Henlopen Hospitality provides guidance for local hotels, business owners
Henlopen Hospitality, a boutique hospitality consultancy based in southern Delaware, is positioning itself as a strategic resource for independent hotels and business owners looking to improve, grow and lead effectively.
The firm is led by principals and co-founders Bryan Deptula and Ben Gray, who bring more than 20 years of combined experience. Deptula holds a PhD in leadership and organizational behavior and, thus, specializes in leadership and organizational strategy. A hotel and asset owner himself – owner of the Canalside Inn in Rehoboth Beach – he helps owners and executives clarify strategy, strengthen leadership and drive growth with confidence. A TED speaker, Vistage presenter and author, Deptula combines firsthand ownership experience with deep leadership and strategic expertise.
Gray is an executive and specialist in hotel operations and systems. He is a hospitality leader known for transforming underperforming properties into market leaders through operational excellence, bold repositioning and culture-driven strategies. With more than 15 years of experience and accolades like AHLA National GM of the Year, he consistently delivers measurable growth and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and Hotel Management Magazine.
In September 2025, Deptula and Gray formally joined forces to create Henlopen Hospitality, combining decades of individual experience, long-standing client relationships and deep industry knowledge and expertise. While the firm itself is newly branded, both co-founders have been advising and transforming hospitality businesses across Delaware and the Delmarva region for years, bringing proven proficiency and a track record of successful results.
“We’re merging our professions, so that way we can try to expand our offerings to additional clients,” said Gray. “Where Bryan excels is on the leadership development side, and where my experience comes from is hotel operations. I have been a general manager and a hotel operator for the past 15 years, and so merging of those individual experiences and expertise brings us into what is now known as Henlopen Hospitality.”
Henlopen Hospitality provides comprehensive consulting and advisory services for hotels, restaurants and various other types of businesses, helping owners and executives overcome operational and leadership challenges.
The firm uses its carefully designed Five Steps to Success process. This begins with a discovery call or site visit to understand each client’s unique needs and challenges, evaluate opportunities, and assess partnership and value fit. Next, a detailed company diagnostic takes place. This is an in-depth analysis of the client’s operations, brands, financials and team. Based on these insights, Henlopen Hospitality presents recommendations, a strategic implementation roadmap and collaborative action planning. Finally, the firm provides ongoing support in integrating systems, guiding staff and implementing new processes.
“The idea here is that we diagnose, treat and cure what ails organizations,” said Deptula. “We diagnose the challenges that they're facing from a people, systems and process perspective. We provide a treatment which is in terms of recommendations, and the cure is the decisions that the owners make, that we can implement sustainable business practices. That's one part of it. The other part, which is really critical, is that we provide a middle man between the owner and the general manager, or the owner and the executive team. We help the owners say and implement what they want by helping the people that are underneath of them understand the true intention and the vision for the organization, and then we just help them implement. Our job is to elevate hospitality by empowering the leaders. We elevate hospitality by figuring out what's broken with your system, helping your people learn how to lead and manage better, and then actively elevating the experience that your guests get.”
Henlopen Hospitality emphasizes the importance of providing customized guidance tailored to each unique business, rather than using one-size-fits-all solutions. Deptula and Gray consistently meet owners on-site in their own space, observing operations and leadership dynamics firsthand, which helps build trust and increases comfortability in regard to the owner. This hands-on approach results in precise, actionable strategies that improve performance, communication and long-term outcomes.
The most rewarding part of Henlopen Hospitality’s work is seeing the tangible impact of their support, helping owners improve their operations, reclaim time, and take pride in their businesses and properties.
The local community is central to Henlopen Hospitality’s mission and identity. Both founders have deep roots in southern Delaware, and they remain actively involved in local professional networks, community initiatives and various local organizations. The firm aims to support and strengthen the region’s unique hospitality and tourism industry. Henlopen Hospitality has set out to help domestic business owners succeed while contributing to the community where the co-founders live, raise their families and have built their careers.
“This is just a really incredible place to live,” said Gray. “This community means so much to us, specifically here in southern Delaware, that we actually named the company after it. Henlopen Hospitality speaks to how important the community is to our business. We can serve the great Henlopen community; [it] doesn’t mean we are isolated, because we have a national presence, but it does mean that home means a lot to us.”
Looking ahead, Henlopen Hospitality is transitioning to more of a proactive approach in 2026. The firm is particularly focused on educating clients and the larger community on how truly successful one can be in the hospitality industry. They want to be the key entity that is able to provide the service that is going to fix as many of the organizations in the community as possible. In regard to the future, steady growth is important, but Henlopen Hospitality plans to focus more on deepening its impact by working closely with clients and working to fix challenges in order to strengthen the region’s hospitality community.
“I see the organization absolutely growing bigger,” said Deptula. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to onboard 50 more consultants; it means that the solutions we provide are better, the client services we provide are deeper and richer, and the outcomes that are at our clients’ experience fix whatever problems that they have in a way that is meaningful to not just their bottom line, but to the top of their mind. And what I mean by that is how their health, how their wealth and how they treat their people and their families in their lives.
“They don’t need to wait until their business is about to die to start reaching out for help,” said Deptula. “Reach out early and often. There’s a solution that we can provide that will help you take away years of stress and improve the business.”
