How a Pilot Bought a $10M Hotel With Zero Hotel Experience | Curt Marker E66
The Hotel Investor Playbook
2026 Goals: Charity, Development, ADUs
Captain Kurt outlines his 2026 priorities: charity fundraising, land purchases, industrial projects, and a new ADU development.
Think you need hotel operations experience to invest in boutique hotels? That belief may be the only thing standing between you and building serious commercial real estate wealth.
In this episode, you'll discover how a Gulfstream pilot raised $1.5 million and became co-GP on a 130-room boutique hotel in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains - without managing a single employee or making a single bed.
A private jet captain who flies billionaires by day reveals his exact framework for partnering on commercial deals, vetting operators, and bringing value to the table through capital raising and deal analysis - not daily operations. When a USDA loan delay tested the partnership and threatened investor confidence, his communication strategy and the GP team's quick action turned a challenge into a case study on how strong partnerships weather any storm.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- How to add massive value as a hotel investor without operations experience (the skills that actually matter)
- Why 80% of Curt's $1.5M came from his existing network (not Instagram followers) and how to leverage yours
- The critical questions to ask operating partners before co-signing on a major hotel acquisition
- Why booking 3,000 additional room nights and raising ADR from $85 to $129 proves the value-add model works
- The monthly communication framework that kept 100% of investors confident during an 8-month loan delay
- How GPs can inject capital at 10% interest to avoid diluting investor shares during unexpected shortfalls
If you're ready to stop letting "lack of operations experience" keep you out of hotel investing, this episode shows you exactly how to raise capital, structure partnerships, and protect investor relationships, even when deals don't go according to plan. This is proof that you can build commercial real estate wealth without being the operator
About Captain Curt
Curt Marker is a 15-year veteran pilot and the CEO of Captain Capital, a commercial real estate firm specializing in developing high-demand assets such as small-bay industrial flex space and boutique hotels. As a third-generation aviator and active private jet captain for billionaires, Curt translates elite "cockpit discipline," safety checklists, and high-level service into rigorous risk management for his real estate projects. He is widely recognized for his radical transparency and "skin in the game" philosophy, focusing on building long-term trust and resilient wealth for his investor partners. Curt also hosts The Captain Curt Show, where he educates professionals on transitioning tax-inefficient income into high-performing, cash-flowing commercial portfolios.
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