Blog & News
Blog
Building Resilience in Hospitality Senior Leadership Teams
The resilience of senior leadership teams under pressure is not the sum of the stress each executive can personally absorb. It is a property…
Cross-Cultural Leadership in Multi-Property Hospitality Groups
A multi-property hospitality group runs on one brand standard, delivered through a dozen different ways of hearing an instruction. Cross-cultural leadership is what keeps…
How to Negotiate a Career Transition Package as a Senior Hospitality Leader
A career transition package has more separate parts than the size of the severance number ever suggests. Most of its real value comes from…
The hiring & development cycle of senior hospitality executives
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~10 min. read The hiring and development cycle of a senior hospitality executive has four…
When to Hire a Career Transition Coach (and When to Go It Alone)
Career transition coaching can make a significant difference in four situations. In a fifth, it may add very little. The critical question is not…
The Three Ways Boards Use Executive Assessment
Boards use executive assessment at three distinct moments. First, they select between finalists. Next, they read how ready an internal successor is. Finally, they…
Three Patterns a Hospitality Executive Career Transition Takes
Three career transition patterns account for nearly every senior move in hospitality. Each one carries its own timeline, its own risks, and its own…
The 90-Day Onboarding Roadmap an Assessment Report Should Deliver
The most useful section of a strong executive assessment report comes after the hiring decision. It is a 90-day onboarding roadmap built for the…
Why Hospitality Leadership Development Programs Fail, and How to Fix It
Most leadership development programs fail to change anything once the training ends, and in hospitality it usually comes down to four fixable things. Here…
The First 90 Days in a New Senior Hospitality Role
The first 90 days in hospitality buy an accurate picture of the business and a settled view of the leader who has arrived. Results…
How to Identify High-Potential Hospitality Leaders
Identifying high-potential hospitality leaders is decided in the selection long before the development starts. Here is what genuinely predicts and what only looks as…
Succession Planning for Hotel and Restaurant Groups
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~18 min. read Succession planning for hotel groups turns on incentives more than on lists.…
Training vs Coaching, and Coaching vs Leadership Development
Training vs. coaching is one of three purchases that look interchangeable on a proposal. Ask what would have to be true twelve months on,…
How to Choose a Hospitality Executive Search Firm: 8 Criteria
How to choose a hospitality executive search firm comes down to eight things you can check before you sign anything. By Florian Kittler ·…
Building a Leadership Pipeline in Hospitality
A leadership pipeline in hospitality: building one is a decision, not a shortage. Here is where it narrows, what keeping it open costs, and…
What an Executive Assessment Report Actually Contains
An executive assessment report answers one narrow question: will this person succeed in this seat, right now? Here is what each section needs to…
How Long Does a Senior Hospitality Career Transition Take?
A senior hospitality career transition usually runs nine to eighteen months from deciding to move to being settled. The search is the shortest part.…
What Makes a Top Hospitality Executive Search Firm
The top hospitality executive search firms are separated less by name than by method. Indeed, the difference shows up in the shortlist. By Florian…
Retained vs Contingency Executive Search for Hospitality Hires
Retained vs contingency executive search is the first decision in any senior hospitality hire, and it settles who carries the risk. Retained vs contingency…
The Hospitality Industry’s Leadership Skills Gap in 2026
The hospitality leadership skills gap is a divergence between two rates rather than a shortage of people. Here is what it is made of,…
The First 14 Days After a Senior Hospitality Exit
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~10 min. read The first fourteen days after a senior hospitality executive exit are the…
Internal vs External Candidate Assessment: Where Boards Get the Most Lift
Internal vs external candidate assessment has to answer two opposite questions. This is why one generic process answers neither of them. By Florian Kittler…
From Property to Corporate: The Identity Shift That Catches Even Great Leaders Off Guard
The move from a property to corporate hospitality leadership role is the most underestimated identity shift in a senior career. Apparently, on paper it…
Team Coaching for Hospitality Leadership Teams: When It Works
Team coaching rarely stands alone. Most of the leadership teams we work with pair it with the wider leadership development work we do across…
Board Relationship Review: Why Aligned Leadership Teams Still Get Blindsided
Why a board relationship review catches the silent misalignment individual leadership assessments miss, and how boards get ahead of it.
Executive Outplacement in Hospitality: Senior Exits, Handled with Dignity
Outplacement is rarely the whole story. Many of the executives we support here also draw on the leadership development support we build around senior…
The ROI of Executive Coaching for Senior Hospitality Leaders
The ROI case above sits inside a broader picture. See how we structure leadership development for senior hospitality leaders for how coaching, team work…
Executive Recruiting Explained: 12 Questions Business Leaders Ask Before Starting a Retained Search
Featured first on LinkedIn This article was first featured on LinkedIn by Dan Heiman, Global President and Managing Partner of Cornerstone Executive Search, a…
How Long Does It Take to Hire a Hotel General Manager?
