Hotel owner Davonne Reaves is no stranger to making history. With the acquisition of her first hotel in 2020, a Home2 Suites in El Reno, Oklahoma, Reaves and two former college classmates made history by becoming the youngest African American women co-owners of a major hotel property in the US.  She has since added to more hotels to her portfolio in Indiana, a Hampton Inn & Suites in Scottsburg and a Staybridge Suites in Indianapolis, bringing her total AUM (assets under management) to approximately $30 million.  But she’s not stopping there.  

In the spirit of lifting as she climbs, Reaves is setting out to make it easier for hotel operators to obtain equity capital for their next project. Her FINRA-registered crowdfunding platform Vesterr connects hotel entrepreneurs in need of funding with passive investors seeking opportunities within the hospitality sector.  

While a bevy of real estate crowdfunding platforms have emerged over the last decade, Vesterr is unique in its focus on hospitality assets. And unlike many of its counterparts, where investment minimums can well exceed $25k per investment, both accredited and un-accredited investors are welcome to participate on the platform, allowing smaller investors to make stand-alone investments as low as $5k. Reaves elaborated. “We have our first deal and we’re halfway through the raise and there are a lot of first-time hotel investors in there. Some didn’t originally think it was possible because investment minimums can be so high. But this gives retail investors a chance to get into the space.” 

For Reaves, accessibility had to be a cornerstone of the platform from inception, given the challenges so many emerging operators face breaking into the sector. For example, despite Reaves’ personal successes, the fact that less than 1% of hotel owners in the US today are African American women (according to NABHOOD, the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators, and Developers) illustrates how for certain groups the need for heightened visibility to varied capital sources is severe.  When asking what initially motivated her to start Vesterr Reaves said “I got my start in the industry working as a front desk agent and wanted to see more people like me in the hotel ownership and real estate ownership space. This platform reduces the barrier to entry for folks looking to break in.” 

It’s not lost on Reaves that the role of her platform goes beyond simply connecting dealmakers with capital. It also serves as a conduit for entire communities to leverage the power of group economics to build generational wealth. “Even though we make up one in five hotel employees nationwide, the idea of investing in a hotel deal still feels out of reach or un-familiar to many African Americans. I want to change that. To do so, we need to create a forum that familiarizes them with the sector while providing a robust, trustworthy platform that allows them pool capital.  

While Vesterr was founded with hospitality in mind, Reaves has every intention to expand into other commercial real estate property types. “Already, we are seeing investors on the platform expand their mindset around what they invest in. As their knowledge and balance sheet grows, we want to expand our offerings to grow alongside them.”