Mandy Holloway

As Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Montage International, I have the privilege of thinking about one of the most important elements of our business: the people who bring our brands to life.

In luxury hospitality, experience is our product. It is expressed through design, service, culinary artistry and a sense of place—but ultimately, it is delivered by people. That makes the Associate Experience (AX) far more than a human resources initiative or a collection of programs. It is a business strategy and a deliberate approach to how we attract, select, engage, develop and transition our people.

At Montage International, we have intentionally built our Associate Experience around five interconnected pillars: Attract/Select, Belonging, Leadership, Growth and Transition. Together, they provide a framework for considering the full associate journey—and for creating the conditions in which people can do their best work.

Attract/Select

Our commitment to AX begins before someone ever joins Montage.

We are intentional about the talent we attract and select because we know that luxury hospitality requires more than technical capability. It requires curiosity, empathy, judgment, generosity and an authentic desire to serve.

That begins with how we tell our story. We want our employer brand to authentically reflect our values and the culture associates will experience once they join us. The question is not simply, how do we fill a role? It is, what elements of our culture are we highlighting to attract the right talent?

At the leadership level, Talent Plus assessments help us understand how an individual’s natural talents align with the demands of the role. Five years of analyzing assessment data alongside performance and associate data have helped us establish meaningful benchmarks for high-performing talent.

Data informs the decision, but it does not replace judgment. We are looking for people whose character and capabilities align with the culture we are building. Genuine hospitality cannot simply be trained into someone. It has to be authentic.

Belonging

Selecting great talent is only the beginning. We then have a responsibility to create an environment where people feel seen, valued and connected to something larger than themselves.

At its core, belonging means appreciating and recognizing the talent each associate brings to the team. It means creating clarity around expectations, helping people understand how their work contributes to the business and ensuring that their opinions count.

We want associates to understand not only what they do, but why it matters. When people can see the connection between their individual contribution, their team and the guest experience, work becomes more meaningful.

This philosophy also shapes how we listen. Five years ago, we made a deliberate decision to move engagement away from being an annual survey exercise and into the hands of leaders and their teams. Managers receive the data and work with associates to determine where attention is needed.

We don’t believe engagement can be prescribed from corporate headquarters. The people closest to the work are often best positioned to identify what needs to change—and leaders are responsible for creating the environment in which those conversations can happen.

Leadership

That makes leadership one of the most consequential elements of AX.

We believe leaders are the architects of the associate experience. Their role is to create clear expectations, inspire, align and activate their teams, while living the values that define our organization.

Leadership is not simply about managing performance. It is about creating the conditions for extraordinary performance— through clarity, accountability, recognition, trust and connection.

Our Cornerstones leadership program, launched this year, reflects that philosophy. The program focuses on the manager’s role in associate engagement, combining Gallup expertise with practical tools and shared learning across our hotels.

“ Guest experiences begin with an exceptional associate experience, because how we care for people shapes how they care for guests. “

We also believe strongly in learning from one another. When a property or team finds something that works, we want that knowledge to travel. Pendry Manhattan West, for example, has consistently been our highest-scoring property for associate engagement, and we intentionally share its practices so others can learn from what is working.

The recognition we have received reinforces the importance of this work. In 2026, Montage International was recognized by USA TODAY as a Top Workplace and received the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award.

We are proud of those recognitions, but we view them less as a destination than as an affirmation of the work—and a responsibility to keep getting better.

Growth

Growth is about creating a future for our people.

We want associates to see a path forward with Montage, whether that means advancing into leadership, developing a new skill, gaining exposure to another part of the business or simply becoming better at what they do.

One of the questions we continually ask ourselves is: Do our top performers see a future with us?

That question keeps us focused not only on retention, but on development. Resources such as LinkedIn Learning provide associates with opportunities to build capabilities and pursue areas of interest that can serve them throughout their careers.

Growth also means recognizing that people bring their whole lives to work. Financial wellness through DailyPay, mental wellness resources and family-forming support are examples of how we continue to evolve our associate offerings around the realities people face outside the workplace.

When we invest in the whole person, we strengthen the individual, the team and ultimately the organization.

Transition

The final pillar, Transition, recognizes that every associate journey eventually changes.

People join, grow, take on new opportunities and, sometimes, leave. Rather than viewing departure simply as an endpoint, we believe it is an opportunity to learn.

We need to understand why our best talent leaves, whether that transition is internal or external. Those insights can help us become a better organization for the people who remain and for those who join us in the future.

Just as importantly, we want associates to leave as brand ambassadors. The relationship does not have to end when employment does. If we have created a meaningful experience, people can carry that connection with them wherever their careers take them.

The Human Advantage

Technology will continue to change the way we work. Artificial intelligence will increasingly help us remove friction from processes, particularly in high-volume recruiting. We are planning to introduce Paradox in 2027 to support automated scheduling and provide candidates with answers around the clock.

But technology should enhance the human experience, not replace it.

The more technology can handle repetitive work, the more our people leaders can focus on the things that require judgment, empathy, conversation and connection. In hospitality, those qualities are not peripheral to the business. They are the business.

Ultimately, our Associate Experience strategy reflects a simple belief: to deliver an exceptional guest experience, we must first create an exceptional experience for the people delivering it.

That requires intentionality at every stage—from how we attract and select talent, to how we create belonging, develop leaders, invest in growth and honor transitions.

At Montage International, AX is how we connect our people strategy to our business strategy. When associates feel valued for the talent they bring, understand what is expected of them, see a future with us and feel inspired to do their best work, they are better positioned to create the experiences our guests remember.

And that is the real opportunity of AX: building a culture where the associate experience and the guest experience are not separate strategies, but two sides of the same promise.