Leadership, artificial intelligence are key for growing commercial talent in hotel industry, experts say
Nothing will determine the success or failure of commercial strategy teams at hotels more than their ability to foster and retain talent, said Horwath HTL Managing Director Dorothy Dowling.
Speaking about the HSMAI Foundation's 2025 State of Hotel Commercial Talent Report she authored, which focuses on the revenue, sales and marketing disciplines, Dowling noted there are some "frightening" trends.
"On a macro level, we're at the lowest level of employee engagement that we've ever had in our history," she said on the latest episode of the CoStar News Hotels podcast. "And a lot of it is trust. It's that employees don't necessarily trust their employer, and they don't necessarily trust their first-line leaders. ... It is the leader's responsibility to bridge some of that trust and to invest in relationship engagement, but we have to re-earn a lot of that trust from employees."
She said this is as important of a challenge for hotel companies as anything, and a big part of that will be finding ways to connect with the best employees.
"We do have to meet them where they're at because they come with a different mindset," she said. "We do have to understand that talent is a key differentiator in success, and they are a market to be cultivated. The real winners are those that are going to win talent, grow talent and retain talent."
In all, the report outlines nine trends hoteliers should keep top of mind about talent and labor:
- The role of artificial intelligence in managing or improving the workforce.
- Investment in skill development.
- Managing across multiple generations.
- Leadership's role in defining culture.
- The importance of mental well-being.
- The balance of hybrid work models.
- Flexibility with gig work and fractional staffing.
- Improving employee engagement.
- Growing cross-functional work across commercial disciplines.
Brian Hicks, president and CEO of HSMAI, said the hotel industry could soon be in much better footing when it comes to training opportunities, as artificial intelligence will be a key tool in employee development.
"I think AI is going to provide an even greater platform for faster [training] as they go through education," he said. "I think it's going to land a lot better, and they're going to have a resource that they can fall back on should they need to for a refresher."
For more from the interview with Hicks and Dowling, listen to the podcast interview embedded above. You can find the full report here.
Highgate taps Azarbarzin to grow Viceroy
NEW YORK – Highgate sees an opportunity to significantly grow its only brand, Viceroy Hotels & Resort, which is actually owned separately by a handful of the company principals. In the middle of 2025, when Highgate named Pete Sams as president to run operations, conversations started that made it clear Highgate CEO since 2021 Arash Azarbarzin had the skills and desire to steer the Viceroy growth opportunity. He was named CEO of Viceroy Hotels & Resorts on Tuesday.
Highgate stated that Azarbarzin’s leadership will be pivotal as Viceroy expands its international footprint, refreshes its visual branding and digital platforms, and revamps food, beverage, and wellness initiatives to reinforce the brand’s ethos.
The lifestyle brand currently has hotels and residences in Algarve, Portugal, Los Cabos, Mexico, Snowmass, Colorado, and St. Lucia, West Indies, as well as hotels in Riviera Maya, Mexico, Kopaonik, Serbia, Santa Monica, California, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
Viceroy’s latest expansion includes a sales and marketing affiliation agreement with African Bush Camps for three luxury safari lodges across Zambia and Botswana.
In the U.S., a Viceroy Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, is slated to open in Summer 2026. In addition, Viceroy said it is expanding to Mexico’s Playa del Carmen and Puerto Vallarta, Waikiki Beach, Puerto Rico, New York City, and the Hudson Valley of New York.
Highgate Principal Richard Russo told Hotel Investment Today that while they only manage the properties in the portfolio today, the plan is to become the biggest owner of the brand and they should be announcing deals in the next few months.
“We’re going to buy incredible real estate, from great city hotels to interesting resorts and some small little gems, as well,” Russo said.
Russo said since they bought the brand about two and a half years ago, it has reconstructed the business in a way where it will be the only owner minded and one that generates premium returns
“With Viceroy, we’ve been able to power it with Highgate and give it the distribution, scale and resource of a bigger company, but kind of maintain the nimbleness of a smaller company,” he said. “We don’t want to roll it under the mothership because you’re going to lose that authenticity and the ability to create new and interesting products. So, we thought it critical to have have somebody to really lead that business who has experience in it. And no better person than Arash.”
And Azarbarzin knows the segment intimately from his prior roles as CEO of the 1 Hotels, Baccarat, and Treehouse brands, as well as his experience as president and co-founder of SLS Hotels.
