Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009 - (Page 44)

H&MM January 19, 2009 | HotelMotel.com 44 News & Analysis INDUSTRY COVERAGE “We’re playing to win.” ERIC DANZIGER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, WYNDHAM HOTEL GROUP Wyndham Hotel Group Continued from page 4 of it and across the globe.” With 12 brands in the Wyndham Hotel Group and six of them in the economy segment, the company faces the challenge of growing and differentiating its brands while going after segment leadership in a time of less-frequent travel and more price-conscious consumers. “Everybody in tough times is more demanding—about where you work, where you stay, where you look to put a ﬂag up,” Danziger said. “In down times, the ability for a company to break away and show their value to all these constituencies makes it exciting.” what grows any company,” he said. “It isn’t about a marketing logo; it’s about doing what you say you’re going to do and having people in the company who have no fear of failure. Playing to win and playing not to lose are two different mentalities. We’re playing to win.” Successfully executing ideas is a professional strength of his, Danziger said. “I’m able to assess other people’s ideas, see what the good ones are, then create the right team and execute,” he said. “I bring an understanding of growing businesses by operating the business process.” Stephen Holmes, Wyndham Worldwide’s chairman and CEO, said Danziger’s experience makes him the right candidate. “All hospitality companies are focusing more on global aspects as the world gets smaller,” he said. “Growing businesses is a lot of fun. Eric’s experienced it before; I’ve experienced it. Everyone connects with the desire to pull together.” Rudnitsky on board at Dolce on a quarterly basis,” he said. “I like to think we’ll increase distribution,” Not long after announcing he was leaving Rudnitsky said of Dolce’s plans to cast a wider Wyndham Hotel Group, Steven Rudnitsky got net to leisure travelers. “We have some gateway another offer. On Dec. 8, he joined Dolce Hotels cities [we’re looking at] like Chicago, and Resorts as president and CEO. Los Angeles, Orlando, San Diego, The privately owned Dolce London, Milan—a host of different historically has focused on meetings cities,” he said. business, but in August it launched a Rudnitsky said he looks forward re-branding campaign. The company, to working with Andy Dolce, founder, which has 23 properties around the chairman and managing director. world, changed its name from Dolce “Andy is an expert in the meetings International and embarked on a goal business, and I look forward to to double its portfolio over the next ﬁve Rudnitsky complementing his knowledge and years. The name change reﬂected the DOLCE experience, especially in strategic company’s plan to attract more leisure planning and executions,” he said. “I business with its expansion. know how to build partnerships that build value. The move from a publicly held company to a I like to think that my team and I at Wyndham private one is positive, Rudnitsky said. were very successful in doing that.” “I’ll be able to focus my energies on longerDolce is based in Montvale, N.J. term goals … without the distraction of a lot of the metrics public companies have to deal with sricca@questex.com Growth strategies As of September 30, the Wyndham Hotel Group has 6,956 properties worldwide comprising 579,026 rooms. Danziger said he isn’t interested in launching a new brand for the group anytime soon. “We don’t have to create a new brand. Let’s ﬁgure out if we are doing all the things we should be doing. If not, let’s go do that. That’s Name-brand background Danziger’s industry career started with a position as a bellman at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. He worked up through senior roles in operations, management and regional operations. He spent 11 years with Doubletree Hotels, where he held an SVP role. As president of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts from 1990 to 1996, he grew the portfolio to 100 hotels and helped the company go public in 1995. From there, Danziger joined Starwood Lodging as president and CEO from 1996 to 1998, then served as president and CEO of Carlson Hotels Worldwide. His two most recent roles were outside the hospitality industry— CEO of WhiteFence and CEO of ZipRealty, both online-based companies. “Why come back to hospitali- ty? It’s all I ever did for 30 years,” he said. “When you spend a lifetime in an industry, it’s in your blood. I missed it. That high level of passion for the industry and its people was important to me. What’s more important was matching it with a company that ﬁt well. This one came along and it’s a perfect marriage.” sricca@questex.com Joe Martin Continued from page 4 operate in. My hobby is working in common effort with people, community … it’s where I learned the most about people and the business,” he said. Stillwater Hospitality consists of three properties—a Best Western in Weatherford, Okla.; a Hampton Inn in Stillwater, Okla.; and a Best Western in Dubuque, Iowa. During his 28 years in the industry, he’s served on the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, the Stillwater Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Oklahoma Hotel & Lodging Assn. as its chairman, and he is on the advisory board for Oklahoma State University’s College of Hotel & Restaurant Administration. “It’s my way of getting involved and giving back to an industry that’s been so good to me,” he said. Martin has a close relationship with his sons, Jay, Ross and Cole. He’s bred them all to bleed OSU orange, and all of them were involved in the business at some point. Ross currently is GM of the Stillwater property. And the person who “many say is the best part of their company” is his wife Pam, who does interior design and is the director of sales. With occupancy on the decline, the threat of rate CIRCLE NO. 140 cuts and other difﬁculties predicted for 2009, Martin is taking the reins at a challenging time. But just as he hoped his underdog Cowboys would beat the No. 4ranked Oklahoma Sooners in their last regular season game (they lost, 61-41), Martin is optimistic the hotel industry, too, can come out ahead. For his optimism to become reality, Martin believes the industry needs to follow what he is calling the three C’s—connect, communicate, collaborate— which will be a main focus during his tenure as chairman. Martin emphasizes the need to connect with people “in our industry, just entering in our industry or have yet to enter our industry.” That includes promoting hospitality careers as viable options and not temporary employment, and helping those already in hospitality programs to realize their potential and become invested in the business. Within the industry, Martin would like to see more partnerships. “We need to ﬁnd ways we can work together and collaborate on many issues like advocacy, education and consumer research. On many things we’re probably duplicating efforts. We need to ﬁnd ways to be more efﬁcient. … There are policy and decision makers that are probably kind of hoping we never wake up someday and work together. Because I think we can be a strong voice.” ccrowell@questex.com http://www.HotelMotel.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009

Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009 Contents Select Inn First in Vista's Buying Plans Danzinger Chosen for Round 2 at Wyndham Perspective Energy Star Update Legally Speaking Consultant's Corner Sales Clinic Travel Trends Franchise Law Family Business Cornell Insights HotelWorld Update Transactions Careful Marketing is Key for Timeshare Debt Market Slow for Most Transactions Trends & Stats Proper Mix of Uses Leads to Profitable Partnerships Card Check, Employee Retention Big Issues for CEOs Locking Systems Televisions Fitness Centers/Spas Mattresses Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009

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