Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2014 | Page 52

REC ON NECT: M U LT I - B RA N D 50
MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: Set a goal, and do everything within yourself and
motivate your team to assist you in achieving that goal. Be fair with people,
create a team environment, give your people autonomy, yet hold them accountable, and they will fight fiercely with you in the battlefield of business. Your
integrity and reputation are worth more than any amount of money.
Management method or style: Transparent, instructive, and inclusive.
The management team knows the big picture. This in turn ensures minimal
surprises. We provide our team with all the tools they need to succeed. Additionally, all our hotels are in areas with large Hispanic populations, and because
of this we have a management team (including myself) who are bilingual in
English and Spanish. This is paramount in our industry as it eliminates any
communication barriers. Also, because I’m 50 percent Hispanic, our line-level
employees are very proud of working for an owner who understands them,
their cultures, and their beliefs. This all helps create a tremendous “family-like”
environment.
Greatest challenge: Debt refinancing.
How do others describe you? Affable, great communicator, good listener, approachable, high integrity, good businessman, consummate hotelier,
and leader of people.
How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: I make
them responsible for their own hotels or business units. We agree on the budget, and on the sales and marketing plans. Based on this, it is up to them how
those results are delivered.
How close are you to operations? Very close. I know everything that
occurs in our hotels.
What are the two most important things you rely on from
your franchisor? 1) Greater visibility and marketing exposure that leads to
more hotel bookings at our properties, and 2) access to key senior management personnel who enable me to remove impediments to our success caused

by the enormous bureaucracy within those organizations.
What I need from vendors: Bulk discounts for smaller-quantity orders.
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to
the economy? How? No. We still reach out to every one of our markets
through direct contact. We have enhanced our marketing effort because of our
critical mass, hiring a corporate sales manager for the company, and are getting
to larger business-providing sources. We are also opening up new international
inbound markets with direct sales efforts into Latin America.
How is social media affecting your business? TripAdvisor.com is the
social media the hospitality industry depends on for accuracy. Travelers no longer depend on star ratings from agencies like AAA; they want to know who is
ranked the highest on TripAdvisor, and that is where they want to stay. For our
hotels, we manage against TripAdvisor. Two of our five hotels are #1 in their
markets (which gives us more bookings), two more are in the top 15 percent
in their respective cities, and our oldest hotel has moved up over 200 places in
the rankings since we acquired it.
How do you hire and fire? I personally hire the corporate staff and
the hotel general managers. The GMs then hire their teams. We have a team
member handbook with guidelines that all are required to follow. Terminations
are through a standard three-strikes policy, or a blatant violation of the team
member handbook.
How do you train and retain? Our managers are all seasoned veterans
of the hospitality industry; all are able to provide training in customer service
skills, as well as training in any franchisor-mandated standards.
How do you deal with problem employees? Each is dependent on
the individual situation.
Fastest way into my doghouse: Lose a key account because we made
stupid internal mistakes repeatedly that led to the account leaving our hotel.

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: N/A.

eliminated overtime, and had management work more hours.

2014 goals: $7.5 million.

How do you forecast for your business? Annually.

Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Against previousyear results.

Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? While there is
more available from multiple sources, it is still difficult to get financing closed.

Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? In 5
years, growth of the company to 20 hotels. In 10 years, retired, traveling parts
of the world I have not yet seen.

Where do you find capital for expansion? Existing partners, investment
bankers, networks of known individuals.

How is the current economy affecting you, your employees, your
customers? The economy is growing and expanding, particularly in Texas and
New Mexico. We are forecasting a great run for the next 5 years.
Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? Massive
growth.
What did you change or do differently during the economic downturn that you ar e continuing to do? Tightened costs, changed suppliers,

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MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE II, 2014

Have you used private equity, local banks, national banks, other
institutions? Why? We have used all three. During the recession, we
sourced debt capital for new hotel construction, when no one else could. Now
our hotels are poised to dominate their respective markets.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? We have
team member of the quarter and for the year. Winners receive cash prizes,
meals with their managers, and the team member of the year has a personal
dinner with me in addition to more cash.