Great Wolf Lodge Perryville near Baltimore , Md ., opened last summer . |
John Murphy became CEO of Great Wolf Resorts in 2022 . |
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the pipeline , it ’ s an appealing cash-flow product that delivers ROI , too , as a real estate play . “ They absolutely love this business ,” said Murphy , who became CEO of Great Wolf in 2022 , replacing Murray Hennessy . Blackstone , according to Murphy , has helped fuel more than $ 2 billion worth of investment since 2019 .
The business model , Murphy contended , is what drew Blackstone in . “ If we achieve a
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$ 300 average daily rate , we ’ ll get another $ 300 of on-site spend , so there are a lot of levers for us to pull .”
Murphy , known as Murph around the office and to his friends , comes from a hotel management background , having founded Evolution Hospitality in 2011 , a company that was eventually sold to Aimbridge in 2021 . That year , he and his business partner started Triton Hospitality ,
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which was focused on acquiring over-leveraged and underperforming assets . A year later , Blackstone called about a position where his employees would be referred to as pack members , kid guests known as pups and take-home souvenirs paw prints .
To hear it from Murphy , the success of Great Wolf lies in its simplistic , authentic approach to travel and hospitality . “ Our mission is to bring joy to
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families ,” he said , which means having an engaged team of pack members at each property to ensure that happiness . It goes well beyond the physical product , even though the Howlin Tornado , a six-story “ funnel of fun ” raft experience would make even the most stony-faced among us screech with glee .
Part of delivering family magic is through the longevity of some of Great Wolf ’ s staff .
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September 2024 hotelsmag . com 33 |