the hotelier

Steve Bartolin
The power of convening

Spring 2009

Stephen Bartolin, Jr. is Chairman and CEO of The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

MPG:  What attracted you to the hospitality industry? 

I wish I had a glamorous story to tell you but I needed a job.  I used to play baseball and, after college, I signed with the Tigers but quickly learned how difficult professional sports can be.

I found myself back in Youngstown, Ohio wondering what I was going to do.  My best friend was a golf professional at The Greenbrier and he asked me if I wanted a job.  I didn’t ask what it was or what it paid - I just said “yes.”  I started in the bag room cleaning clubs, running carts and picking up the driving range with no idea of where it would lead.  Here I am 34 years later. 

Please describe the The Broadmoor -- in 50 words or less.

The Broadmoor is a destination resort framed against the front range of the Rocky Mountains.  There are 3,000 acres with 1,900 staff members serving 700 guest rooms.  There are three golf courses, tennis, spa and a multitude of recreational opportunities.  There are 23 retail stores and 186,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space.  It is the longest running Mobil Five Star and AAA Five Diamond property in America. 

Is there any one thing that you wish the Broadmoor had that it doesn’t?

That takes only two words… an ocean. 

You recently announced The Broadmoor Guarantee which says, “Your meeting is exceptional.  Or its free.  Period.”  Tell us about it.

For us, the meetings guarantee was a way to break through the clutter. 

The idea was brought forward by John Washko and David Fine, our sales and marketing leadership team.  They felt that we needed a way to do something bold in a very traumatic time in our industry - making an offer that probably no one else is prepared to do.  As we started kicking things around, it shaped into this guarantee. 

Car companies were all doing the same thing to sell cars until Hyundai broke through with a clever new idea.  They zeroed in on the real reason people weren’t making that new car buying decision.  It’s not that they didn’t want or need a new car, it was that they were afraid they might not have a job in this economy.  Hyundai said this, “If you buy a new Hyundai and loose your job, you can return that car with no strings attached, and it won’t affect your credit.”  It worked.  Not only did they increase their sales, they doubled their market share in America.  We talked about how we could turn that idea around here. 

We’ve had a number of groups cancel this year.  Only two of them were involved in taking government bailout money.  20% of the groups cancelled for strictly economic reasons.  80% of the cancellations were because of the “perception” issue.  If meetings are going to be under scrutiny, the groups want to be certain that they are making responsible decisions.  How do we help with their comfort level that they are making a wise decision? 

Our guarantee is a little bold and there is some risk because we have master accounts that can exceed a million dollars.  I have been here 18 years.  I know this property and, most of all, I know our people and what they are capable of achieving.  I also knew that when we put this challenge forth to them, they would rally around it and that is exactly what they’ve done.  Our staff feels like they can be part of the solution.  I feel very good about making this offer.

If you were speaking to a meeting planners convention, what advice would you offer regarding the “Value of Meetings” to their organizations?

It is very difficult to calculate the return on investment on anything unless there is a specific sales goal or something measurable attached to it.  At the same time, we all know there is value but how do you quantify that? 

I’ve been in the meetings business a long time.  I was the director of convention services at the Opryland Hotel, one of the biggest meetings and conference facilities in the country.  That job gave me a keen understanding of this industry and of the customers’ perspective.  What I’ve seen over the years is that in times like this it’s easy to cut meetings.  But what I’ve found is there’s probably no more important time for an organization to get together than in times of crisis or economic trauma.  People need to be reassured and they need to know the direction that the organization is heading.

Instead of trying to solve these problems in a silo, you unleash the power of your entire organization by convening.  It’s easy to do in good times, but it’s much more important to do in tough times. 

Other than the weak economy, what is the greatest challenge facing the meetings / hospitality industry?

That’s an easy one.  The issue of perception is really propagated by our own legislators and by the media.  It’s real and it’s costing hundreds of thousands of jobs. 

I find it ironic that we are spending a trillion dollars to stimulate the economy and then turn right around and shoot ourselves in the foot.  491 companies have taken TARP money and Senator John Kerry is initiating legislation that would prohibit all of them from holding meetings.  Just think about that. 

Our industry is under attack when it should be just the opposite.  It might be politically popular to make those statements but it hurts a lot of people, particularly restaurant workers, doormen, and housekeepers.  These are the people they are professing that they want to help. 

Our industry is starting to swing back a little bit and say, wait a second.  There was a full page ad in the USA Today with the headline “Want to lose a million more jobs.  Just keep talking.”

What can we each do to help insure the long-term vitality of our industry?

Archived Articles >