Joe Collier, President Mainsail Lodging & Development

August 2026 —Invest: sat down with Joe Collier, president and founder of Mainsail Lodging & Development, to discuss the company’s commitment to authentic guest experiences and what the next wave of growth means for Tampa Bay’s hospitality landscape. “Each market that we’re in, we’re always trying to find some authentic way of letting them touch the community in a meaningful way,” Collier said.

Looking back at the past year, what have been the most significant changes or initiatives across your portfolio, and how have they influenced the company’s overall growth?

Last year, we did not open any new hotels. We were focused on our existing portfolio — streamlining costs, refining operations, and enhancing the overall guest experience. We looked for ways to become more efficient as operators while ensuring every touchpoint felt intentional and elevated. We are now getting ready to start another growth curve. We’re going to be opening several new hotels that are underway, and the next two to three years will be really busy for us.

How have you continued to build on the guest experience over the past year, and what new steps are you taking to enhance the guest experience across your properties?

We have won some really nice awards within the Marriott franchise system. We just won one of the top awards for food and beverage excellence. That is a big part of the experience when you stay at a full-service hotel. We are continuing to look for ways to make our bars and restaurants places that locals want to go, not just hotel guests. In some cases it’s a design opportunity, in others it’s enhancing the service offering. There is a lot of new competition in the food and beverage space with local restaurants and bars, so we’re always challenging ourselves to find new ways to create fun experiences for people.

How has the market changed, and what are your current priorities to keep Mainsail competitive and growing in this region?

We’re testing the waters with AI and finding early ways it can help us both on the design side and in sales and marketing. There’s still so much to learn. We have several key members of our team taking courses and really learning how to utilize AI because the ways you can apply it aren’t always obvious. You still need a bartender to serve drinks, but when it comes to reservations, yield management, pricing, branding, and menu offerings, AI can now generate incredible data about your competitors.

We’re always focused on finding ways to delight guests. At our Epicurean Hotel, for example, when you check in, you receive a glass of wine and a personal escort to your room if you’d like. We give guests the full lay of the land and a tour if they desire. We want to continue finding ways to elevate even the nuts and bolts, from making sure rooms are spotless to someone who answers the phone when a guest calls. That’s our goal, and it will always be our goal.

What key trends are you observing in hospitality and real estate, whether in lifestyle hotels, extended stay, or luxury boutique segments?

We’re continuing to see a younger deomgraphic looking for authentic experiences. They don’t necessarily want something cookie-cutter. Back in the old days, business travelers wanted to know they’d get the Marriott hamburger, the same TV channels, that homogenized consistency. Now people are looking for experiences, even on business trips. They might love attending a Thai cooking class in our culinary theater, getting on a bike and riding down Bayshore Boulevard, or touring the neighborhoods of Hyde Park. In each market we’re in, we’re always trying to find some authentic way to let guests connect with the community in a meaningful way.

How are you approaching workforce development and employee retention in today’s competitive labor market?

We take a thoughtful approach to hiring and invest heavily in onboarding, making sure every new team member understands our culture from the start. As a small-to-medium sized company, associates have meaningful access to leadership, including the CEO, and play a real role in shaping the direction of our business.

For those passionate about hospitality and eager to grow, we offer a dynamic environment. Our hotels are more layered than the typical property, and team members are encouraged to wear multiple hats, gaining hands-on experience across the business. It’s a fast-paced, engaging approach that helps us attract and develop strong talent, with clear opportunities for growth along the way.

What are some of the biggest challenges you see ahead for Florida’s hospitality sector, and how are you positioning yourself to turn those into opportunities?

For a portion of our workforce, transportation and proximity to where they live will continue to be a challenge. We try to build hotels in places with great walkability scores, but that can price out some of our staff from living nearby. We need our communities to continue improving infrastructure such as roads, mass transportation, trains, and buses. We have housekeepers who drive an hour each way from Dade City. Affordable housing and transportation will remain important issues for our industry.

On the development side, interest rates have been a challenge. When you’re building hotels, you borrow a lot of money, and when rates are high, that’s painful. We need rates to come down a bit more so we can continue to grow and add projects to our portfolio.

How do you see Mainsail’s impact on local economic and community development? 

In fall 2025, we announced an exciting project in partnership with Moffitt Cancer Center where we’re building a hotel on their campus. It will be a beautiful property with all the food, beverage, and design elements we’re known for, but it’s also part of the Moffitt mission. Families who come in for extended stays while a loved one is being treated at Moffitt will have a place to stay. And because the hotel is close to USF, the new stadium, and Busch Gardens, it will serve a wide range of guests. We’re proud to contribute to that community in a meaningful way.

Looking ahead to the next two to three years, what are your top goals and priorities for Mainsail?

We’re looking for great people, especially young professionals who want to join this industry and grow within it. A lot of people have historically viewed hospitality as something they’ll do until they find what they “really” want to do. But there’s a strong career path here. I started as a dishwasher, and you can build a real career in this business.

Because we’re growing and opening four to five hotels in the next three years, we’ll need roughly 600 new employees and about 50 new managers and supervisors. So we’re going to keep evolving and finding ways to attract great people into our company.