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With the growth of luxury and lifestyle hospitality comes more opportunities for third-party operators, particularly those like Stonebridge who have a specialty in that sector. “It’s a segment that largely was operated by the brands, and the brands are now allowing third-party managers to get into it,” Rob Smith, CEO and president of Stonebridge, told LODGING in an exclusive interview during this year’s The Lodging Conference. “So, it’s got a lot of white space in it.”
To help the company capitalize on that white space, Stonebridge appointed Marco Selva as SVP of luxury and lifestyle in January of last year. Selva previously served as EVP at Starwood Hotels, overseeing various luxury and lifestyle brands. “He works out of a Miami office and is focused on helping us grow that segment,” said Smith, who himself ran luxury casinos and spas in the Caribbean for 20 years and subsequently oversaw the growth of Aimbridge Hospitality’s Full Service, Luxury, and Resort Division as its president for 12 years.
Stonebridge currently manages 174 hotels, including “maybe nine or 10 that are what I’d call ‘luxury light,’” said Smith. A recent milestone in the company’s growth in the luxury segment was the addition of the 237-room JW Marriott Atlanta Downtown to its managed portfolio, following an extensive renovation and repositioning from the former W Atlanta Downtown. Stonebridge was awarded the contract for the W hotel in 2025 and “decided from a business plan to make it a JW. The PIP was only about $10,000 a key more to [reflag] to a JW, so we did a $50 million renovation and completed that in April [2026], and we raised the flag of the JW in May,” Smith related. “We had to get approved by Marriott to [operate their] luxury [hotels], and we’re one of only four third-party operators domestically that are in that space right now.” Smith added that many aging W hotels in the United States present an opportunity for the Stonebridge team to “replicate the formula” of the Atlanta project.
High-Touch Service
In addition to its luxury and lifestyle focus, Stonebridge differentiates itself in the highly competitive third-party management space with what Smith called a “high touch” approach. “Our operations folks [oversee] about eight to 10 hotels, where the industry average is closer to 20. Our revenue management people have five hotels, plus we hire analysts for them, so they’re only doing strategy. Our accounting folks only have five hotels. The industry average is 15. … And we have about 1.5 employees per hotel at the corporate level, where the industry average is like 0.3,” he explained. “So, we’re really focused on being a part of the property team and being super hands-on, and that’s across the board.” The company even opened a revenue management office in Hawaii to be able to serve clients 20 hours per day across U.S. time zones.
Supporting GM Performance
In another example of going the extra mile to optimize service, Stonebridge hired an EVP and chief strategy officer who collaborates with both corporate and on-property teams to ensure alignment with brand and owner priorities. Bringing a background with Aimbridge Hospitality as well as Dine Brands, The Walt Disney Company, and Dell, Adam Snow “thinks differently,” said Smith. Spending about 50 percent of his time working with GMs in the field, “Adam invests in them from a strategic perspective. He looks at: what are your goals, where do you spend your time? Are you spending your time where you want to be successful?” said Smith, adding that his own first lesson in strategy as a GM was “you can do anything you want to do, so as long as it makes sense from a return on investment [perspective].”
