Highgate is internationally recognized as a dominant operator across diverse markets and asset types. They have arms in asset management, development, investor management, and technology that have helped grow them into one of the most successful hospitality companies in the world.  On this episode, Jake & Arash discuss: Key components to creating an amazing branded hotel, F&B strategies and why it’s such an important aspect of hospitality, Learnings from working with Barry Sternlicht Acquiring and scaling brands. Connect & Invest with Jake: Follow Jake on Twitter Take the Hospitality Investing Masterclass Learn How to Invest with DoveHill Links Highgate Arash on LinkedIn The Viceroy Hotel: Sugar Beach at St. Lucia Timestamps (00:02:38) How do you experience a hotel when you travel and what are you looking for? (00:05:29) How did you get started in this industry? (00:09:54) What about your journey has shaped how you are as a leader and how you build brands? (00:13:02) What are some key elements that separate Hospitality characters from Hospitality business folks? (00:15:16) How are you making sure employees are bought in? (00:19:20) How many hotels fall under your portfolio? (00:21:39) Where are you spending the majority of your time day to day? (00:23:57) Is there an optimal scale to justify implementing Business Intelligence technology? (00:27:24) What was most surprising to you when you joined High Gate? (00:29:12) Do you see branded hotels growing or shrinking? (00:33:20) Are you working on creating new brands? (00:42:45) F&B Strategies and amazing restaurant operators (00:53:54) What are some of the things you learned working with Barry Sternlicht? (00:57:31) What are some best practices for prioritizing your work? (01:00:46) How are you trying to grow the business? (01:04:01) Have you been looking at acquiring brands that your infrastructure is uniquely equipped to scale? (01:07:01) What mistakes do you see most often from operators and investors? (01:09:50) What are you seeing in the market forecast? (01:11:47) What is your favorite hotel?