The Future of Hospitality

The episode contains genuine business lessons about asset repositioning (room count reduction, F&B concept change, rooftop outlet strategy) and specific EBITDA growth mechanics, but significant portions are devoted to self-introductions, credential-listing, and generic statements about capital structures. The concrete value-creation moves are substantive but interspersed with padding about the team's background and school alumni status.

“When we acquired the property, I think we were roughly at 1.5 million, uh, of EBITDA, uh 1.7. When we sold earlier this year, the EBITDA was close to 4 million.”

“We made a very strong decision which was reducing the room count of the hotel. This is not something very usual, let's say in our business”

The counter-intuitive move to reduce room count (56 to 53) and add F&B outlets instead of cutting them shows some strategic originality. However, the core playbook - capex refresh, F&B repositioning, revenue management discipline, selling on tailwinds - is standard hotel value-creation doctrine. The rooftop barbecue concept is a modest tactical innovation but not a fresh framework or contrarian thesis.

“reducing the room count of the hotel. This is not something very usual, let's say in our business”

“we created an outlet on the rooftop of the hotel which uh uh, was hosting once per week barbecue or uh, uh, barbecue event”

Both speakers are solid practitioners: Pierre Louis Belanger and Maxime Demontier have direct operational track records (Maxime managed 18 hotels at Louvre, both worked at Schroder's Real Estate Hotels), co-invested capital in deals, and demonstrably executed a full acquisition-to-exit cycle. They are not C-suite celebrities but seasoned mid-market asset managers with skin in the game and hands-on expertise. Not exceptional caliber but credible operators.

“I took over the operations for uh Louvre Hotel um in the UK for roughly three years I was in charge of 18 hotels”

“we are co. Investing in each and any deal that we are uh envisaging to. To acquire”

The episode includes concrete figures (EBITDA 1.7M to 4M, 56 to 53 rooms, €500M portfolio, 15 hotels, 6% exit yield, 53 bedrooms, 7-month construction timeline) and specific moves (rooftop barbecue weekly, staff retention metrics, Booking.com/Google ratings at 4-5 stars). However, many operational KPIs lack precision: no breakdown of F&B lift, no detailed capex budget, no occupancy or ADR data, and vague references to 'good pricing' and 'great acquisition metrics' without numbers.

“When we acquired the property, I think we were roughly at 1.5 million, uh, of EBITDA, uh 1.7. When we sold earlier this year, the EBITDA was close to 4 million”

“We made a very strong decision which was reducing the room count of the hotel. This is not something very usual, let's say in our business because we usually sell or buy the hotel by also a figure by room, a number of euros per room. So we decided nevertheless to reduce uh the room count to 53”

Host Luke asks competent follow-up questions (e.g., 'what makes you different,' 'what were the KPIs') and attempts to probe the strategy ('you guys reduced rooms and added F&B, how bold'). However, he rarely pushes back on vague claims, doesn't demand hard numbers on capex, occupancy, or payback periods, and allows extended throat-clearing answers without interruption. The conversation lacks tension and critical scrutiny; it reads more as a guided tour than a rigorous investigation.

“So what, what does it have to bring or what's the typical asset you love to work on?”

“So actually it's you know, thinking about this strategy very often as an hotel investor. You're trying to think about ways uh, how to increase the room count and you guys did the opposite”