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July 6, 2026: Chester, Cheshire.
SAVVY Collective has revealed a new brand identity and expanded vision – cementing its position as the trusted partner for small to medium-sized owner-led hotels, leisure and lifestyle ventures, who need serious expertise without losing the character that makes them special.
Founded by award-winning hotelier and operator Steven Hesketh, SAVVY Collective combines management, consultancy, education, events and investment under one roof – built not on consultancy theory, but on years of actually running hotels.
“We want SAVVY Collective to become the trusted choice for owners who need support without sacrificing what makes their business unique,” said Hesketh. “The best partnerships are built on practical support, shared ambition and genuine collaboration. We have seen first-hand what happens when independent operators are left without the right support – good businesses struggle, great teams leave, and the character that made those places special gets lost. That is exactly what SAVVY exists to prevent.”
An operator-led model – and a family business at its heart
What sets SAVVY apart is where it comes from. The business has been shaped by the realities of running family hotels: the financial pressures, the staffing challenges, the community relationships that no management manual fully captures.
That ethos extends into the business itself. Hesketh’s wife and three children each play an active role in delivering SAVVY’s services – a deliberate reflection of the values the company brings to its clients.
The collective is built around the values of sharp thinking, people power, family-grown experience, local connections, collaborative partnerships, agility and value-driven decisions.
SAVVY has recently strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointments of industry figure Marcus Magee as Operations Director and Stephen Miles as Development Director, helping to drive the collective’s continued and focused growth.
Crucially, SAVVY is not in the business of theoretical advice. It works alongside owners to deliver practical solutions that create measurable outcomes – operational resets, revenue growth strategies, team development, cash flow support, asset optimisation, repositioning and rebranding, community engagement and long-term performance improvement.
SAVVY works with ventures up to circa 100 keys, units or equivalent scale, across hotels, food and beverage, social hubs, attractions, events and lifestyle-led destinations and experiences.
SAVVY’s portfolio already demonstrates the model in practice, including The Chester Townhouse, The Richmond Hotel, The Annex, The Old Registry, Hotel Wrexham, The Savvy Fox, Queens Square Social, DevaFest and the Cheshire and North Wales Food and Drink Festival.
SAVVY’s education arm has also made a significant early impact. Bee Our Guest – a full-colour children’s book for ages 7 to 10 co-created by Hesketh – introduces young readers to the world of hospitality through storytelling. An Amazon bestseller, it has recently been reproduced in Welsh to support wider engagement with the sector across Wales and the border regions.
Five specialist areas
SAVVY operates across five service lines.
SAVVY Management provides independent hotels with full operating platform support – hotel representation, commercial performance, people-first leadership and financial discipline – while keeping owners firmly in control.
SAVVY Consultancy delivers focused expertise ranging from three-day operational health checks to long-term strategic partnerships, repositioning projects and pre-opening support.
SAVVY Education develops hospitality talent at every career stage through industry-led programmes, the Bee Our Guest initiative and The Art of Hospitality conference series.
SAVVY Investment provides agile capital solutions — from cash flow support and bridge funding to refinancing guidance and asset protection. Recent investments include Chance Clean Cider, an award-winning low-alcohol brand.
SAVVY Events oversees hospitality-led experiences built for commercial impact and community connection, including DevaFest, the family music festival held at Cholmondeley Castle which attracts 30,000 visitors each August, and the Cheshire and North Wales Food and Drink Festival.
Launching into a market in motion
The timing is deliberate. Rising operating costs, recruitment pressures and growing complexity have left many independent operators needing specialist support – but without the appetite to hand control to a large corporate operator.
The numbers reflect a market moving in their favour. UK hotel transaction volumes reached £1.6 billion in Q1 2026 alone – more than double the same period in 2025 and 53 per cent above the five-year average, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Critically, owner-operators and private investors accounted for 89 per cent of buyer volume in the quarter.
Demand is also outpacing supply. UK hotel demand grew 0.9 per cent year-on-year in Q1 2026, with supply rising just 0.7 per cent – a gap forecast to widen through the rest of the year.
The North West tells a particularly strong story. Both Manchester and Liverpool have broken into the top ten of the Colliers UK Hotel Development Index 2026 for the first time, driven by strong RevPAR growth and comparatively lower land and development costs. Colliers describes the region’s emergence as a structural shift in where domestic and international hotel capital is looking – not a one-year anomaly. Chester itself recorded a two per cent increase in new licensed venues, making it the strongest-performing North West city for hospitality growth and second only to Newcastle nationally.
“Our aim is simple, but bold” said Hesketh. “To support hospitality businesses in building strong teams, service excellence, operational resilience and sustainable profitability.”
About SAVVY Collective
SAVVY Collective is the intelligent partner for owner-led hotels, leisure and lifestyle ventures, combining real ownership experience with specialist expertise to deliver practical solutions that strengthen people, performance, place, product and profitability. SAVVY operates across five service areas: Management, Consultancy, Education, Events and Investment.
Pictures: Lianne Dempsey, GB Hospitality
Also read: SAVVY Collective invests in CHANCE Cider as alcohol-free brand targets hospitality growth
