to help operators move past their personal bottleneck. 

• Engaging frontline talent: The key isn't just benefits, but aligning daily actions with a clear purpose and vision.

💬 Memorable Quotes:

• "I've discovered that the same problems persist across different asset classes, across different portfolio sizes, whether it's $5 million, $50 million, a billion-dollar portfolio." — John Wijtenburg

• "I always describe it [hotel business] as an operating business with a real estate component, whereas others are a real estate business with an operating component." — John Wijtenburg

• "You can't have this sunk cost bias that's going to just destroy your future and eat up all the opportunity you have ahead of you..." — John Wijtenburg

• "When you set up your communication infrastructure the right way, you end up building more trust from a bad deal than you do from a good deal." — John Wijtenburg

• "It's like boring brilliance to be able to just like build a good process for optimizing processes." — John Wijtenburg

🔗 Connect with John Wijtenburg:

• 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnwijtenburg

• 🌐 Website: https://lxkgroup.com

🎙️ Connect with Host Brad Weaver:

• 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradweaver