About
The art of welcoming a guest is a lifetime study.
Mine began at UNLV and continued at EHL Hospitality Business School in Switzerland, and it was shaped early by the service traditions of The Ritz-Carlton. It was a masterclass in quiet luxury: the most profound guest experiences are often the most understated.
I founded KKM to bring independent developers and owners the attentive counsel usually reserved for global hotel brands. Having shaped four pre-openings, I help each property find the story that could only be its own.
A fine property is both an experience and an asset, and the best ones honor both. I look through two lenses: what the thoughtful, discriminating traveler longs to feel there, and what the developer and owner need it to deliver. The work begins with the place itself: its landscape, its history and its people. From that come a narrative, a collection of signature guest experiences, and a language your team can use to tell the story with one voice.
My work is the discipline of protecting what makes a destination rare, so that its introduction to the world is as considered as the setting itself.
Warmly,
Kelly
Behind the Work
Kelly Katz has built her career where the commercial and the creative sides of intentional hospitality meet. She led leisure sales with Hyatt, ranking first in her division; repositioned a three-property luxury portfolio in Naples; and shaped the pre-opening and re-opening narratives for Fairmont Austin, Naples Grand Beach Resort, The Inns of Sanibel and others.
Her view of hospitality is formed as much by place as by the craft of gracious service. She has served on the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Government Affairs Committee and the Naples Women’s Club environmental committee, holds US Sailing catamaran certifications, and travels slowly and often, where the landscape sets the pace.
Based in Naples, Florida, she works with owners and developers wherever a place has a story worth telling.
Education: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Bachelor of Hotel Administration—selected as the university’s sole recruit for The Ritz-Carlton corporate management training program. EHL Hospitality Business School, Lausanne, Switzerland—speciality studies focusing on European hospitality.
