Third-gen Indy hotelier on industry ups and downs, $43.5M Ball State project

Based in Indianapolis, the Schahet family has been managing and developing hotels since the 1960s. The family firm Schahet Hotels currently has nine properties in its portfolio, mostly in central Indiana, with a 10th hotel under construction in Muncie and an 11th in the final planning stages. There’s still room in the lodging industry for mom-and-pop hoteliers—although in this case it was father and son—who can amass significant holdings in particular niches and geographic areas. Family operators like the Schahets are an integral part of the Indy area’s hospitality fabric.

It is NOT an industry for the meek. Ask Greg Schahet, a third-generation Schahet hotelier who joined the family firm a few months before 9/11 and has since helped the company navigate the Great Recession, the pandemic and the current economic crunch from inflation and interest rates. As president and chief financial officer, he’s guiding development of the downtown Muncie project called The Cantio, a $43.5 million boutique-style hotel that represents a departure for the firm.

In this week’s edition of the podcast, Greg Schahet shares financial war stories from moments in the last three decades when it seemed like the industry had turned upside-down. He also talks strategy, including explaining why Schahet has such a high concentration of hotels near Indianapolis International Airport and why it went outside its comfort zone with the high-profile Cantio.