New world management
Strategic Hotels ’ Geller says next-generation operators are starting to embrace more aggressive asset-management tactics .
By Jeff Weinstein , editor in chief
“
EVERYONE has 100 basis points ( to save ). You can only get 200 basis points if you have a culture of doing it . Owners have to understand it , believe it , enforce it , brainwash managers at the unit level — and have the chain say ‘ go ahead .’”
– Laurence Geller , CEO , Strategic Hotels & Resorts
LAURENCE GELLER , the outspoken CEO of Strategic Hotels & Resorts , says after the past five years of painful operating conditions , the hotel industry is finally going through the systemic change he has been advocating for years . The fanatic about industrial engineering and labor modeling says it is no longer “ daddy knows best ” with management companies rejecting his aggressive asset-management style and systems . In fact , Geller says the new breed of brand leaders — citing the likes of Arne Sorenson at Marriott , Four Seasons ’
Katie Taylor and Frits van Paasschen with Starwood — want to know more about his systems for food purchasing and labor management , among others . After confrontations in the early 2000s with his managers , Geller says the numbers show everyone benefits . Even better , the confrontation has dissipated . “ We have been through a war together ,” Geller adds . “ If you think about the management of the hotel industry , it has changed completely to a generation that has had to fight through this mess without the baggage . This industry is totally different . In five years , leadership has totally changed for the better .”
Geller , the 64-year-old leader of the Chicago-based REIT that owns 17 hotels , says cutting-edge owners are more or less reengineering the traditional operating model , especially at the upscale segments of the business in which he operates . In fact , the pain of the past five years , he says , has led to changes in operational dynamics unlike anything he has seen in his 40-plus-year hotel career . “ It is stunning ,” he says . “ It is the first time since 1973-74 when big hotels
10 HOTELS July / August 2012 www . hotelsmag . com