Hospitality Leadership Needs a Reset: Lessons From 99 Women Leaders

Women lead just 19% of Forbes Travel Guide’s global partner hotels.

That number raises a simple question: why?

New research conducted by hertelier in partnership with Forbes Travel Guide suggests the answer may have less to do with ambition and more to do with how leadership systems in hospitality are structured.

The study surveyed 99 women leaders across Forbes Travel Guide’s global partner hotels worldwide to better understand how careers in hospitality leadership actually unfold.

The timing is notable as the hospitality industry approaches International Women’s Day on March 8, when many companies reflect on progress—and the work that still remains.

What emerged was a striking contradiction.

Nearly 80% of respondents cited mindset and resilience as the primary drivers of their success, and 65% pointed to ambition and determination. But when asked about the barriers they encountered, the conversation shifted. Forty percent cited gendered leadership expectations, 34% cited limited flexibility and 30% cited bias in promotion and hiring.

Advancement, in other words, is deeply personal. The obstacles are not.

That gap points to a broader leadership question for hospitality. If reaching the top still depends heavily on individual endurance, the system itself may need rethinking.

I explored that idea further at The Summit by Forbes Travel Guide in Monaco, where I moderated a panel with Silvia Nauta, VP,  ATELIER CX, Marlene Poynder, MD of The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, Franck Sibille, AVP,  Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, and Charlotte Weatherall, GM Corinthia London to discuss what these findings mean in practice.

The limits of resilience

Hospitality has always admired resilience. It is an industry built on operational intensity, long hours and constant pressure to perform. Many successful leaders have built their careers navigating those demands with determination and grit.

But resilience alone is not a scalable leadership strategy.

If reaching senior roles requires extraordinary endurance, the leadership pipeline will remain narrower than it needs to be. Progress becomes dependent on exceptional individuals rather than systems intentionally designed to support leadership development.

When respondents were asked which capabilities will matter most for the next generation of leaders, their answers pointed in a different direction. Strategic thinking ranked highest, followed by emotional intelligence, authentic communication and empathy.

The future of hospitality leadership may depend less on who can endure the longest and more on who can lead people and organizations through complexity.

Rethinking the path to leadership

One theme that came up repeatedly—both in the research and during the panel—was the need to broaden how leadership pathways are defined.

“You can be a general manager if you come through finance, revenue management, sales and marketing, human resources,” said Silvia Nauta, Vice President of ATELIER CX. “It doesn’t have to be this very structured track.”

Recognizing those diverse pathways could significantly widen the leadership pipeline.

Marlene Poynder, Managing Director of The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, emphasized another practical factor: financial ownership.

“Never give up a P&L,” she said.

In an increasingly investor-driven industry, commercial fluency and financial accountability are becoming central leadership skills.

Leadership sustainability and flexibility

Flexibility also surfaced as a leadership issue, not just a workplace perk.

Poynder pointed to Rosewood’s global policy offering 16 weeks of fully paid maternity or paternity leave for all parents as an example of how companies are beginning to rethink leadership sustainability.

Cultural expectations are evolving as well.

Charlotte Weatherall, General Manager of Corinthia London, recalled being warned before stepping into her role that leadership would inevitably require sacrificing family life.

“I thought, like hell, I am going to do this job in a way where I am not sacrificing,” she said.

Her response reflects a broader reconsideration happening across the industry. Many leaders are questioning long-standing assumptions about what hospitality leadership must look like.

Mentorship, transparency and culture

Leadership development is shaped as much by culture as by formal structures.

Several leaders emphasized the importance of mentorship, sponsorship and candid feedback. Poynder encouraged leaders to move beyond what she described as “vanilla conversations” and offer direct coaching earlier in careers.

Transparency matters too. When promotion criteria are unclear, people often rely on informal signals or assumptions about readiness. Clearer expectations around advancement can strengthen trust and reinforce merit-based hiring.

Mentorship and transparency, in that sense, are practical tools for strengthening leadership pipelines.

The next leadership challenge

The conversation also turned toward generational change.

While the industry has made some progress in advancing women into director level and C-suite roles, the next challenge may involve attracting and retaining younger leaders entering hospitality.

“We have a problem with Gen Z getting to top jobs if we don’t relax,” said Franck Sibille, Vice President at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.

Earlier in his career, Sibille described deliberately slowing his trajectory for a period to spend more time with his family. The experience reinforced his view that leadership progression does not always have to follow a single pace.

If hospitality wants to build sustainable leadership pipelines, it may need to rethink not only who advances but how careers unfold.

From resilience to intention

Hospitality has always relied on talented individuals willing to navigate complexity and pressure. But the next phase of leadership progress may depend less on individual endurance and more on intentional system design.

Flexible career pathways, clearer promotion criteria and stronger mentorship structures all play a role.

The full research report, The Leadership Reset, explores these findings in greater depth and examines how hospitality organizations may need to rethink leadership development in the years ahead.