About Us
We are Scalzo Hospitality
Scalzo Hospitality is a third-generation, family-owned hotel management company built on the entrepreneurial spirit of our founder, Carmen Scalzo. Guided by strong family values and a long-term mindset, our purpose is clear and our promise is simple.
As an owner-operator turned management company, we understand the weight of ownership. This perspective and a process that puts people first make up the Scalzo difference. We invite you to look around, get to know us, and discover what Remarkable Hospitality could mean for you.
Our Purpose
To be operators who care, partners who deliver, and stewards of a generational story that is still being written.
Our Promise
To deliver Remarkable Hospitality.
Our Values
- People First
- Ownership
- Consistency
- Pride
- Transformation
Why Scalzo?
Because remarkable requires more. And decades of ownership have taught us exactly what that means.
70+
Years of Ownership
3rd Gen
Family Business
Local
Leadership
Proven
EOS-driven process
Our Leadership Team

Paul C. Durand
Chairman and Visionary
Paul Durand
Board Member and Strategic Advisor
Paul is a third-generation member of the Scalzo family and the grandson of company founder Carmen Scalzo. After more than two decades as Chief Executive Officer, he now chairs the Scalzo Hospitality Board of Directors and serves as the company’s Visionary.
Paul was instrumental in Scalzo’s strategic transformation from owner-operator to third-party hotel management, including adopting an EOS-driven operating model and preparing the company to offer it to outside owners. A hospitality veteran of more than 25 years, he is known for his hands-on leadership and ability to deliver under pressure—to “land the plane” as the experienced pilot likes to say. Paul’s commitment to the company’s core values shaped the culture and process that Scalzo brings to every property.
On the board, Paul focuses on Scalzo’s long-term vision and future growth initiatives, keeping the business looking well beyond the next 5-10 years toward multigenerational success. While Ryan and the leadership team execute the strategic plan, Paul makes sure the company stays ahead of an industry that’s constantly evolving.

Ryan Haas
President and Chief Operating Officer
Leadership & Strategy
People & Performance
EOS Integration
Operational Traction
Ryan Haas
President
In eleven years at Scalzo, Ryan has held five roles — F&B, sales, GM, COO, and now President. He is the rare hotel executive who has personally done nearly every job he now oversees.
My love of hospitality started around the table long before I had a word for it. My mom was a food scientist and my dad sold gourmet foods, so gathering people around great food was simply how I grew up. I’ve now spent 25 years turning that into a career, and I joined Scalzo in 2015 as Director of Food & Beverage. Since then I’ve served as Director of Sales, General Manager, and COO before stepping into my current role as President.
As President, my job is to ask the right questions and stimulate the strategy that keeps us moving forward. I try to stay curious and bring that energy to everything I do.
Outside of work, I’m a musician and an avid skier. My wife Jesse and I are raising twin boys, Teddy and Patrick, who are musicians in their own right too. Some of our favorite trips together have taken us to Iceland, Medellín, the Virgin Islands, and South Africa.
ON THIS TEAM
Ryan sets strategy and holds the standard. He has sat in every seat, so no one gets to tell him a problem isn’t solvable.

Patrick Durand
Board Member and Strategic Advisor
Patrick Durand
Board Member and Strategic Advisor
Patrick is a third-generation member of the Scalzo family and the grandson of company founder Carmen Scalzo. After more than two decades as Chief Financial Officer, he now serves on the Scalzo Hospitality Board of Directors, providing strategic guidance and oversight.
Patrick has been part of Scalzo’s financial leadership since 2003 and has played a central role in hotel acquisitions, property repositioning, and franchise brand development. He guided the company through the Great Recession and the Pandemic and helped build the financial foundation and systems that now support Scalzo’s move into third-party management. He also helped put together the team now leading the company forward, including hiring Chris Bennett in 2017 and later championing him for the CFO role.
On the board, Patrick brings an owner’s perspective and the judgment of someone who has seen the business through every kind of market. He focuses on carrying the family business and its legacy into the next generation by ensuring Scalzo’s properties, whether owned or managed, perform well and create lasting value.

