October 5, 2018 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – Patrick H. Ford, Chairman, CEO, and Founder of Lodging Econometrics (LE) and New England Hotel Realty (NEHR) of Portsmouth, NH, has received the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award for the hospitality industry, which was presented at The Arizona Biltmore on September 25, 2018. The Lodging Conference’s founder and producer, Harry Javer and hospitality veteran Michael A. Leven, chairman and CEO of Georgia Aquarium, presented the award to Ford. Nearly two thousand industry members were in attendance at this year's conference.
The prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has provided outstanding, life-long contributions to the hospitality industry. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Pat Ford began his career with the Dunfey Hotel Company, the predecessor to the Omni Hotel Company, where he spent 20 years in a variety of operational and executive roles. He then created and developed New England Hotel Realty as the largest, full-service hotel brokerage firm in the Northeast. In 1995, at the urging of a number of hotel companies and Wall Street Investment Firms, he founded Lodging Econometrics (LE) to compile lodging development and transaction data for the U.S.
Within two years, LE replicated their development research programs in every country of the world. Shortly thereafter, LE positioned away from solely being a data provider towards being a lodging sales and marketing specialty firm providing a variety of customized new hotel construction and supply side databases, and trend line and forecast reports that assist franchise development teams, investor groups and vendors to grow their business within the lodging industry. In 2017, Lodging Econometrics was honored by the Peter Paul School of Business at the University of New Hampshire as the most outstanding family business in New Hampshire.
In Ford’s acceptance speech he said, “My career has been chuck-a-block full of opportunities and blessings. Like any lifelong journey it's required hard work and an ongoing dedication to personal growth. But those are the requirements of any successful journey. I’ve lived a charmed life! It’s been a great ride! The industry is in my blood and it will continue to stimulate my interest until the end.”
