The team behind the new company includes former COO of Washington, DC-based MeriStar Hospitality Corporation's MeriStar Hotels & Resorts David E. McCaslin, former HEI Hotels CEO Gary Mendell, one-time HEI executive vice president of acquisitions Stephen Mendell, and HVS international president Stephen Rushmore.

Speaking to GlobeSt.com, McCaslin explains the motivation behind putting together this company just months after the hospitality industry -- crippled by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- took one of its hardest hits ever. "We knew real estate opportunities post-9/11 would be more dramatic than they originally would have been," McCaslin says. McCaslin helped start MeriStar Hotels & Resorts in 1998 and says he and Gary Mendell, who helped form HEI in 1985, had a similar read on the current cycle. "We believe this cycle will have some things in common with other cycles, and some things that will be different," he says. "By our own admission, we're ahead of the curve, but we just want to be out early. There's an advantage to being out first." And their plan is a grand one. "We're looking at the whole country; the only place we're not really focused on is Hawaii," he notes. "Between us, we've either operated in, or looked at development deals in virtually every market. We're not desirous of being a regional player." Smilezzzz will serve as a manager of hotels HEI Hospitality acquires, and will make its own acquisitions as an independent operator, as well.