PERSONALITIES
Many pandemic takeaways for
Omni ’ s
STREBEL
THE CEO REFLECTS ON HIS REVELATIONS , WHAT IT TOOK TO REMAIN PROFITABLE AND THE OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD .
by JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
Peter Strebel says the pandemic has taught him a lot about himself and he points to three specific takeaways that have made him a better businessperson . Perhaps more than anything , the president and CEO of Omni Hotels & Resorts , Dallas , says reflectively and with personal awareness that he has learned to better manage challenges as they come . “ I realized that in life you can ’ t control everything , and that some things are out of your control ,” he told HOTELS in mid-February . “ So , you have to let go at some point and say , ‘ this will be what it will be , and we ’ ll do the best that we can .”
The 62-year-old leader of a brand with more than 50 primarily owned and operated properties also says that he started to value people more “ because we did survive .” In fact , Strebel says , Omni performed quite well through the pandemic , and it remains the case today . “ But we only did that because of people .”
And the third realization Strebel cites , like so many others have over the past two years , is that he learned how to run the businesses with less . “ I picked up some really , really good skills .”
THE SURVIVAL GAME What truly helped Omni thrive during the pandemic was a decision first taken in 2018 to consolidate back-office functions and move them to a service center in Dallas . For example , a property-level accounting department was trimmed from 16 to six people . Recruitment was centralized and the sales process was streamlined . In total , Strebel says the company added a couple of points to margin very quickly and is still in the process of generating more efficiencies .
“ We were still profitable during COVID , believe it or not ,” Strebel says . “ In 2020 , we came in at about only 10 % of what our profits were in 2019 , and then in 2021 we were back to more than 60 % of where we were in 2019 .”
What drove profitability for a company known for its big conference hotels is the fact that one-third of the Omni portfolio is resorts , which performed so well that in 2020 they actually outperformed 2019 , according to Strebel . In fact , even the convention hotels did well because Omni overprograms them with amenities that drive weekend staycation business . “ Where we were hurt most was in cities like New York , Boston , Chicago , San Francisco , Montreal and Toronto .
“ But all in all , we did pretty well ,” Strebel continues , adding that January 2022 came in only less than 10 % below budget and that business
56 hotelsmag . com May 2022