Hotel CEOs Share Company Strategies, Ambitions

After Ashford Inc. purchased the management business of Remington Hotels, Sloan Dean III was promoted to president and CEO of Remington.

In a recent interview with Hotel News Now, Dean said the deal could have a surprising effect of Remington becoming more independent from Ashford.

“For us, creating some separation of church and state is important, because we want to do business with large capital groups that we haven’t done business with historically,” he said. “That’s something that is necessary given the future of Remington is going to be heavy on third-party management.”

Since becoming a midscale-focused real estate investment trust about a year and a half ago, CorePoint Lodging has been busy with the sale of non-core assets to create value, said Keith Cline, president and CEO.

The company has sold 36 of the 78 non-core hotels it wants to sell, and 25 of the 42 hotels left to sell are under contract with buyers, Cline said.

“A big success story for CorePoint is really our ability to capitalize on this sizable disconnect between our public valuation and the private market valuations of these assets based on the success of this program to date and the shareholder value created through assets sales,” he said.

Banyan Tree Founder and Executive Chairman Ho Kwon Ping said three key ingredients to success are having focus in life, resilience and being around people you love and who love you.

The company marked its 25th year in 2019, which was celebrated in part by Ho’s acceptance of a lifetime achievement award at the Hotel Investment Conference Asia-Pacific.

Ho has ties to the original Banyan Tree hotel in Phuket, Thailand, which opened in 1994. Anniversary celebrations also were held at properties in Mexico.

“The Mexican party symbolized our global expansion, to fly in everyone to the most-distant resort from Asia,” he said.

Chris Green was named president and CEO of Chesapeake Hospitality in October, and in an exclusive interview with Hotel News Now, he said it was the right time to make a leadership change.

“It’s a great time to pass the baton while we’re going full speed and have strong, continuing leadership,” he said. “With the business dynamic we have now and the level of performance we have, we’re handing off operations and the day-to-day running of the company at a time when things are well-curated and we’re ready.”

Green replaced Kim Sims, who moved into a role as chairman of the board.

In a video interview with Hotel News Now at The Lodging Conference, Marriott International President and CEO Arne Sorenson said “we internally don’t embrace the notion that we are the biggest or that everybody needs to follow us.”

“That’s a dangerous place for a company to be, because we’ve got to continue to innovate, we’ve got to continue to challenge ourselves to be better,” he said.

Sorenson added “innovation is happening everywhere.”

“It’s happening in our business model, it’s happening with these new ventures. … You look around and the pace of change has never been faster,” he said. “All of that is driving us toward a place where we say we’ve got to make sure the organization is turned on to be open-minded and to innovate, that people broadly in the company have the power to risk something.”

In another video interview at The Lodging Conference, Heather McCrory, CEO of Central and North America at Accor, said the company has 39 brands, and what the company needs to do now is “integrate” in the Americas.

Hotels that will open in the Americas in the next 18 months include the Sofitel Mexico Reforma in Mexico City, which is the first Sofitel to open in 10 years in North America.

McCrory also received an award from the Castell Project at the conference. During her speech, she emphasized the need for more women in leadership roles in the industry.

“We have to have more women on the slate,” she said. “Hire the best person, whoever that may be, but right now we don’t have an equal number of women on the slate.”

As part of Hotel News Now’s First Jobs Series, then-Interstate President and CEO Mike Deitemeyer said he got into the hotel industry by accident.

He studied at Fitchburg State College (now a university), to be a public accountant. When it came time to do his internship, Deitemeyer worked in accounts payable at the Worcester Marriott in Worcester, Massachusetts.

While the job wasn’t “very sexy,” Deitemeyer said it’s where he developed a love for the hotel business.

“Doing that internship, the thought of, at least my mental image of what a CPA was going to be doing, versus all this great opportunity to meet people and interact with people, hospitality just became my passion,” he said.

The goal of Auberge Resorts Collection was always to create a portfolio of one-of-a-kind properties, although it wasn’t always easy, said Craig Reid, president and CEO. 

When Reid joined in 2013, the company had a reputation that resonated well with guests, but not the best reputation with the investment community and a rocky relationship with employees because of inconsistent growth, he said.

“We had to strengthen the team, bring a bit more rigor in how we managed things,” while continuing to protect, preserve and grow the reputation with customers, he said.

Diversification is a top priority for Mumbai-based The Indian Hotels Company Limited, said managing director and CEO Puneet Chhatwal.

As of 31 March, the company operated 179 hotels with 30 under development on four continents.

Chhatwal said the diversification plan is designed to position the company as “the most iconic and the most profitable company that South Asia has produced.” 

“Any brand should never neglect its home market, and our home market is a very heterogeneous market,” he said. “The (luxury) Taj brand … does not address the needs and wants of all the market segments on the Indian subcontinent. By managing our ‘brandscape’ … we are now much better-positioned to address the needs and wants of all consumers in all segments.”

Since Keith Barr became CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group, the company has launched three brands and acquired two.

Atwell Suites, the most recent brand launch for the company, falls in the “create” category, Barr said.

The all-suites brand sits in the upper-midscale space and is a combination of extended-stay and select-service.

“We have pure-play, extended-stay brands,” Barr said in reference to Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. “This gives us that part in between—in that four- to six-night range.”