What Changed My Thinking

By Karl Mifsud

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to work with a globally branded hospitality developer.

I wasn’t there to sell property.

I wanted to understand how the industry worked from the inside.

How developers chose locations.

Why some projects attracted billions of dollars while others never got off the ground.

One afternoon, I was standing in one of the world’s best beach clubs with my friend Joe.

It was packed.

People everywhere.

Joe looked over at me and said,

“Bro... I just saw your face change.”

He was right.

I can still remember exactly where I was standing.

Because that was the moment something clicked.

I wasn’t looking at the hotel.

I was looking at the people.

Thousands of people had chosen to be there that day.

The next day, there would be thousands more.

The week after that, it would happen all over again.

On the flight home, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Not the hotel.

The people.

I’ve always believed the best investments start with demand.

That’s how I’ve approached Australian property for more than 30 years.

I look at population growth.

Infrastructure.

Employment.

Transport.

Lifestyle.

The things that bring people to a location.

Because where people go, opportunity usually follows.

Standing in that beach club, I realised I was looking at the same principle.

Just on a much bigger scale.

This wasn’t local demand.

This was global demand.

Millions of people travelling, spending money and creating an economy around experiences.

That got my attention.

When I got home, I started digging.

Not into the properties.

Into the numbers.

Tourism.

Population growth.

Government investment.

Infrastructure.

Future development.

Then I started looking at the operators.

Why would brands like Taj or Radisson Blu commit decades of their reputation to a location?

What had they seen?

What research had they done before making that decision?

The more I looked, the more convinced I became that I wasn’t researching hotels.

I was researching demand.

The hotels were simply the response to it.

That changed the size of my thinking.

The principle was the same.

The scale was different.

I’ve never invested in bricks and mortar.

I’ve always invested in what brings people to them.

My Thoughts

People often ask me what changed.

The answer is simple.

Not the way I think.

The scale of what I was looking at.

The principles stayed exactly the same.

I just started applying them globally.

And that’s the lens I now use when I investigate every opportunity.