Valencia Group is a privately held corporation based in Houston that has five hotel properties in the United States and numerous projects under development.
History
Valencia Group was founded in the mid-1990s by Doyle A. Graham, Sr., who was the managing director of the Hotel Galvez in Galveston in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His son, Doyle A. Graham Jr., serves as President and CEO.
In 2001, Federal Realty Investment Trust leased a site to the firm to develop an independent hotel on the San Antonio River Walk. It received a 99-year lease on the space, and opened Hotel Valencia Riverwalk in 2003. The hotel was included in Condé Nast Traveler magazine’s list of the world’s Top 100 new hotels in May 2004. Its success led the group to open Hotel Valencia Santana Row in San Jose, California. In 2009 Hotel Sorella CityCentre was launched in Houston in the mixed-use urban CityCentre development. In 2013 Hotel Sorella Country Club Plaza was opened in Kansas City, MO and the Lone Star Court opened in Austin, TX.
The group took over management of the Lancaster Hotel in downtown Houston in 2005 but declined to renew the management commitment after their three-year management agreement expired. In 2016 the firm is co-developing three hotels with Midway Development in downtown Houston and College Station, Texas. The 222-room Hotel Alessandra is under construction at the intersection of Dallas and Fannin streets in the GreenStreet mixed-use development downtown. It is expected to open in early 2017. In College Station, home of Texas A&M University, Valencia is developing the 141-room Cavalry Court and the 162-room The George. Both properties are expected to open by the end of 2016.
Valencia Group is a well respected independent hotel developer, owner and operator of upper-upscale and luxury hotels, both for their own account and third parties. In 2015, all four of Valencia's urban hotels were rated by Condé Nast Traveler magazine's Readers' Choice Awards as the number one hotel in each of their markets. More than 128,000 travelers took part in the 28th annual Readers' Choice Awards survey, the most in its history. Hotel Sorella Country Club Plaza was ranked number one in Kansas City and number two in the Midwest (score of 92.186/100). Hotel Valencia Riverwalk was rated number one in San Antonio and number two in Texas (score of 92.907/100) and included as one of the top 25 hotels in the U.S. Hotel Sorella CityCentre was ranked number one in Houston and number five in Texas (score of 90.721/100). Valencia Santana Row was ranked number one in San Jose and number 11 in Northern California (score of 88.278/100). Smith Travel Research places Valencia Group in the Luxury Chain Scale.
In addition to Doyle A. Graham Jr, President and CEO, the principals at Valencia Group include Jeff Rawson - Managing Director; John Keeling - Executive Vice President; David Miller - Chief Financial Officer; and Roy Kretschmer - EVP Operations.