Noble’s Mit Shah: AI Will Accelerate Shift Into 'Branded Living'
By: Sean O'Neill
June 4th, 2025 at 2:24 PM EDT
Skift Take
Hotel groups won't be content to just run hotels anymore, says Mit Shah, a hotel real estate investor. Soon they may offer student housing, adult active communities, and other "branded living" services thanks to the data-crunching potential unlocked by AI.
Major hotel chains will feel compelled to expand into more non-hotel services to create more touch points with customers as artificial intelligence becomes more effective at helping them analyze and monetize customer data.
A mission shift to "branded living" will mirror how Amazon transformed from an online bookstore into a company that touches "essentially every part of one's life," according to Mit Shah, CEO of Noble Investment Group, which manages $5 billion in hospitality real estate investments.
"It shouldn't be surprising that Marriott is now in the multifamily business," Shah said, referring to how the company in 2022 debuted serviced apartments in U.S. multifamily residential complexes. "They're in the homes and villas business. They're the cruise business [with Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection]."
"At this conference next year, we will be like, 'Did you just see Marriott's now in the student housing business, or it's now in the active adult communities business?'"
Shah drew parallels in the loyalty membership drives of the major hotel groups and Amazon. Marriott now has about 237 million members. Hilton has about 218 million members. Amazon has over 300 million customers and over 200 million paying subscribers to its Prime service.
Trust Drives Expansion
Shah said that, just as consumers might research Adidas sneakers on any site but ultimately purchase them on Amazon due to trust and convenience, hotel brands are betting customers will choose branded student housing, vacation rentals, or cruise experiences over unbranded alternatives.
"Why is that? Because of the trust factor of a brand," Shah said. "The brand becomes about not only where you want to stay, but where you could live, where you could play, and what unique experiences you want to have."
"Adding customer touch points gives [hotel groups] the ability to get that data, personalize things, utilize AI, spin it, and create these customizable offerings," Shah said.
AI Makes Real Estate Smarter
For real estate investors like Noble, AI is transforming how they identify opportunities in what Shah describes as a "street corner business" where location is everything.
Traditionally, investment decisions relied on analyzing economic indicators. Investors have manually sifted through presentations to spot emerging neighborhoods, like Atlanta's shift of real estate market dynamism from central Buckhead to areas west of midtown that "seven or eight years ago" had "nothing there."
Now, AI tools can synthesize real-time data and identify patterns that might escape human analysis, Shah said. The technology allows investors to efficiently process indicators like new coffee shops and migration patterns.
"The quality of the data is actually pretty good, which now allows us to think about an environment where you can take this and in real-time see where the trends are going," Shah said.
Talent Strategy Overhaul
Perhaps most tellingly, Shah is actively recruiting younger talent from outside hospitality. Shah's hiring strategy reflects a broader industry recognition that AI adoption requires fresh perspectives.
"I want to get younger, smarter, and more adaptable all at the same time, and get people from different industries besides hospitality real estate," he said.
On a personal level, Shah uses AI tools to research business contacts ahead of meeting them and to refine his communication style for different audiences.
Drawing on his sociology minor in university when he received lessons from poet Maya Angelou about how "people will never forget how you made them feel," he leverages AI to adjust his writing tone for investor reports and other communications.
The combination of data-driven insights and emotional intelligence reflects Shah's broader view that AI will enhance rather than replace human judgment in relationship-driven businesses like hospitality and real estate investment.