Paul Boldy

He helps owners, developers and investors establish what a hospitality asset should be, how it will perform and how design decisions can create lasting value. His approach connects investment, operations, design and guest experience, supporting decisions across new development, renovation and repositioning. 

Paul brings more than thirty-five years of experience in capital projects, design management and hospitality development. He began his career in construction in the north of England before moving to Dubai in 2004. His career has given him a view of hospitality from several perspectives: contractor, owner’s representative, hotel operator and design adviser. 

His previous work includes senior roles with Jumeirah Group and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, followed by leadership of hospitality advisory and strategy at RLA Global and Benoy. His experience spans the refurbishment of operating hotels, the development of new hotels and resorts, and the planning of larger destinations. Across these roles, he has worked at the intersection of commercial ambition, design intent and operational delivery, developing a practical understanding of how decisions made at one stage affect performance at the next. 

At OBMI, Paul brings this experience to a practice encompassing market studies, highest and best use analysis, financial modelling, destination and resort planning, and design governance. The aim is to give clients a clear commercial basis for decisions while strengthening the quality of the places and experiences they create. His advisory work has included multi-hotel clusters, large-scale master plans, and island and resort destinations across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. He has also developed proprietary feasibility and project development tools that help owners, operators and design teams test options against shared performance data. 

Paul writes widely on hospitality, exploring the relationships between decision-making, design, investment, leadership and human experience. His writing questions established assumptions and considers how hospitality can evolve in response to changing expectations, behaviors and ways of living. He is a regular speaker and moderator, contributing to industry discussions on the future of hotels, resorts and destinations. 

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building and a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants. He holds certificates from Cornell University in Hotel Planning and Design, Hotel Real Estate Investments and Asset Management, and Real Estate Financial Modelling.