HB Exclusive: Mogul Hospitality launches employee-centric brand

Minority founders with 50+ years of C-suite hospitality experience have launched what they call the first ESG hotel and residential brand that is work/live, diverse employee-owned and powered by proven HR technologies: Mogul Hotels and Residences. The first locations are set to be in Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami.

When Mogul Hospitality’s founders first launched their company, they had no intention of launching their own hotel brand.

“Our team’s background [includes launching] a few brands in our careers in both big companies and small,” said Alexander Mirza, founder/CEO, Mogul Hospitality, who was part of the team that launched the Waldorf Astoria brand at Hilton. “We have a really high standard for that. We felt that the world doesn’t really need another hotel brand. There are a lot of hotel brands out there; if anything, maybe too many.”

But, when the company started building MogulRecruiter, an AI-driven talent marketplace for hospitality, the team saw where it could do it better—for both guests and employees.

“It was when we started executing and implementing our talent platform and engine,” he said. “You see where it works, where it doesn’t, where the gaps are, why people are leaving this industry or losing confidence in it.”

Mirza said that employees are leaving because they see the disparity between the owners and themselves. “They look up and they see these hotel CEOs and real estate private equity guys—mostly guys—making absurd amounts of money,” he said. “Their employees are doing all the work and they can’t look above them and see a path. That’s the driver of all our challenges in our industry in our opinion. And it’s in our power to change it, and when we saw that we said, ‘Hey, technology can only get you so far.’ Even great technology; even signing bonuses; wage increases. That still is only going to get you so far.”

For more on the new brand, including its focus on work/live design and sustainability, see the June issue of Hotel Business.