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~10 min. read Owners and operators almost always ask the same thing before they set…
Hospitality Talent Shortage 2026: Why Top Leaders Are Harder to Find
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~10 min. read Ask any owner, board or group executive who has filled a senior…
Executive Assessment in Senior Hospitality Hiring: Making Better Leadership Decisions
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~11 min. read Executive assessment is what turns a strong shortlist into a confident decision.…
Career Transition for Senior Hospitality Executives: How Cornerstone Supports You Through the Move
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~12 min. read Hospitality career transition coaching exists because a senior career move is rarely…
Personal Branding for Hospitality Executives: Five Surfaces, One Story
Personal branding hospitality executives take seriously is not a marketing exercise. Instead, it is the small set of surfaces a recruiter, a board member,…
Compensation for the Next Hospitality Role: Three Layers, One Walk-Away Number
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~11 min. read Hospitality executive compensation is rarely lost in the negotiation, and overall the…
How Hospitality Boards Make Better Leadership Decisions: A Guide to Executive & Board Search Done Well
A guide for hospitality board chairs and owners on navigating the obstacles of senior leadership decisions: the calibration approach, the 5-stage methodology, and the…
Hospitality Leadership Development & Coaching: How Senior Leaders Get From Good to Great
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~11 min. read Hospitality leadership development and coaching is the work that takes a senior…
Inside Cornerstone International Group 2026 Global Partner Meeting: Where Global Hospitality Executive Search Is Headed
How the 2026 Cornerstone Global Partner Meeting in Warsaw shaped the launch of our Hospitality, Travel & Leisure Practice, plus what the AESC keynote…
Hospitality Executive Search: Why the Specialist Difference Matters
When a hospitality CEO chooses between a specialist hospitality search firm and a generalist with a hospitality desk, the decision is rarely about price.…
The Next Performance Gap in Hospitality Won’t Be Technology; It Will Be Leadership
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~2 min. read Hospitality owners are investing heavily in technology such as artificial intelligence, digital…
The Role of a Career Coach in Executive Transitions
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~3 min. read Challenges Executives Face in Transition Over the years as an executive recruiter,…
Hospitality trains exceptional operators. So why are so many CEOs coming from outside the industry?
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~2 min. read A pattern I’ve been noticing in hospitality searches for a while: A…
Boutique vs Large Executive Search Firms: Which Is Right for Your Business?
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~2 min. read This post originally appeared on the AESC’s Insights & News When a…
News
The Future of Hospitality: Florian Kittler in Travel Daily Media
Florian Kittler speaks to Travel Daily Media as a returning judge for the TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2026 in Malaysia, on experience design,…
AI Is Quietly Destroying the Hotel Leadership Pipeline
Florian Kittler’s new CoStar column, part of ISHC Global Insights, warns that as AI removes entry level hospitality roles it is quietly eroding the…
Cornerstone Convenes Global Network in Warsaw for the 2026 Global Conference
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~3 min. read Originally published by Cornerstone International Group on 17 June 2026. Republished here…
Partnership Spotlight: Capitum Connect, Capital Meets Hospitality Leadership
Cornerstone Hospitality partners with Capitum Connect, a specialist hospitality and real-estate advisory platform connecting capital, operators and brands across the UK, Europe, the Middle…
Partnership Spotlight: AP Hospitality Advisors, Decisions That Matter Across Asia-Pacific
Cornerstone Hospitality partners with AP Hospitality Advisors, a RICS-certified hospitality real-estate, operations and finance advisory firm founded in Hong Kong by Dan Voellm, with…
Partnership Spotlight: PHAL, Where Operator Insight Meets Hospitality Talent
Cornerstone Hospitality welcomes PHAL, Prakash Hospitality Advisory, into our partner network. Built by an operator for operators, PHAL integrates Agentic AI, People Architecture and…
Cornerstone Recognized Among the Top 40 Global Executive Search Firms in Hunt Scanlon 2026
Cornerstone International Group has been recognized among the Top 40 Global Executive Search Firms in Hunt Scanlon 2026, a reflection of our clients trust,…
Masterkey Lab Dubai: Florian Kittler on Leadership in the Age of AI
On 15 April 2026, Florian Kittler led a Masterkey Lab session in Dubai with senior hospitality leaders examining whether leadership is keeping pace with…
Cornerstone International Group Opens New Office in Frankfurt
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~3 min. read This post originally appeared on Hunt Scanlon Cornerstone International Group has opened a…
Cornerstone Appoints Global Hospitality, Travel & Leisure Practice Leader and Strengthens Sector Capabilities with Frankfurt Expansion
By Florian Kittler · Managing Partner, Cornerstone Hospitality · ~2 min. read Frankfurt, Germany, January 5, 2026, Cornerstone International Group today announced the official…
