How did your first job change this impression you had of the way hotels work?
My first job was at a much smaller property, and it held nothing like the grandeur of the Palmer House. There were far fewer people filling the lobby and not as much energy filling the halls. But working at a small hotel allowed me to learn a lot more aspects of the job across departments. This sort of cross training helped me later on to be better able to think fast on my feet and switch hats on a moment’s notice. When you’re in a larger, conference style hotel you work the front desk and only the front desk. Six months later you may switch to housekeeping. Whereas, in smaller, boutique properties you check someone in, you take them up to the room and get them set up, and then you may even do the turndown service later. This opportunity to move seamlessly across positions is what kept me on the boutique side of the industry.
How did your experience at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel frame your approach to hotels?
The Drake was a little larger than what I had historically managed up until then, with more staff on board. Still, I was able to pull much of my smaller hotel experience into this larger hotel. I spent a lot of my days in the living room of the hotel, connecting with guests—greeting them as they came up the grand staircase—rather than hiding back in my office.
So what’s going on at Kimpton now that President and Chief Operating Officer Niki Leondakis is gone?
Yeah, Niki moved on to become the CEO of Commune Hotels after being with Kimpton since 1993. While it’s sad to see a friend go, I think the culture and style of Kimpton will always be here. Many of the company’s executives have been here for more than 10 years, so the culture lives in all of them, not just in one.
Kimpton opened seven hotels in 2012 and nine restaurants and we’re looking forward to continuing this in 2013. We’re up to 58 hotels now and the future looks bright. Growth like this is exciting because it provides opportunities for junior managers to move up to new properties.
What elements of the Kimpton culture do you bring to your new duties at AH&LA?
At Kimpton, we like to give the folks we hire the complete freedom to run these hotels as they see fit. As an example, when I was in San Francisco no one ever dictated to me how to run those hotels, even though the company is based there.
We try to hire people that are native to the area and know the local market well. That’s what I’m used to and it’s what I want to bring to AH&LA as a way of tapping into this large pool of young executives that is coming up in the industry. I want to give them the platform to get involved and to share some of their experience with old guys like me. Who knows, we may come up with a new way of doing things.
I believe the best way to do this is through AH&LA’s Under 30 Gateway program, which currently has nine state chapters and my goal is to double that number by year’s end.
You’re heavily involved in the AH&LA Educational Foundation. What attracts you to it?
I’ve had the honor of looking at scholarship applications in both the Illinois area and at the national level from so many amazing kids. I look at their resumes and read about what they’re trying to accomplish and there are so many inspirational stories of these young kids coming out of high school and trying to make a career. It makes me feel so good to be part of a group that can give students some help in pursuing that dream. And I don’t want to just stop with the work I’m doing at the educational foundations. I want to take a step further and try to mentor them in the Under 30 Gateway program.
