Hospitality Investment Is Harder Than It Looks

What HNW individuals and family offices need to understand before investing

At Think Hospitality Consulting, we work closely with high net worth individuals, family offices and private investors who are increasingly drawn to hospitality as part of a wider investment strategy. Often this sits within mixed-use developments or luxury real estate portfolios. In other cases, hospitality is seen as a way to diversify, create long-term value or use tourism and food and beverage as a catalyst for place making, community impact and regeneration.

Our work spans a wide spectrum of hospitality investment advisory projects. This includes advising on an American tech billionaire’s private yacht experience, a nature-led luxury wellness retreat, investments into Michelin-starred restaurant groups, members’ clubs, lifestyle hotels and complex, food-led mixed-use developments. On paper, these projects look very different. In practice, they all run into the same reality remarkably quickly: hospitality is far more complex than most investors expect.

Many of the individuals and family offices we work with have built significant wealth in other industries, including technology, FMCG, real estate and finance. They are used to operating at scale, managing risk and navigating sophisticated commercial structures. And yet, time and again, we hear the same observation. Hospitality feels harder. Recently, one private client told us that running a global manufacturing and distribution conglomerate felt easier than delivering a single, relatively modest hospitality project we are currently advising on together. That comment captures a truth the industry itself often struggles to articulate.

Why hospitality is uniquely complex

The first reason is structural. Even small hospitality projects require oversight of the entire value chain, from procurement and production to property, operations, branding, marketing and the point of sale. Decisions made at concept or design stage have direct consequences for operations, staffing and financial performance. There is nowhere to hide and very little margin for misalignment.

The second reason lies in the nature of the product. Hospitality does not sell a tangible item that can be returned, replaced or replicated. It sells experience, emotion and memory. A hotel stay, a restaurant meal or time spent in a members’ club is deeply personal and often tied to important life moments. Value is built slowly, through consistency, trust and reputation. For HNW investors and family offices, this means that hospitality behaves very differently to traditional real estate or consumer goods investments.

Third is perishability. A hotel bed night or restaurant seat exists only in that moment. If it is not sold today, the opportunity disappears forever. This creates a level of time pressure, commercial urgency and operational intensity that few other sectors experience. Revenue management, demand generation and pacing are not optional, they are fundamental to survival.

Finally, hospitality is, above all, a people business. The guest experience is created by people, delivered by people and remembered because of people. Leadership, culture, training and structure directly impact performance. With labour often the largest single line on the P&L, mistakes can be costly and difficult to unwind. When it works, however, hospitality can be one of the most rewarding and human industries in the world.

Why HNW individuals and family offices still invest in hospitality

Despite these challenges, hospitality continues to attract sophisticated investors. When done well, it can significantly enhance real estate value, anchor mixed-use developments, create destination appeal and deliver strong long-term returns. It also offers something many other asset classes cannot: emotional connection, cultural relevance and legacy.

Hospitality has the power to turn a building into a place, a development into a destination and an investment into something people genuinely care about. That combination of commercial and human value is rare, and it explains why so many HNW individuals and family offices continue to pursue it, even knowing how complex it can be.

Our role as hospitality advisors

Think Hospitality Consulting exists to help investors navigate that complexity with clarity and confidence. We work as independent hospitality advisors to high net worth individuals, family offices and private investors, bridging the gap between capital, concept and operational reality.

Our work typically begins at the earliest stages of a project, often before land is acquired or designs are fixed. We provide market and opportunity assessments, site and context analysis, concept and positioning strategy and the definition of a clear hospitality vision aligned to audience, place and long-term asset value.

Food and beverage strategy sits at the heart of much of our work. For many hospitality investments, F&B is the primary driver of experience, dwell time and financial performance. We develop end-to-end F&B strategies, from portfolio planning and concept development to menu direction, brand architecture and operational models. This applies across hotels, luxury wellness retreats, members’ clubs, mixed-use developments and restaurant group investments, including Michelin-starred and chef-led brands.

We also bring rigorous commercial and operational discipline. This includes scenario-based financial modelling, CAPEX and OPEX alignment, operational planning and stress-testing of assumptions to ensure projects are viable, resilient and deliverable. For family offices and private investors, this provides an essential layer of independent assurance before capital is committed.

As projects progress, we support operator, chef and partner selection, working independently to ensure the right fit between ambition, capability and long-term performance. We collaborate closely with owners, designers and operators to translate strategy into execution, ensuring that what is imagined can be delivered in the real world.

Crucially, many of our clients retain us beyond launch as long-term advisors, supporting performance optimisation, portfolio evolution and future growth. From private yacht experiences to luxury wellness retreats, from Michelin-starred restaurant group investments to members’ clubs and mixed-use destinations, our focus remains the same: creating hospitality assets that perform commercially, enhance place and stand the test of time.

For HNW individuals and family offices, hospitality can be one of the most complex, demanding and rewarding sectors to invest in. Our role is to ensure it is approached with the depth, rigour and specialist expertise it truly demands.