Founding Team
Founded in 2010, SMS Lodging’s mission is to effectively deploy capital within the hotel industry by securing underperforming assets and bringing them to profitability. Having doubled in size every year over the last five years, we continue to look for new opportunities within a range of properties, from full-service boutiques to limited-service hotels, in order to produce optimal returns for our partners.
Our proven, hands-on approach ensures maximized profitability and efficiency. Our core expertise is recognizing ideal opportunities within the following types of properties:
- Hotels with absentee owners
- Underperforming hotel assets
- Properties with owners where hotel management is outside their core competency
- Hotels for sale where cash flow optimization results in a higher sales price
Jesper Arnoldsson, CEO
Prior to founding SMS Lodging, Jesper served as the Director of Entertainment / Revenue Management of the Venetian Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. He received his Master’s in Business Administration in International Hospitality Management from the Cornell University ESSEC Graduate School of Management.
Jesper has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality field having worked in the hotel, resort, cruise, and casino sectors in six countries on three continents. His experience includes working with such companies as OMNI Hotels, Meridien Hotels, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Best Western, Club Med North America, and HVS International.
Jesper also served as a speaker at the National Conference of the International Ticketing Association (panel: Dynamic Pricing, Yield Management, Internet Revolution) and the Ticket Summit Conference (panel: Build a Bundle – Tour & Travel Package Providers).
Gustaf Arnoldsson, CFO
Gustaf Arnoldsson graduated from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. with a Bachelor in International Business in 1996. After graduating, Gustaf spent three years at Champion International Corporation as an International Accounts Manager before joining Dresdner Bank’s Private Banking group for a 2-year stint as Country Manager for Ecuador in 2000.
Later, he joined Gator Investments, as Director of Maintenance. At Gator, a real estate company specializing in the ownership, development, management, and leasing of income-producing properties with over 118 properties consisting of 8 million square feet in 22 states; Gustaf was involved in all facets of commercial real estate from purchasing, leasing, managing, and financing a portfolio of more than 20 properties, totaling over 1.5 million square feet in 12 states.
In 2002, Gustaf started North Shore Holdings L.L.C., and since then, he has generated more than 40 commercial real estate transactions totaling more than $100 million and currently owns 32 commercial properties in South Florida.
Olle Arnoldsson, VP Facility Manager
Olle, an engineer by profession, has +45 years of international experience in the construction and development industry. His experience includes working with property developments in Europe, Middle East, and USA. Having developed +4,000,000 sq. ft. of commercial, industrial, and residential properties, he brings the necessary knowledge and experience to manage SMS’s existing portfolio and new acquisitions.
During his extensive career in Property Development, he has served as an Executive Director for publicly traded companies such as Nordic Land Limited AB, Bygg-Fast Portugal SA, and as Managing Director at Village de Marques in France.