Spire Hospitality has launched a Strategic Asset Performance division and promoted Shozib Khan to senior vice president to lead it. The Irving, Texas hotel management company announced the division on 30 September 2026. The unit brings financial strategy, business intelligence, technology, artificial intelligence and hotel resources under one function.
One leader across data, technology and owner services
Khan's promotion expands his leadership to information technology, hotel resources and transitions, brand resources, financial planning and hotel systems. His remit also covers Spire's AI and enterprise automation strategy and direct partnership with owners on hotel performance.
He most recently served as Spire's vice president of owner services. Before that he was vice president of hotel performance and analytics.
What the division will do
Spire states the division will build financial models around key decisions and performance opportunities. It will place executive oversight on selected hotels when a property needs more attention. It will also move financial planning toward a predictive discipline, so teams see earlier what could affect performance.
The company frames the problem it is answering. Hotel firms now hold more data and technology than before. Financial planning, business intelligence and technology each give a different view of performance, and linking those views to decisions remains the hard part. The same issues repeat across a growing portfolio, and the question becomes where added resources do the most good.
Sandoval on what owners ask for
"Owners expect their management partners to do more than explain performance after the fact," said Richard Sandoval, Spire Hospitality chief executive officer. "We need to see opportunities sooner and have the structure to act on them. Strategic Asset Performance creates that accountability, giving our teams a clearer path from what we're seeing across the portfolio to actions that improve performance and strengthen asset value. Shozib is the right person to lead it, and this role reflects the impact he's already had across our business."
Spire named Sandoval its chief executive officer in July 2026.
Khan on acting before month-end
"The next evolution of hotel performance is seeing where the opportunity is before it shows up in a month-end report," Khan said. "We're moving financial intelligence closer to the property, putting the right resources behind what we find, and doing it fast enough to change the outcome."
Khan brings more than 25 years of hospitality leadership experience to the role, by the company's account.
The AI work and the ownership lens
AI and enterprise automation sit at the centre of the division. Spire states it is folding those capabilities into daily operations. The uses it names are forecasting that is more predictive, retirement of manual processes, and surfacing opportunities that are otherwise hard to see.
For owners, Spire describes the intended result as a management partner measured on improving results. Decisions pass through a financial and ownership lens, with what the data shows aligned to what happens at each hotel.
Where the promotion fits the company
Spire describes itself as an owner-centric hotel management company. Its portfolio holds independent hotels and brands including Marriott and Hilton, plus independent resorts and lifestyle hotels. Spire states more than 35 years of hotel operating experience. It is part of the AWH Partners family, alongside AWH Development, a real estate development company in New York.