LOS ANGELES—PKF-HR is adopting the CBREHotels name officially in February of this year. The twocompanies merged more than a year ago, and have been slowlyintegrating their company cultures and branding. AtALIS this year, the PKF-HR announced that it wouldtake the parent company's name, but that its storied culture—thecompany is more than 100 years old—would carry over to the newfirm.

The merger creates a true one-stop-shop for hotel clients toreceive both consulting and solutions to their problems, accordingto Mark Woodworth, senior managing director atPKF-HR. The company can now offer clients steadfast advice and aservice to carry out the solution, which they weren't able to dobefore. "This was a very thoughtful process," Woodworth tellsGlobeSt.com. "There was a view that this should have happenedearlier. CBRE is a terrific well-known brand, but they alsorealized that we were dealing with a 100-year well-known legacy.Tremendous energy has gone into every facet of the brandconversion." Scott Biethan, senior managingdirector of CBRE Hotels echoes the sentiment, tells GlobeSt.com,"We have to make sure that whatever we do, we are preserving theculture of the people that we bring in, because it is veryvaluable. It took us a long to discern the best way to incorporateboth brands."

In the newly rebranded companies, which will operate under CBREHotels, CBRE is most excited to incorporate PKF's establishedresearch platform into the CBRE Hotels platform. "PKF is the goldstandard in hotels, and bringing the two groups together has been areally great event for us all," says Biethan. "We came together asa company a year-and-a-half ago and have taken that time to discernthe right way to have our team present in the marketplace. It isreally a rebrand and refresh. CBRE Hotels globally is reallystrong, and has really strong consulting, debt and brokerage. Withthe interdiction of PKF and their skillset with theirprofessionals, we took our consulting and valuation to a whole newlevel. Having PKF has made it that much easier to provideservices."