About this episode

Rob Smith shares his journey from accounting to hospitality leadership and the importance of strategic thinking.

In this episode, Rob Smith, the CEO and President of Stonebridge Companies, shares the unlikely path that took him from an accounting degree to running his own hotel by 25 and then spending 17 years as a hospitality leader in the Caribbean. You'll hear how a Caribbean hotel owner taught him to stop just getting through the day and start thinking strategically, why working alongside people from other countries changed how he leads, and why he believes everyone should work abroad at least once....

People in this episode

Host: Josiah Mackenzie

Guest: Rob Smith

Topics covered

• hospitality leadership
• strategic thinking
• international work experience
• career development
• hotel management

Keywords

• hospitality
• strategic thinking
• Caribbean
• hotel management
• career path

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stonebridge Companies

Places: Caribbean

More episodes of Hospitality Daily Podcast

• Why We Use AI to Make Our Hotels More Human - Rob Smith, Stonebridge Companies · June 5, 2026 · 11 min
• The Culture That Drives Our Outperformance - Rob Smith, Stonebridge Companies · June 4, 2026 · 11 min
• How We Grew While the Market Shrank - Rob Smith, Stonebridge Companies · June 2, 2026 · 12 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Hospitality Daily Podcast podcast page.