James Rowley

About James Rowley

As a B&B host and Hospitality Coach, I split my time between two roles that deeply inform each other and draw on a wide-ranging career in tourism, hospitality, and sales leadership. Proprietor and Host at Ober Oaks — a design-forward boutique B&B in East Hampton that hosts small business retreats, solo working travelers, and guests seeking a thoughtful, grounded stay in the Hamptons. Follow-Up Coach with hotelBschool — where I help sales professionals sharpen their client conversations and prospecting habits with new uses of AI. My approach is direct, personal, and grounded in lived experience — not theory. That’s the essence of hotelBschool: practitioners, not professors.Ober Oaks is my living lab for hospitality, service, and follow-up systems — where every guest touchpoint is an opportunity to refine how hospitality and sales intersect. Whether I’m helping a company plan a quiet off-site near NYC or coaching a hotel salesperson on prospecting and follow-up discipline, the goal is the same: be useful, be human, and be clear.My path to this point has been hands-on and diverse. Before Ober Oaks, I:Built and operated Top of the Tower, Philadelphia’s landmark events venue, for more than two decades.Guided Pennsylvania’s statewide tourism efforts as Deputy Secretary for Tourism.Led the Philadelphia Hotel Association, advocating for the city’s hospitality industry.Managed hotels of various sizes over ten years, developing front-line teams and service culture.Created and rolled out corporate hotel sales-training and accountability programs that elevated performance company-wide.Those experiences continue to inform everything I do today — from welcoming guests under the oaks in East Hampton to coaching professionals who want to sell with more clarity, confidence, and care.

Experience

1. Sales Coach at Influencer Sales, Hotelbschool

   Hotelbschool

   May 2017 — Present · East Hampton, NY, US

Education

• University of Notre Dame

  BA, Program of Liberal Studies