Hospitality + Guest Experience Consulting
Hospitality that makes people feel considered.
I help hotels, hospitality groups, restaurants, private clubs and experience-led brands create guest experiences that feel more thoughtful, distinctive and human.
My work connects guest experience strategy, cultural understanding, and experience design to help you create a more distinctive welcome and a more thoughtful guest journey.
Founder & Creative Director of Kesh Events · 15+ years designing high-touch experiences for discerning private clients · Three-time author · Featured in People, CNN, Architectural Digest & The New York Times
Who I Work With
Built for Experience-Led Organizations
My consulting work is designed for organizations where guest experience, reputation and relationships materially influence business performance.
Hotels + Resorts
Hospitality Groups
Restaurants + Culinary Concepts
Private Clubs
Branded Residences
Developers + Real Estate
Destinations + Tourism
Premium Retail + Lifestyle
Private-Client + VIP Programs
Experience-Led Organizations
Engagements may support an existing operation, opening, repositioning, renovation, new concept or broader guest-experience transformation.
The Philosophy
The Highest Expression of Hospitality Is Consideration.
Beautiful spaces matter. Excellent service matters. Operational excellence matters. But none of them, on their own, guarantee that someone will feel genuinely cared for.
The experiences people remember are often shaped by something less visible: whether someone anticipated what they needed, understood the context, removed unnecessary friction, recognized what mattered and made them feel considered without requiring them to ask.
I call this Emotional Hospitality: the deliberate practice of creating the conditions for people to feel seen, understood, welcomed, cared for and remembered. It is the philosophy behind my consulting work and the lens through which I examine the entire guest experience.
My Method
The Felt Journey
I look at how a guest feels before, during, and after an experience. These six considerations help reveal where care is felt and where friction gets in the way.
Arrival
How am I received?
The experience begins before the formal welcome. Arrival should create clarity, confidence and an immediate sense of care.
Recognition
Do you see me?
Recognition is more than knowing a name. It is understanding context, preferences, expectations and what may matter to this particular guest.
Comfort
Can I relax here?
Physical comfort matters, but so do emotional ease, accessibility, discretion, clarity and the removal of unnecessary friction.
Participation
Is there a place for me?
The strongest hospitality does not simply present an experience. It creates thoughtful opportunities to engage, discover and participate.
Connection
What will I feel connected to?
People. Place. Culture. Story. Community. Brand. The most distinctive experiences create relationships beyond the transaction.
Departure
What remains afterward?
The farewell is not the end of hospitality. It is an opportunity to create appreciation, memory, advocacy and the desire to return.
How We Work Together
Ways to Work Together
Begin with a focused assessment, develop the experience with your team, or bring a full program to life. The scope is shaped around your goals.
Hospitality + Guest Experience Strategy
Foundational Assessment
For organizations that need an expert assessment of a defined guest-experience, hospitality or brand challenge.
- Guest Journey Assessment
- Experience + Friction Audit
- Emotional Hospitality Assessment
- Competitive + Experience Review
- Cultural + Sense-of-Place Opportunities
- Programming Recommendations
- Strategic Leadership Session
- Prioritized Recommendations + Roadmap
Experience Strategy + Creative Direction
For Growing Engagements
For organizations ready to move from assessment into development. I work alongside leadership and internal teams to translate strategy into a distinctive experience.
- A scope shaped around your strategy
- Experience Concept Development
- Guest Journey Redesign
- Signature Programming
- Cultural + Local Integration
- Partnership Concepts
- Creative Direction
- Leadership + Team Workshops
Full Experience Design + Production
For Full-Scale Programs
For significant hospitality programs, guest experiences, private-client experiences, brand activations and live experiences requiring strategy through execution. Through Kesh Events, my team and I can lead the experience from concept through production.
- Experience Strategy
- Creative Direction
- Guest Journey + Programming
- Vendor + Partner Strategy
- Production Management
- On-Site Execution
- Post-Experience Review
Proof & Recognition
A Perspective Built Through Experience
My perspective comes from more than 15 years designing and producing high-touch experiences for discerning clients. It combines a designer's eye with the judgment required to deliver hospitality in real time.
Gene & Georgetti
A paid consulting engagement with the full restaurant and events team to define the ideal client experience, closing with a hands-on flower-arranging session.
Viceroy Sugar Beach
Elevated the guest experience across every touchpoint: arrival and property transfer, check-in, and the event spaces.
Featured In
People · CNN · Architectural Digest · The New York Times · Forbes · Essence · Brides
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a hospitality consultant do?
A hospitality consultant helps organizations examine and strengthen the guest experience across strategy, service, culture, operations and experience design. My work uses Emotional Hospitality and the Felt Journey™ to identify friction, uncover opportunities and develop practical strategies that strengthen how guests feel, engage, remember and return.
How much does hospitality consulting cost?
Engagements begin with Hospitality + Guest Experience Strategy, followed by optional Experience Strategy + Creative Direction or Full Experience Design + Production. Investment is scoped to the size and goals of your organization and shared on a short fit call.
What types of businesses do you work with?
Hotels and resorts, hospitality groups, restaurants and culinary concepts, private clubs, branded residences, developers and real estate projects, destinations, premium retail and lifestyle brands, and private-client and VIP programs.
What areas do you serve?
I'm based in Chicago and work with organizations across the United States and internationally.
What is a guest-experience audit?
A guest-experience audit is a structured, outside-eye assessment of a business experienced as a guest, mapped across the Felt Journey and delivering a prioritized plan to improve how guests feel and where the experience can improve.
How is this different from a typical hospitality consultant?
My approach combines Emotional Hospitality, design, and the practical experience of producing high-touch celebrations. I consider the guest journey alongside the decisions and team behaviors that make it possible.
Let's Begin
What Should Your Guests Feel?
Tell me about your property, concept, or guest-experience challenge. We can begin by identifying the right focus and scope.
If you are opening, evolving, repositioning or rethinking a hospitality experience, I would love to hear what you are building.
Hospitality Consulting · Guest Experience Strategy · Emotional Hospitality · Experience Design