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the hotelier
Robert Voelker Summer 2009 ROBERT VOELKER is the president & CEO of Twinsburg, Ohio-based Gateway Hospitality Group. The company’s hotel portfolio in the MPG* region includes the Hilton Bella Harbor in Rockwall, Texas, Hilton Garden Inns in the Dallas-area communities of Allen, Lewisville and Duncanville, and the recently opened Hyatt Place Dallas – Garland and the Firewheel Conference Center. Bob’s career includes positions with Hilton Hotels and Stouffer Renaissance Hotels and Resorts.
MPG I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. When I was 4 years old my dad sold the farm and bought a restaurant. It was tavern type of place. We served steak sandwiches and fish fries on Fridays and, out front, there was a set of gas pumps. As a kid I filled the bar coolers, cleaned the garage and pumped gas. I started cooking when I was 11.
My dad expanded it into a 300-seat restaurant and supper club. My brother played the organ, I did the cooking with my mom, my dad was the bartender, and my sister was the hostess/waitress in the restaurant.
Who were your early mentors? No doubt, my greatest mentor was my uncle, Donald Greenaway. He was the executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association for 11 years and after I went to the Culinary Institute of America, he convinced me to attend the University of Houston Conrad Hilton School of Hotel & Restaurant Management where he was associate dean.
I was most impressed with his amazing rapport with his students. I would go to his house and he would be on the phone talking to students, even some that had graduated 5 years before. The students loved him because he had a passion for them and for their success. He loved teaching and he taught me to know your people.
What makes Gateway Hospitality Group unique? Our core values, the things that we stand for, include Excellence, Trust, Caring, and Entreprenurial. It all centers around our people. We have over 2,000 team members and they are our greatest asset.
We’ve bonused all the positions in our hotels - from the dishwasher to the general manager. Generally, this industry is selective about who gets bonuses and that always causes friction in the organization. Everyone feels that they are contributing equally and when you give certain people bonuses and not others, it’s just not right. As a small company with 15 hotels, we can do that. The only way you can succeed is by working as a team.
Your company’s niche provides a unique combination of focused-service hotels with full-service meeting facilities. Tell us about it. Focused-service hotels are smaller, usually 150 rooms, which give you more time to focus on your customers. The advantage to having meeting space is that it opens it up new markets. When times get tough everyone is competing head on for the business and leisure travelers. I had a hotel in Ohio next to Sea World. It did fabulous in the summertime with the leisure market but when Sea World closed, we lost an entire market. I was able to replace that business because I had that meeting space and could go after the group market.
Typically the focused-service hotels are in corporate markets so on weekends there is no reason for guests to stay in a corporate environment. The meeting space allows us to capitalize on social events. It has provided 10 points of occupancy to us as a company.
How does food & beverage affect the meetings’ experience? Our company practices the concept of understanding the goals of the meeting planner. If a meeting planner comes to us and says the most important thing is great food service, we have all CIA (Culinary Institute of America) trained chefs and we go way beyond what is expected as it pertains to food.
Our concept is simple. We don’t serve “banquets” in our hotel, we provide a restaurant experience. As food and beverage goes, so goes the success of the hotel. It’s our key point of difference.
How will technology affect face-to-face meetings and do they have a future? I deal a lot with gotomeetings.com and they’re great when you have a small group and something very specific to talk about. You don’t need to fly everyone in for a meeting for 5-6 people.
However, I don’t believe that technology will ever replace the large gatherings. I travel to a lot of meetings - investment conferences, company-held meetings, etc. You just can’t replace the face-to-face contact because there is so much more to a meeting than the contents of the sessions. The networking and the camaraderie provide huge benefits. People knowing each other is a key component to building an organization.
What advice do you have for meeting planners that might help them insure the success of their meetings? Our hotel company received a presentation from the past president of Conferon, Bruce Harris. Bruce said a meeting planner should never put a meeting anywhere where he doesn’t know the person that is going to execute the meeting. I agree with that. On our part, we need to know the goals of the meeting and make sure that we can help the planner achieve those goals.
The other thing that is important for the success of the meeting is that the planner meets the hotel’s general manager, not just their sales contact. That relationship with the GM provides a comfort level for the planner and helps assure the support of the entire staff.
Please look into your crystal ball. What will this industry look like in ten years? It’s an interesting question. We just opened a Hyatt Place hotel and I like their concept. Technology is important. Hyatt Place hotels provide 42” HDTVs in the guest rooms.
Another thing is improved “personalization” to the guests. Being able to greet your guests right when they come in the front door is so important to help them feel welcome. I think that degree of personalization will become an industry trend.
You’re going to see more hotels with plans based on sustainability. Some meeting planners are selecting sites today depending on how green you are. I believe that, in the future, the “green” issue is going to become even more important in this industry. |
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