Brian DeRose
Director of Design & Development
Hotel Development
Guest Experience Design
Franchise Partnerships
Brand Compliance
Brian DeRose
Director of Design & Development
Brian leads Scalzo Hospitality’s design and development initiatives, bringing an operator’s perspective to how properties are planned, renovated, and repositioned. He has led multiple renovations and refreshes for Scalzo since 2010 and oversees the company’s West Coast operations from Anaheim.
I came to development through hotel operations, which isn’t the usual path, and it’s why I approach projects differently. A hotel can be beautiful and still be difficult to run.
I’ve stood behind a front desk designed by someone who had never worked one, and I’ve seen how something as simple as a poorly placed linen closet can create inefficiencies every day. So when I’m reviewing drawings, I’m not only asking whether a project meets brand standards and looks the way it should. I’m asking what it will cost to operate on a Tuesday in year seven.
That operational perspective shapes how I approach every project. Design decisions are operating decisions, and the best time to get them right is before they’re built.
When I’m not working, I enjoy getting out on the slopes and playing guitar. Snowboarding and music have always been two of my favorite ways to unwind.
ON THIS TEAM
Brian is the one who makes sure a property is built to perform, not just built to open.

Lindsey Lundgren
Director of Operations
Remarkable Operations
Guest Experience
People-First Leadership
Team Development
Lindsey Lundgren
Director of Operations
Lindsey has run front office, housekeeping, food and beverage, and full hotel operations across Marriott and IHG properties, and she started at the front desk. Nobody on her team does a job she hasn’t done herself.
I began my career checking in guests, and I worked through nearly every area of hotel operations from there. Learning the business from the ground up gave me a deep appreciation for both our guests and the teams that make every stay memorable. Today I’m responsible for multiple departments and hundreds of team members and for the results that come out of them — guest satisfaction scores, flow-through, and staffing stability.
Here’s what I’ve learned: guest experience is a staffing outcome. You cannot buy your way to a good review with amenities if the person at the desk is on their third double this week and doesn’t feel seen. So I lead the other direction — invest in the team, hold a clear standard, and the scores follow.
The most rewarding part of my job is watching people grow. I’m passionate about mentoring, celebrating people’s wins, and building a culture where our teams feel valued and empowered to do their best work. Outside of work, I am a competitive athlete in multiple club sports in the Twin Cities and recently got to compete at the National Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
ON THIS TEAM
Lindsey is where strategy meets the floor. Plans that survive her scrutiny are the ones that actually work at 11pm on a sold-out Saturday.

Chris Bennett
Chief Financial Officer
Financial Planning & Analysis
Reporting & Accountability
Concept Design
F&B Optimization
Chris Bennett
Chief Financial Officer
Chris runs the financials for a portfolio spanning two hotels, two restaurant
concepts, and a franchise operation, and he came to the numbers the long way — through the kitchens that generate them.
I began my hospitality career at 15 in a small-town Minnesota kitchen. After culinary school in Chicago and a degree from UNLV, I spent a decade on the Las Vegas Strip before joining Scalzo in 2017. I helped open Twin Cities 400 Tavern and Delta Hotels by Marriott Minneapolis Northeast before moving into corporate leadership.
Today, as CFO, I oversee budgeting, forecasting, capital planning, and financial reporting across the portfolio. I learned hotels from the line up, not the P&L down. That operational background helps me look beyond the numbers, understand what’s driving performance, and turn financial insight into action.
I bring a direct, crisp style and high standards to everything I do. When I’m not crunching numbers, I am spending time with my wife Chelsey and my kids Tommy and Vivian and our Russian tortoise named Catfish.
ON THIS TEAM
Chris is the reality check. Every plan runs through his numbers before it reaches an owner, and he’d rather kill a good idea early than explain a bad quarter late.

Alex Miller
Director of Business Development
Strategic Partnerships
Business Development
Market Analysis
Real Estate
Alex Miller
Director of Business Development
Alex is the first of the fourth generation of his family to join Scalzo. He came up through engineering and real estate before coming home to the family business, and today he is usually the first person an owner talks to. Seventy years in, the family still answers the phone.
I came to Scalzo the long way around — engineering taught me to think in systems, and a decade in technical sales taught me how to read a P&L and keep a relationship going past the first hard conversation. What pulled me home was purpose: three generations of my family poured their lives into this company, and I’d rather carry that weight for them than for anyone else.
What we actually sell is our people and 70+ years of refined process. Owning and operating hotels builds relationships you can’t hire overnight — our brands, lenders, builders, and many of our GMs have been with us for decades. That’s a way of working that holds up when nothing goes to plan, and it can’t be put together in a hurry.
Home is Hudson, Wisconsin, where I’m active in our church. Outside of work I train Jiu Jitsu, coach my kids’ teams, and get them out on the golf course. Come fall, you’ll find me in the mountains with a bow.
ON THIS TEAM
Alex is the front door. He is the one who tells an owner honestly whether Scalzo is the right fit, including when the answer is no.

