Inspired By The Spirit Of Billionaire And Serial Investor Robert F. Smith, Will Huston Launched A $430M Hospitality Fund
The spirit of Robert F. Smith inspired the launch of a multi-million-dollar hospitality fund.
As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Smith is the founder of Vista Equity Partners, which invests in technology companies and fulfilled its largest raise to date in 2024, amounting to $20 billion to lay the groundwork for its focus on artificial intelligence (AI).
Smith’s strategy has served as a blueprint for innovation in the hospitality sector. According to information shared on LinkedIn, Will Huston — founder and chief investment officer of Bay Street Hospitality — shares a similar interest in leveraging technology, but with a focus on uncovering overlooked investment opportunities. The group is backed by a $430 million investment fund, according to Shoppe Black.
“We’ve meticulously developed a quantamental model that provides strategic foresight, enabling us to pinpoint high-potential investments in markets where wealth inequality (distinct from income inequality) presents both a social challenge and a unique opportunity for accelerated hotel asset appreciation,” Bay Street Hospitality stated in an overview on LinkedIn. “By investing in regions often overlooked by traditional U.S. investors, we aim to generate compelling risk-adjusted returns while also creating local jobs, supporting businesses that service our properties, and contributing to the broader development of these communities.”
Bay Street Hospitality’s footprint includes India. In a video interview with Shoppe Black, Huston mentioned that its first investment in India was in Bangalore’s Kempegowda International Airport back in 2018. He sees significant opportunity in the country, particularly as it boasts the largest and youngest population in the world. Additionally, 1.7 billion international and domestic tourists visited India in 2023, notes Road Genius. Yet, there are only 160,000 branded hotels in India compared to 16 million in the United States, Huston told Shoppe Black.
“For every thousand tourists there’s like 17 hotel rooms in America and in India it’s 0.11 hotel rooms. It’s just not nearly enough hotel rooms…There’s this fast-growing country where the current generation is earning exponentially more than their parents as they’ve sort of transitioned from agriculture into more tech-based and manufacturing-based income. They’re spending their money differently,” Huston mentioned to Shoppe Black. They’re spending their money on one, two trips a year.”
He continued, “Over 90% of the travel in India is domestic travel. It’s the only country that’s large in the world that’s not relying on outside visitors coming into the country… So you’ve got a market that knows these local brands. You’ve got an environment where you know a handful of families own about 80% of the market. You see what’s going on, and there’s an opportunity as all these roads are being built and airports are being built, and the next thing you know what’s off of a highway… So there’s huge opportunity there in India that I really, like I’m looking forward to continuing to spend a lot of my time there and exploring opportunities there for the emerging market.”
