On Jan. 22, Driftwood Capital, a vertically integrated hospitality real estate investment, development, and lending platform, announced that Carlos Rodriguez Jr. has been appointed chief executive officer. Rodriguez Jr. had served as president and chief operating officer since co-founding Driftwood Capital with his father, Carlos Rodriguez Sr., in 2015. Rodriguez Sr., who from the beginning had a very hands-on role in the business as CEO, has now moved to the position of executive chairman. “My dad and I have been building Driftwood Capital for the last 10 years, and we’ve had a lot of growth and success,” Rodriguez Jr. told LODGING. “There wasn’t a specific timeline for the transition, but it’s just a very nice moment when he said, ‘Hey, I feel very comfortable stepping into an executive chairman role and you stepping in as CEO.’ It’s a testament to him getting comfortable with the systems, processes, and people that we have in place and to trust those decisions.”
Praising his father’s mentorship, Rodriguez Jr. highlighted a couple of the best practices he advocated, including avoiding “analysis paralysis.” “Data is great. But ultimately you have to make decisions fairly quickly once you have all the information,” he said. “And you can always find a way to kill a deal. So, there’s always that fine line of getting a deal done, and sometimes it takes that extra push.”
The father-and-son team’s business prowess has helped grow Driftwood Capital into a major owner, developer, and lender, with approximately $3.5 billion in hospitality-related assets under management, more than $1 billion in projects under construction/development, participation in over $2 billion in loan originations, and 90 hotels managed through its subsidiary, Driftwood Hospitality Management. The company has taken an innovative approach to capital raising by creating a GP (general partner) fund, Rodriguez Jr. noted. “We scaled considerably from a $50 million GP fund to two and a half billion dollars’ worth of transactions through 2019. We were then able to expand the business in 2019 to a much bigger GP concept of three GP funds.”
Recent Growth Directions
In addition to completing several large transactions in 2025, Driftwood Capital undertook “internal restructuring and positioning for more growth with different capital channels,” said Rodriguez Jr. That positioning included improving the integration of its teams. “We’re a vertically integrated shop, and obviously, things are run separately—the management company, development division, etc. But we wanted to make sure that the credit team is connected to all the components and that those decisions are made with visibility from all the different sides. There are always insights [into a deal] from the operating team, from asset management, etc. That is critical as you scale, and that’s what we’ve been working on.”
The company also launched its luxury lifestyle division in early 2025. “We have strategically expanded into the luxury lifestyle segment. If we’re going to go for more of the pure luxury concept, it’s likely going to be with branded residences,” he explained. “The tailwinds [for that sector] have been there. We don’t see that slowing down.”
Driftwood is also looking to expand internationally, targeting Costa Rica as one of the first markets to explore. “My dad’s side of the family is from Costa Rica, and my grandfather actually started in the hotel business in Costa Rica,” Rodriguez Jr. related. “And that’s how my dad got into [the business]. They had bought together a couple of hotels there. And we’d always look to Costa Rica to be [a country where] we’d want to continue to grow, especially in that luxury lifestyle segment.”
The company is also exploring Mexico, Caribbean markets (besides Puerto Rico, where it already has a presence), and in time, South America. “Our expansion there has to be something of scale to make more sense. We don’t want to just have a one-off asset; it has to be strategic,” Rodriguez Jr. explained, adding, “We’ve been working very hard in creating the right relationships internationally, procurement-wise and manufacturing-wise, to make those costs more efficient.”
Leveraging Strengths
Rodriguez Jr. also cited a goal on the development and design side of Driftwood’s business: ensuring cost-effective renovations that deliver added value when possible. “We know many brands are focused on lifestyle conversions, and we want to leverage our skillset and find those opportunities where we can really drive value and not have it just be a defensive renovation. There’s always a fine line there,” he explained.
On the financing side, he noted that the traditional brands want to increase their presence in the luxury and lifestyle space, and “that competition is something we can leverage to help us. Because at the end of the day, the complexity and scale of capitalization are often the primary barriers,” he said. “The quantity of dollars needed and the complexity of the deals is where we shine. … They just need somebody to help them raise capital, help them execute. And that’s where we can come in at the right moment and accelerate the schedule. So that becomes attractive, because the demand tailwinds are definitely there.”
