As VP of brand strategy for Choice Hotels, Anne Smith has been revamping the company’s image to project a more contemporary voice. With a background in theater, publishing, and marketing, the relative newcomer to hospitality brings a fresh perspective to Choice.
How does your theater background influence your current role?
Choice Hotels really valued the idea of a brand champion. When I’m on stage at conventions or I’m interacting with franchisees at smaller owners council meetings, there’s a relationship I need to establish. I’m not becoming a different person with them, but I’m definitely leveraging a desire to create that connection.
You’ve worked with major brands such as PepsiCo, Frito Lay, and AARP. How did you adjust to the hotel industry?
There’s a huge difference between shelling out $3 for a bag of potato chips and $10 million to $20 million to build a hotel. The sense of commitment to purchase decisions that our franchisees make is very significant, and that really impacts the decisions we make from a brand strategy standpoint. If I want to say, “We should be serving a different breakfast,” I have to earn the right to ask franchisees to make that investment. I can mandate, but it is their hotel.
What excites you most about Choice brands right now?
Aside from the hotel brands, a brand that has been really undergoing a lot of transformation here is Choice Hotels. It’s something I started working on from day one that I was most excited about when talking to all our leaders. This is an opportunity to give our parent brand a real identity and a sense of meaning that would help it stand out and break through a very competitive environment, from a hotel standpoint and distribution standpoint.
