First Crowdfunded Hotel Sells Out

LOS ANGELES—RealtyMogul, a Beverly Hills-based commercial real estate crowdfunding platform, has completed a capital raise for the first crowdfunded hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs. In an earlier story, GlobeSt.com reported that RealtyMogul had added the hotel to its roaster of assets. Now, three months later, the investment opportunities have sold out. RealtyMogul partnered with hotel owener Kittridge Hotels and Resorts for the propejct.

In a general solicitation, RealtyMogul raised $1.5 million from 85 investors. Investment amounts ranged from $10,000 to $150,000. In total, the project received 120 million unique views from interested and prospective investors. “We received such high interest on this project,” Elizabeth Braman, CCIM, the chief production officer at RealtyMogul, tells GlobeSt.com. “I don't think in our wildest expectations we could have imagined 120 million unique views. It far exceeded our expectations and really shows the power of the general solicitation with the 506C. The visibility that crowdfunding has in the market right now coupled with the Hard Rock brand worked really nicely together.”

Although RealtyMogul didn't advertise the project, they did receive an amazing amount of press, with articles in nearly every major newspaper worldwide, and they had a very targeted marketing effort. “Palm Springs is now becoming a music destination location, and the fact that we dropped at Coachella was no accident,” says Braman. “It was all very much a part of the plan to reach a new and very progressive audience, which is really the point of crowdfunding.”

RealtyMogul assures that this won't be the company's last hotel or the last new venture. Although Braman couldn't give specifics due to SEC regulations, she says the company is planning to do “more hotels, more shopping centers, more self storage, more retail; just about everything.”