#329 Pete Hurley Founder at Well Seasoned - Fractional Leadership in Hospitality

Michael and Pete Hurley discuss how hospitality organizations may shift away from large full-time head offices toward fractional and project-based senior talent to improve flexibility, innovation, and profitability amid tight margins and job insecurity.Hurley shares his career from launching a hospitality tech startup in 2004 that evolved into a cultural-venue operator business he ran for nearly 20 years and sold three years ago, before moving into consultancy and noticing the growing “fractional” trend and the lack of a dedicated marketplace for hospitality expertise.He built and coded the Well Seasoned platform in a week, launching in February and growing to about 550 consultants, around 25 hospitality businesses engaging, and regular projects posted.They cover benefits like faster hiring/onboarding, niche expertise, reduced risk, consultants collaborating to fill skill gaps, and fractionals sometimes converting into full-time roles, while emphasizing the need for a core in-house team and an active community to avoid the platform becoming a static directory.Lodgify is the headline sponsor for the Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Show.Lodgify is an all-in-one hosting platform built on one promise, minimum hassle, maximum independence. We help independent vacation rental hosts and small-scale property managers run and grow their business with 0% Lodgify booking commissions, an AI Co-Host (COMING SUMMER 2026, early access open now), and direct booking websites built to get found by AI.For Mavericks listeners, there's a special offer: 20% off all yearly and bi-yearly plans - Use code MAVERICK20.Learn more at https://lodgify.com/Connect with Pete:https://www.linkedin.com/in/petehurley/https://wellseasoned.work/Connect with the podcastJoin the Hospitality Mavericks newsletterTune in via your favourite podcast platform - here More episodes for you to check out here This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy