Hotel Business, the number one hotel industry source for information according to Harvey Research, released the 2017 rankings for Top Management Companies and Top Owners & Developers. Innisfree Hotels continues to climb higher into the limelight. Hotel Business ranks Innisfree Hotels as 66th in Management Companies and 49th in Owners & Developers.

Since humble beginnings in 1985, Innisfree Hotels has made its mark all along the Gulf Coast and as far away as Vermont. Julian MacQueen, Founder and CEO of Innisfree Hotels, reminisced on the journey.

“I feel like we have moved out of a mom and pop mentality and into a scalable, nationally recognized hotel company,” he says. “And although we struggle with those challenges, I’m convinced we have the right people in the room to make that transition sustainable.”

MacQueen attributes this current ranking to the hard work and contributions made by everyone company-wide.

“To see something like that in the context of a national ranking is a bit of a wake-up call,” he says. “To know that the scale of what we do is not insignificant.”

Innisfree Hotels has not been immune to the constant changes and challenges facing the hospitality industry. However, MacQueen believes that the fundamental foundations of hospitality remain fixed.

“Two of the fundamentals are genuine hospitality and creating experiences that are fun and memorable,” he says. “But one of the biggest changes in the last five years is the role of marketing and the democratization of revenue channels, putting into question traditional ways of market placements and messaging.”

In its major market debut in 2017, Innisfree Hotels purchased a hotel in New Orleans called The Mercantile Hotel. The acquisition and branding of this independent boutique marks a major milestone for both Innisfree Hotels and MacQueen.

“We have specialized in tertiary markets for most of our career as Innisfree Hotels,” he says. “Not only did we enter a major market, but we did it without the benefit of a brand. I am very excited about watching the ramp-up of this independent hotel in a major market to see if our investment in digital media has the strength to gain more than our fair share of the market.”

MacQueen is also confident that Innisfree Hotels will continue to climb the rankings in 2018.

“Our pipeline of deals, assuming everything is static, will push us up a few more places in 2018,” he says. “And the exciting part to me is that we have made good on our pledge to not put growth in front of culture.”

Innisfree Hotels witnessed a 44% growth in 2017 and is poised to grow by another 10% in 2018. You can visit the Innisfree Hotels website to keep track of their new and exciting projects on the Gulf Coast and around the United States.