Francois KhouryGeneral ManagerHilton, Woodland HillsHotel Industry Experience: 36 years Q: Why are you in the hotel industry? A: It has its great differences every day. you never know what to expect. It’s as different as one human being is to another one because every day you deal with human beings, and every single person has different motivations, different beliefs, different habits, and that’s what creates the challenge – working with all of them. This can be with employees, and this can be with guests. Q: How have you seen the hotel industry change in recent years, in terms of how hotels operate and how guests shop for hotels? A: Hotels have learned to be smarter when it comes to expenses and what’s most important. Customers have learned to be a lot smarter, as far as shopping versus just going with their preferred location or venue or hotel name. Hannah BrownGeneral ManagerLa Quinta Inn & Suites, Thousand OaksHotel Industry Experience: 15 years Q: Why are you in the hotel industry? A: It’s never the same. There’s always different people coming into the hotel, and everyone has a story about why they’re traveling and where they’re coming from. It’s just interesting to be able to interact with different people every day. Q: How have you seen the hotel industry change in recent years, in terms of how hotels operate and how guests shop for hotels? A: There’s been a lot of downsizing with the staffing levels and combining jobs that multiple people would have done before. I think a lot of guests are looking for the best value that they can get. They’re definitely more conscious about the amount of money that they’re spending when they travel. Henri BirmeleGeneral ManagerSheraton Universal Hotel, Universal CityHotel Industry Experience: 30 years Q: Why are you in the hotel industry? A: Just the challenges you face every day, it’s all gray. Nothing is black and white. It’s really up to you, how you’re going to interact with people. Q: How have you seen the hotel industry change in recent years, in terms of how hotels operate and how guests shop for hotels? A: We just learned to operate leaner, which is to do more with less. And you cannot just do less and expect the same thing to happen because expectations have not been lowered. You cannot just provide a room with a TV and bed in it. You’ve got to be more innovative in what you’re offering in today’s age. … The service level probably has to be the highest than ever before. Randy KellerGeneral ManagerEmbassy Suites, PalmdaleHotel Industry Experience: 21 years Q: Why are you in the hotel industry? A: It’s something different every day. … There’s a lot of different activities during a given day, a lot of different opportunities to engage with guests on a regular basis and you meet all different kinds of people. Q: How have you seen the hotel industry change in recent years, in terms of how hotels operate and how guests shop for hotels? A: There’s a lot more competition with third-party Internet sites, so there’s a lot more opportunities for the guest or consumer to search for the best pricing. From an operations point of view, it’s running bigger and better hotels with less people. — Compiled by Jessica Selva