Russo added that Azarbarzin will also continue to serve as a principal of Highgate. In that capacity, he remains actively involved in advancing the company’s global growth initiatives, supporting key strategic ownership groups, and contributing to the ongoing development and oversight of several of their most important luxury and lifestyle assets.
Already at Highgate, Azarbarzin has helped grow the company’s luxury and lifestyle platform, overseeing design, programming, and execution. With the launch of TableOne, Highgate’s F&B division, and Scene and Heard, its in-house marketing and creative studio, Azarbarzin helped to steer the unification of culinary, storytelling, and experiential strategy under one roof.
“This transition reflects Highgate’s disciplined approach to aligning leadership with opportunity and ensuring we maximize the value we deliver to our partners and stakeholders,” Russo added.
Azarbarzin has already strengthened the brand’s executive bench with a series of strategic new hires to guide its next phase of growth and transformation. It has named Patrick Pahlke as chief commercial officer; Shel Buhler as vice president of Food & Beverage; David Solis, vice president of Global Luxury and Leisure Sales; and Megan Mulholland as senior vice president of Brand Marketing & Wellness.
“I am honored to take on this role and build upon Viceroy’s legacy as the premier luxury lifestyle brand,” Azarbarzin said in a statement. “Looking ahead, my focus will be on expanding Viceroy’s global footprint and setting new benchmarks for immersive hospitality, and ensuring every Viceroy destination creates lasting memories for our guests.”
Editor’s note: This is part two of a conversation with Equinox Hotels CEO Christopher Norton. In part one, Norton discussed the shifting landscape in luxury, driving rate and the brand’s pipeline.
NEW YORK CITY — Christopher Norton says any brand executive would do well to spend a few years working for a developer, which will help them better understand the language.
“It's very different if you're an independent brand that is owned by the brand, versus having an owner of the brand that also is a builder and investor,” he said. “The language is very different.”
Norton said he has had that kind of education working with The Related Companies, the majority owner of the Equinox Group, which runs a fitness empire, including Equinox, SoulCycle, Blink Fitness, in addition to Equinox Hotels. The relationship started when Norton was named CEO of the company in 2016.
“As a builder and owner, they force you, as an operator, to think like a developer,” he said.
Norton said the language of a developer and really diving into concepts like profitability per square foot or revenue per square foot can force a brand to think differently about a hotel space.
“Can you make the kitchen smaller? Do you really need that much space? Does the corridor in the back of the ballroom really have to be 12 feet wide?” he said. “Can we be efficient in a way that doesn't affect the guest experience? Do our brand standards really make sense?”
Norton said having exposure to that different perspective can be extremely helpful, especially when changes like COVID forced hotel owners to look at everything in a dramatically different way.
Differentiating in luxury
When asked whether the path forward for Equinox is through management rather than franchising, Norton was resolute.
“Management, for the moment. The model is what we call management contracts,” he said. “It's very difficult to be in luxury and then franchise that out. It’s not impossible, but it’s very difficult.
Noble adds 35 Sonesta extended-stays
ATLANTA – Noble Investment Group has acquired a 35-asset portfolio of Sonesta Simply Suites totaling more than 4,000 rooms, significantly advancing the firm's branded long-term accommodations platform.
Located across 19 states and 25 markets, the hotels are concentrated in high-growth Sunbelt and corporate-demand corridors. The portfolio will convert from a brand-managed structure to a franchised model and Noble said the acquisition is immediately accretive, supported by strong in-place occupancy, stable cash flow, and an attractive basis relative to replacement cost.
“These fundamentals present a structural opportunity for Noble - to acquire at compelling yields, unlock performance through operational alpha, and deliver stable distributions while compounding long-term growth,” said Ben Brunt, chief investment officer of Noble. “This portfolio directly advances that strategy and adds meaningful scale to our platform.”
Over the past year, Noble has deployed capital into more than 100 assets across 62 markets nationwide. The platform is purposefully concentrated in locations with durable demand visibility, institutional liquidity, and operational upside—markets where Noble’s disciplined investment and operating approach drives strong, repeatable cash flow and long-term value creation for investors.
Noble was advised in connection with the transaction by Seyfarth Shaw’s hospitality group.
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