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Building Better Together Turning collaboration into a competitive advantage By Whitney Altizer
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y bringing together property leaders and corporate executives, Newport Hospitality Group is creating a collaborative leadership model that strengthens
strategy, improves performance and delivers greater value for hotel owners, associates and guests Often great ideas in hospitality originate at the property level, not the corporate office. They come from the people working directly with guests, meeting planners, owners and hotel teams every day. Recognizing that many of the best ideas come from those closest to day-today operations, Newport Hospitality Group created its Compass Circle Councils. The leadership initiative brings together property and corporate leaders to exchange ideas, improve communication, strengthen accountability and help guide organizational decisions.
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The Compass Circle Councils are divided into two distinct but closely connected groups. The Horizon Council focuses on commercial strategy, sales leadership, and revenue growth, while the Operations Council concentrates on guest satisfaction, property performance, team engagement and operational excellence. While each council has a unique mission, they were intentionally designed to work together because great hotels are built when sales and operations move in the same direction. Sales creates opportunity by bringing guests through the doors. Operations delivers the experience that keeps those guests
COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION — ISSUE 8, 2026
coming back. When those two disciplines collaborate from the beginning rather than working independently, hotels perform better, teams communicate more effectively and owners ultimately benefit. What makes Compass Circle Councils different is that they are not traditional meetings where information simply flows from corporate leadership to the field. They are working groups made up of experienced hotel leaders who actively contribute ideas, challenge assumptions and shape future strategy. The program was developed at the corporate level, with the executive team playing an active role in facilitating each council’s progress and clearing roadblocks property leaders may encounter. Within the Horizon Council, Directors of Sales from across the Newport portfolio openly share what's working in their individual markets, discuss emerging challenges, identify new business opportunities and provide meaningful input before company initiatives are launched. More importantly, they share proven sales strategies that can be replicated throughout the portfolio. A successful approach developed at one hotel may create new opportunities for dozens of others. Instead of every property solving the same challenges independently, the council allows hotels to benefit from each other's experiences while giving corporate leadership a clearer understanding of emerging trends and customer expectations across multiple markets. That collaborative approach leads to stronger decisions because they are built upon real-world experience rather than assumptions made from a distance. One of the Horizon Council's earliest accomplishments demonstrates the value of this model. As budget season approached, council members recognized an opportunity to better align commercial planning with operational goals. Together, they developed a more comprehensive planning tool that combines sales strategy, revenue forecasts, market intelligence and property objectives into a single planning document. The result is more than a budgeting exercise. It provides DOSs and GMs with