Hospitality Is Not An Asset Class
By Isaac French
If you are in hospitality, you need to read this.
If you are investing in or building hospitality assets, you need to read this.
If you are in a totally different kind of business, chances are you still need to read this.
Ready? Hospitality is not an asset class; it’s an action, a way of being!
Here’s the deal: investors and venture capitalists are throwing heaps of cash at building the flashiest brand, most stunning architecture, wildest experiences, most powerful operating tech, and on and on…
While all these can certainly enhance a hospitality venture, they are not what make the magic happen. And they can become a tragic distraction.
“You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world … But it requires people to make the dream a reality.” —Walt Disney
Hospitality is a manner of existence. It’s a deep-seated, soul-driven urge to serve and delight someone else. This is the secrete sauce of the guest experience. And guess what? It’s all but impossible to scale (at least rapidly).
This is why so many brands struggle and fail. I hate to say it, but history proves me right.
People aren’t just at the core of the business — they are the business. This isn’t a real estate or tech business. This is a people business.
And herein lies the golden opportunity for you and me:
Hospitality is all about how you make people feel…and you don’t need a 5-star, 4:1 staff / guest ratio to deliver magic.
You need to care deeply about guests.
Every. Single. One.
You need to care more about the guest than anything else: press, investors, follower count, direct bookings rate, brand positioning, etc…
There’s one major exception here: employees. Take care of your employees and they will take care of your guests. But that really reinforces my point about hospitality: it must apply to guests AND employees. And if you do care about both, you will be unstoppable.
Go ahead: invest heavily in great design, branding, amenities and setting, but don’t forget the goal in all of this: the guest experience. And within the guest experience, making people feel cared for and special is the lifeblood, the guiding light, the North Star of everything you do.
This is true hospitality.
Understand this fully. Commit to it. Don’t lose sight of it. And you’re not just in the game — you own it.