Matt Baird
Director of Communications
Brand Voice
Content Marketing
Media Relations
Communications Strategy
Matt Baird
Director of Communications
Matt is a third-generation Scalzo who long harbored an unspoken desire to contribute to the family business, but his career interests never aligned with business needs. Today he’s helping the company write the next chapter of its generational story.
I got my first taste of hospitality at 15, bussing tables at a country club in northeastern Colorado. It didn’t take long to learn that my job was more about how people felt at the table than the food on their plate. Good hospitality leaves an impression.
For 70+ years, Scalzo Hospitality spoke primarily to guests. Third-party management changed that—and that’s where I come in. I’ve spent more than twenty years helping B2B companies find their voice and reach the right audience. When Scalzo moved in that direction, I seized the chance to contribute to something that means more to me than any client ever could. As an embedded partner, my job is to make sure every encounter with Scalzo leaves the right impression.
When I’m not at my desk, you’ll find me with my wife Carolin and our two kids, Timo and Ida, out in the great outdoors—on two wheels when it’s warm and two skis when it’s cold.
ON THIS TEAM
Matt is the voice. If it goes out with Scalzo’s name on it, it went through him first.

Ray Davis
Corporate Controller
Ray Davis
Corporate Controller
Ray serves as Scalzo’s Corporate Controller and has been a key member of our executive team for more than a decade. With over 30 years of hospitality experience, Ray brings unmatched financial expertise and institutional knowledge to the organization. An Army Veteran, his journey from dish pit to executive suite is a testament to discipline, adaptability, and lifelong learning.
Ray began his hospitality career in 1989 and advanced through roles in food and beverage, night audit, and hotel operations before discovering his passion for finance. Today, his expertise in financial reporting, strategic planning, and internal controls is essential to our hotel management process. Known for his analytical mind and commitment to accuracy, accountability, and transparency, Ray’s leadership plays a critical role in driving departmental profitability and aligning financial operations with ownership objectives.
Our Core Values
PEOPLE
first
Remarkable Hospitality begins with the guests who experience it and the people who deliver it. By leading with respect, honesty, and accountability, we put their well-being and satisfaction first to create a place where our guests and our teams feel the difference.
OWNERSHIP
mindset
We combine an owner’s understanding of accountability with an entrepreneur’s instinct for what’s possible. We take personal responsibility for our roles and invest in our success – protecting value, managing risk, and delivering results.
PRIDE
in every detail
We’re proud to be hoteliers with family roots, and that pride shows up every day in our work. It’s a dedication to doing things right and doing them well—the details that make guests feel valued and cared for.
TRANSFORMATIVE
through traction
Growth doesn’t happen by accident. We embrace innovation and look for opportunities in every challenge. That makes our business stronger and creates real impact for our guests, our teams, and our communities.
CONSISTENCY
by design
Consistency is the foundation of Remarkable Hospitality. Through disciplined systems, clear processes, and attention to detail, we deliver experiences guests return for and results owners can count on.
OUR PARTNERS
Remarkable hospitality
requires strong partnerships.
From brand and design to construction and financing, we work with partners who share our values and understand what ownership demands.
Our Legacy
In the 1950s, our founder, Carmen Scalzo, launched his hospitality business with vision and grit—building three motels, one after the other, in Sacramento, California: the Crest, Sands, and Acienda. His instinct for location and guest service laid the foundation for a family legacy that we honor to this day.
Carmen believed that hospitality rooted in values and committed to guest experiences would be remarkable. More than seventy years after he started our family’s journey, we are so committed to that legacy that we’ve made it our promise: Delivering Remarkable Hospitality.
CONTACT US
Let’s start the conversation.
You’ve gotten to know us. Now we’d like to get to know you.