Executive Search Success Story: Building the Executive Team for a Private-Equity-Backed Hotel Management Company Scaling to 200 Properties

How JRG Partners executed a confidential, multi-role North American executive search strategy that equipped a private-equity-backed third-party hotel management company with the operating, commercial, financial, people, and business development leadership required to integrate two acquired management companies, improve owner returns, and grow from 110 to 200 managed properties.

The Challenge

A private equity sponsor had combined two regional hotel management companies into a single platform with 110 properties, but the two organizations ran on different operating systems, revenue management practices, and cultures. Owner satisfaction surveys showed declining confidence, several management contracts were at risk of termination, labor costs had risen sharply while staffing remained unstable, and the company had no structured business development function to win new contracts. The founders of both companies had exited at close. Executive leadership and the sponsor identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the platform:

• Two merged management companies with no common operating model or systems
• Declining owner satisfaction and management contracts at risk of termination
• Revenue management performance below brand and market indices at many properties
• Labor costs rising with unstable staffing and high turnover across properties
• No consolidated finance or owner reporting across the combined portfolio
• No business development capability to grow the managed portfolio to 200 properties

Recognizing that the platform required a professional executive team, the sponsor and CEO engaged JRG Partners to recruit a Chief Operating Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief People Officer, and Chief Development Officer. The company required an executive search partner with deep hospitality expertise and the ability to deliver a coordinated team.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

Restaurant, Hospitality & Foodservice Focus

JRG Partners maintains a dedicated practice serving hospitality companies, including hotel management companies, brands, owners, and resort operators, with a clear understanding of owner relations, revenue management, labor dynamics, and management contract economics.

Private Equity Portfolio Experience

Our firm has extensive experience recruiting executive teams for sponsor-backed hospitality platforms, with a clear understanding of integration, value-creation plans, and board expectations.

Multi-Role Execution

Our team specializes in running coordinated operations, commercial, finance, people, and development searches in parallel, ensuring leaders are selected as a complementary unit aligned to a single growth plan.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Integration & Growth Alignment

Our consultants partnered directly with the sponsor, CEO, and board to review property performance, owner feedback, revenue indices, labor data, and the contract pipeline, defining five executive profiles aligned with the integration and growth plan.

Phase 2 — Talent Identification & Mapping

Our research team performed an extensive talent mapping initiative targeting operating, commercial, finance, people, and development executives at hotel management companies, brands, REITs, and multi-unit hospitality operators who had led documented integrations and portfolio growth. Over 400 executives were systematically assessed across these sectors.

Phase 3 — Candidate Engagement

Priority during outreach was given to leaders with a documented history of integrating management companies, raising revenue indices and owner returns, stabilizing hospitality workforces, delivering consolidated owner reporting, and winning management contracts at scale. Only candidates meeting these strict performance baselines advanced.

Phase 4 — Selection Process

Finalists presented integration and growth plans to the sponsor and board, completed structured leadership assessments, and underwent reference verification focused on quantified owner, revenue, and growth outcomes.

Key Outcomes

• 400+ hospitality and hotel executive profiles mapped across North America.
• Successfully placed a synchronized executive tier spanning operations, commercial, finance, people, and development within eight months.
• Lifted the portfolio revenue index by 7 points.
• Raised owner satisfaction 30% and retained every at-risk contract.
• Reduced hourly turnover by 35% and improved labor cost by 180 basis points.
• Grew the managed portfolio from 110 to 200 properties within three years.