Creating, Acquiring, and Scaling Brands - Arash Azarbarzin - CEO of Highgate

6 snips

Oct 30, 2024

Arash Azarbarzin, CEO of Highgate, shares his journey from aspiring pilot to hospitality leader. He emphasizes the importance of creating a welcoming atmosphere and effective team dynamics in hotels. The conversation highlights key strategies for food and beverage management and the unique challenges of scaling brands. Arash discusses the delicate balance between independent and branded hotels, customer loyalty, and the evolving landscape of the hospitality industry. Insights into leveraging technology and managing a portfolio of 520 hotels add to the rich discussion.

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ADVICE

Warm Welcome

Prioritize a warm welcome and acknowledgment of guests upon arrival.
Train staff to make eye contact and greet guests, enhancing their experience.

ANECDOTE

Arash's Hospitality Journey

Arash Azarbarzin's hospitality career began unexpectedly with a kitchen job.
He transitioned to front-of-house and worked his way up through Four Seasons.

INSIGHT

Leading Through Shared Experience

Connecting with staff and understanding their experiences is crucial for leadership.
A shared background fosters commitment and buy-in for new initiatives.

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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.

This episode was originally released June 2023

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.

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Links

Highgate

Arash on LinkedIn

The Viceroy Hotel: Sugar Beach at St. Lucia

Timestamps

(00:00:00) Intro

(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?