Hotel and hospitality development
From opportunity
to operation.
We don’t just build hotels, we create hospitality businesses.
Hilton Bournemouth — developed, owned and operated
01 — Introduction
THAT Development Management (DM) helps owners turn buildings and opportunities into successful hotel, hospitality and leisure businesses. From first feasibility through development, opening and operation, we can lead the whole journey or step in where we add most value. Whatever you need.
£100m+
Developed
Hotel, leisure and mixed-use value developed and held by the group.
15+
Years operating
Fifteen years of buying, building and running the finished thing.
Principal
Own capital invested
As opposed to simply fee-first advice, we’ve been there and done it under our own steam and at our own risk.
02 — Position
Built as owners.
Now working for you.
THAT Group grew from a family office investing its own capital. Our experience was built by doing it ourselves - buying, funding, developing, opening and operating. We’ve delivered hotels, restaurants, bars, workspace, leisure and mixed-use destinations, and we still own and operate many of them today. We think like an owner because we are one.
About THAT DMAnyone can design a hotel. Fewer people have developed, opened and operated one.
03 — Proof
Buildings we’ve developed with our own money.
In development
Hotels we’re developing for people like you.
St James Mill, Norwich
Heritage hotel and spa development for the Jarrolds family.
Brand, operating model, design, planning and delivery strategy for the conversion of a Grade I listed mill.
Watt Brothers, Glasgow
Hotel redevelopment for the Easdale family.
Brand selection, operator engagement, commercial modelling, planning strategy and the route to construction on a former department store.
MoneyCentre, Plymouth
Hotel concept and pre-application strategy.
A hotel concept taken through pre-application to a positive planning response, repositioning the asset ahead of sale.
04 — The journey
Five stages. One continuous view.
- 01
Opportunity
Does it stack up? We test the commercial case before you commit to the project.
- 02
Strategy
What it should be, who it’s for, how it operates and whether the numbers stack up.
- 03
Development
Built around how the asset needs to work, earn and perform.
- 04
Opening
Making sure the business is ready, not just the building.
- 05
Operation
Run by the operator. Managed for the owner.
Where to start
Start with feasibility.
Before committing to a full development, we test the market, use, concept, operator appetite and indicative economics. You receive a clear recommendation: proceed, reshape, or stop.
- Market
- Use
- Concept
- Operator appetite
- Development economics
- Trading assumptions
- Next steps
Conversation → Paid feasibility → Appointment for the relevant stages
Talk to us
Landlords
Have a building that should be doing more?
An old department store. A vacant office. A stalled consent. An underperforming asset. Hospitality can unlock value - but only when the fundamentals work. We test the opportunity early and establish whether there is a viable business before the project starts consuming serious capital.
We know what it means to have our own money at risk. It changes the questions you ask, the decisions you make and how far beyond practical completion you think.
Talk to us