Toral Desai, Psy.D. is a Principal at ghSMART, where she serves private equity and Fortune 500 clients in the areas of management assessment, talent planning and organizational change initiatives. She focuses on identifying an organization’s strategic objectives to attract, develop, and retain top talent.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Toral was at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, where she partnered with the executive team to ensure business goals for the brand were supported by sound talent management strategies, particularly in the areas of leadership development, learning frameworks, and employer marketing. Before her role at The Ritz-Carlton, Toral led change management initiatives within the finance division of Marriott International.
Toral earned her Doctorate in Psychology and her MBA from Widener University. She was awarded a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina.
Toral prepared a FREE download exclusively for the Lodging Leaders community. Her guide, 10 Principles of Change Management, provides a set of practices and guidelines to help leaders effectively execute initiatives that will require change. To get the most out of this episode, download the guide.
Toral Desai
Toral Desai, Psy.D.
Principal
ghSMART & Company, Inc.
3455 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 500
Atlanta, GA 30326
Office: +1 678-424-1700
ghSMART
Lodging Econometrics has tracked the hotel industry since 1998. Its global database includes new-hotel pipelines as well as renovations and brand conversions. Hotel franchisers once eager to launch new brands are focused on converting existing hotels because it’s a faster way to recover revenue lost to the COVID-19 pandemic than through new construction. In Episode 346, Lodging Leaders explores the increasing number of conversions in the U.S. hotel industry and what owners and operators need to consider before repositioning an asset.
In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., financiers anticipated a swell of distressed hotel businesses. Some raised rescue funds to respond to what they thought was a pending crisis. Though there are financial rescues taking place, the level of such activity is far below what industry advisers and fund managers expected. Commercial real estate investors positioned to act in the early days of the pandemic held off and are now just beginning to unleash their cash hoards totaling billions of dollars. Episode 345 of Lodging Leaders podcast explores the state of capital investment in the hotel industry.