NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Remington Hospitality's recent endeavors are a testament to CEO Sloan Dean's mentality of pointing teams in the right direction to execute on a vision, then saying, "go."
Speaking with Hotel News Now during a podcast at the 2023 Hotel Data Conference, Remington President Chris Green said Dean believes anything is possible.
"He looks out over the horizon, and he says: 'This is where we're going as an organization.' He'll point us in a direction, and he really does just say, 'go,'" Green said. "He gives us the freedom ... he really doesn't dive into, 'Chris how are you going to get this accomplished? He just goes, 'I just want to be here; let's go.' And I love that about him."
In June, the Dallas-based third-party management company rebranded from Remington Hotels to Remington Hospitality to represent efforts to manage more non-traditional lodging accommodations.
Since the rebranding, Green said the Remington team has been spending a lot of its energy on expanding its new platforms, gearing up to open a large wellness resort in California by the end of 2023 and finding opportunities to operate in the Caribbean.
Senior Vice President of Revenue Strategy Gilbert Arredondo said there's room to be bold and take risks in revenue management, but collaboration must be at the root of it.
"When you take risks, you take risks together. You win together and you fail together. You're going to fail sometimes, and that's OK. I think it's developing that culture that if we all agree to this and it doesn't work out, that's OK, because at least we tried ... either way we learned," he said. "When we set goals with Sloan ... they're aggressive. We're going to have to go out there and push, be tenacious to achieve those."
Arredondo points to a saying that Dean often uses: "If you want to go fast, you go alone."
Remington doesn't want to move exceedingly fast, Arredondo said. The company's leadership wants to move collectively.
Green added that if Remington doesn't push the envelope, however, it's impossible to stay relevant.
Green said he realized the importance of this during a recent leadership conference, where he heard: "If anyone in your industry can do what you do, even reasonably well, you are at risk of becoming irrelevant."
"Honestly, there's [thousands of hotels in the U.S.], each one of them opens up every day, checks in guests. What does that mean for Remington Hospitality? We do not want to be irrelevant ... so how do we stay at the front of what's happening. That's what drives us," Green said.
Advice for Fellow Hoteliers
Green: "We would not be in this business without our people. ... Your culture has to be real. If you're a leader, and you're in the C-suite, you need to make sure you understand what's happening ... otherwise, your people are going to go somewhere where the culture is real."
Arredondo: "Hiring skilled talent on the revenue side has been difficult. ... Internal development is key. Building your bench, developing layers, that's something we went through over the last two years. ... We still have some work to do, we're getting there, but I think homegrown talent is key and then you can mix in where you have holes."