Seven years investing in buildings. A year learning what happens inside them.

Most real estate investment outcomes are driven by macro performance. When in the cycle was it bought? What financing was secured? How did the investment perform against benchmarks?

Hospitality assets have potential for value creation beyond "right time, right place" investing. Hotel owner-operators have levers to improve P&Ls and valuations. The guest experience drives performance, and the strategy is repriced daily.

Most people underwriting hospitality assets have never worked a service job. I started in hospitality before I started in finance: at 20, I co-founded Ann Arbor's first Airbnb management company. The business was bootstrapped, scrappy, and successful. Since then, I've had a long-term goal of building hospitality businesses.

After graduation, I closed deals "cradle-to-grave" for Northwind's real estate debt funds. We were positioned as one of the only non-recourse lenders in NYC with flexible capital during COVID. At Ares, I learned how institutional capital thinks about REIT portfolio construction. I got the opportunity to see how institutions manage a liquidity crunch, value degradation, and the politics behind OEFs and SMAs.

Then, I left to learn the other side. I earned my culinary diploma at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris then came back to work at Rezdôra in NYC, which is rated 1-Star by Michelin and 3-Stars by the New York Times. That job taught me more about F&B operations than I could have learned underwriting the property on-screen.

Long term, I want to build hospitality properties. I'm interested in activity-based travel where people can practice their hobby with like-minded individuals. I am thinking about hotel concepts like:

• Sports clinic resort where guests play organized basketball games and are coached by ex-NBA players
• Farm-stay where guests learn about vineyards during the day and taste wines at night
• Outdoor cabins for cross-country skiing where the routes are mapped and guests come back to hot chocolate and saunas; hiking or hunting will be the off-season sport
• Recreational Iron Man or HYROX camps where trainers coach their athletes; equipment and nutrition are coordinated for a seamless experience

Now, I'd like to learn how that's done from people who already do it well. Keep me in mind if you know someone owning, operating, or building hotels. Let's make it happen!