Hotel Development Advisory

What we do

Most developers who take on a hotel are building one for the first time, or the first time in this market. The asset class has its own logic. The operator you choose shapes the design, the brand shapes the capital stack, and decisions made in the first six months are expensive to reverse. Getting the sequence right is most of the job.

We work alongside the owner from the earliest conversation, when the question is still whether a hotel belongs on the site at all, through concept, brand and operator strategy, operator selection and agreement negotiation, and on into design, technical services and pre-opening. We sit on the owner’s side of the table throughout. Our role is to make sure the project is set up to be financeable, operable and worth owning, not just buildable.

What makes this practical rather than theoretical is where it comes from: formal training at École hôtelière de Lausanne, years in five-star hotel operations, and most of the past two decades in hotel development on the ground in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. We know how a hotel actually runs, which is what lets us tell an owner what a brand’s technical standards will cost them before the operator does. Brand sustainability standards now sit alongside technical standards, and they carry design and cost consequences the owner should see early.

Who it’s for

• Real estate developers adding a hotel to a mixed-use project, or entering hospitality for the first time
• Owners and investors with a site, a capital partner or an existing asset, and no hotel-specific point person
• Family offices, funds and REITs that want an independent owner’s-side view before committing to a brand or operator
• Operators, brands and design firms looking for a development-side partner who understands both sides

How we work

1. Concept and feasibility: is a hotel the right use, what type, at what scale, for which guest and which capital
2. Brand and operator strategy: managed, franchised, leased or independent, and which brands fit the site and the investment thesis
3. Operator selection: shortlist, expressions of interest, commercial terms, memorandum of understanding
4. Agreement negotiation: management or franchise agreement, technical services agreement, pre-opening agreement, owner’s protections
5. Design and technical services: assembling the right architects, interior designers and specialist consultants, and managing the brand’s design and technical review
6. Delivery and pre-opening: keeping the owner’s interests visible through construction, FF&E, pre-opening budgets and handover to operations

Not every engagement runs the whole sequence. Many start at step three, when an owner already has a project and needs an operator.

What you get

• A clear recommendation on hotel type, positioning and operating model, backed by market and financial logic
• A structured operator selection with competing proposals, not a single introduction
• Negotiated agreements with the owner’s position protected on fees, term, performance tests, key money and territory
• The right design and consultant team, engaged at the right stage, with access to ROAM for luxury interior design where appropriate
• One experienced person on the owner’s side who has done this before and speaks both developer and hotelier