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the hotelier
John Imaizumi Winter 2010-11 JOHN IMAIZUMI is senior vice president and general manager of the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention
MPG John: I got into this business by accident. In 1983, I was a tennis pro. My body did not cooperate and I got hurt. The wife of the owner of the club where I was teaching worked for Marriott. My degree is in finance so my first job was as an assistant controller trainee with Marriott. The second part of that story is not so much what attracted me to get here but what attracted me to stay. I fell in love with the hotel business because of its great people. This issue of MPG* is focusing on teamwork. Tell us about Gaylord’s “Stars Helping Stars” program and how it helped the Gaylord Opryland Hotel employees in Nashville who were affected by the flood. The program actually started long before the flood in Nashville. It’s really all about our “STARS First” philosophy. STARS is what we call our employees. It’s an acronym for Smiles, Teamwork, Attitude, Reliability and Service with a passion. If you take great care of your people, they will take great care of your guests and the business will take care of itself. Gaylord wanted a way to help those in need and Stars Helping Stars came about. Because of the Nashville flood in May, many of our Stars lost their homes. We all tried to step it up another notch so we could help our fellow Stars in Nashville. We have a saying here – “one team, one dream.” It encompasses communication and how we deal with each other with respect and integrity. It’s a good philosophy which makes it a great place to work. I’m pleased to report that the Gaylord Texan was recently named the “Top Place to Work” in Dallas/Fort Worth by the Dallas Morning News. The Stars First philosophy is what really makes us different. I read that you are passionate about the issue of environmental sustainability. Tell us how the Gaylord Texan is “going green?” Here at the Texan, we have a communication forum called “Dear John” so our Stars can have a direct line to me. I hear about how much they care about our life environment as well as our work environment. For years we’ve been recycling and doing energy conservation. It’s just common sense. It’s better financially and it’s the right thing to do. For me, it’s fun and it makes you feel good. We’ve also found that meeting planners have become very keen on the sustainability issue. What trends are you seeing with regards to lodging and meetings? One good thing is that the business climate seems to be improving and meeting planners appear to be more positive about their companies having meetings. Last year, a lot of companies held off having meetings. They seem to be seeing that their face-to-face meetings are important to their business and when they weren’t having them, their business suffered. Certainly, one trend is how our technology is changing. Everyone has iPhones, Droids and iPads. I believe those devices help make people more efficient and can allow them to have more fun while they are on site. We’re finding our guests using social media – tweeting – when they are about to check-in. It gives us an advantage to really enhance their experience while they’re here.
What is your advice to help planners have successful meetings? From the meetings perspective, it’s all about communication. Since we’re talking about teamwork, in my eyes, the most important team includes the meeting planner, our convention service folks, our food and beverage team and our catering people. We discover their needs, and then we meet and exceed their expectations. We call it “discover and delight.” One key to success is full disclosure. Even if a group is in trouble--perhaps their pickup is down--we have a great marketing team that can actually help the planner do some additional marketing to increase attendance. Pickup for us has been good because we are willing to partner with the client. If you were talking to a group of young people considering a career in the industry, what advice would you give them? To be successful in this industry, you’ve got to love people and you have to understand that people are not all the same. They may not be part of the current hospitality curriculum, but I’d include courses about human resources, organizational management or human psychology to help everyone understand that people have different personalities. Also, my dad always said, “If you can say what you mean and write what you mean, you’re going to do okay.” They need to build a base for communication that includes good public speaking and writing skills. What is the greatest challenge facing the travel & meetings industry? To me, it’s the perception issue. Our economy is so connected to the news and the media can spin it – good or bad. The danger is, whether it’s the truth or not, people start believing what they hear. When it first came out that people should not be traveling or going to high-end resorts – the “AIG Effect” – it was just a perception but it created a negative reality. The greatest thing the meetings industry can do is to do what’s right for your business. What I mean by that is, if you want to grow your business, research shows that the results are there when you have face-to-face meetings. Our challenge is to be strong. We need to be strong enough to say that it’s a proven fact – businesses thrive when businesses meet. We can help them achieve their goals. If they achieve their goals, their business is stronger. If their business is stronger, our economy is stronger and we all win. |
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