When David Kong joined Best Western in 2001, it was a very different company in a very different hotel industry and, more broadly, a very different world.
After 20 years with the company now known as BWH Hotel Group, including the last 17 years as chief executive, Kong said he's ready to move on, announcing his planned retirement will be at the end of 2021.
So what advice does he have for his successor who will be named in early October? Understand that Best Western is a unique beast.
"You recognize this organization is very different," he said. "It's a major hotel company with a global presence, like many other big hotel companies — and it's also a member organization. My advice to the new person would be you have to respect the organization for what it is. It's unique. It's special. It's different."
And Kong is confident he made the most of his two decades with that unique company, pointing to the fact the he'll be leaving at a time when several success metrics are at all-time highs.
"I always wanted to leave when the company is at the peak of its performance," he said. "So if you look back at the last few years, we are breaking our records in terms of our [revenue per available room] index, our guest satisfaction or hotel satisfaction, or at a variety of different metrics," he said. "So I just thought it's just time for me to move on when the company is doing so well, and I'll be remembered accordingly."
- Click here to learn about how Best Western's David Kong believes "it's really hard" for hotel workers today.
Kong's planned next steps after retiring from BWH include devoting some time and energy to consulting within the hotel industry, a vocation he had experience with at KPMG prior to joining Best Western, but also to travel more to help remedy what he sees as his biggest regret from his tenure atop the Phoenix-based company.
"Personally, I wish I could do some things over," he said. "Because, you know, I do a lot of international travel because we have a huge presence outside of the United States here. And when I go to these international locations, I tend to just fly in, and we have our meetings and then fly out. I never take the time to enjoy the sights and sounds and culture of those cities and countries, and it's regrettable.
"I remember one time I was in Rome, I spent three days in a hotel, having our meetings and never once ventured out of the hotel other than to go to the airport. That was regrettable."
First on the to-do list for Kong and his wife post-retirement is renting a vacation home in Italy.
For more from Hotel News Now's conversation with David Kong, watch the video above.