[Editor’s Note: This story appeared on the front page of our Feb. 12 print edition, but due to a technical error, part of the actual text was missing and gibberish was inserted. The story will be reprinted in full in our Feb. 19 edition. We regret the error.]
By Natalie Myers
MYERS@PBN.COM
Dan Williams became the general manager of the Providence Biltmore Hotel four months ago. Before that, he opened and operated Six Flags Corp.’s first indoor water park hotel, in Lake George, N.Y. He was there for 18 months.
Prior to that, he actually stayed in one place for 11 years while raising four children. Williams was executive vice president of operations for three hotels owned by Pacific Concord Investment Corp. in Eatontown, N.J.
But in his youth, Williams said, he moved frequently. He lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Delaware and Florida, among others.
“I worked for a company that transferred me four times, from a bigger hotel to a bigger hotel,” he said.
Such is the transient world of hotel management. And in Providence, it’s no different. At least six new general managers have taken positions at the city’s top hotels within the past year, most within the past six months.
The reasons for it vary – from promotions within companies to personal preference to the development of new hotels such as the Renaissance Providence Hotel, scheduled to open later this year.
Williams said he decided to work at the Biltmore because he liked the idea of running a historic landmark hotel, and because he thinks the owner, Grand Heritage Hotel Group, has good growth potential.
Another reason: He and his wife “are empty nesters for the first time,” Williams said. “We thought it would be fun to live in a downtown environment that’s easy to navigate … with great restaurants and theater.”
Eric Churchill, the new general manager of the Marriott Providence Downtown, said he took the position nine months ago because it was a promotion within Meyer Jabara Hotels and Resorts. He worked at the company’s Marriott in Boston for about a year before that.
“If you’re part of a big chain, the easiest way to get ahead is to get transferred to a new town,” said Richard Brush, dean of the Hospitality College at Johnson & Wales University. “That is a dynamic built into the industry.”
Brush said he switched hotels 10 times during the 17 years he worked in the hospitality industry, but the average stay for general managers is more like three to four years.
One advantage of turnover is having a new, fresh set of eyes looking at old problems, he said.
“The cons are that in a community like Providence, the general managers, part of their job is to become part of the community,” Brush said. “It takes time to meet people. … Any time you lose a seasoned professional, it hurts the hotel.”
Stanley Weiss, owner of Hotel Providence, knows firsthand what it’s like to lose a seasoned professional after only a year of service. He said he hired Manish Bhatia from The Westin Providence shortly after Hotel Providence opened two years ago.
About a year ago, the Renaissance owner, Sage Hospitality Resources, tried to lure Bhatia away, Weiss said. But the company didn’t hire him in the end. It hired Angelo DePeri, former general manager of the Westin, instead.
Weiss said he let Bhatia go after that because loyalty is important for a hotel “coming into its own.” Christine Nevers, previously director of revenue management for the Hotel Viking in Newport, took his place last June.
Hotel managers, Weiss said, “build contacts. They fill business by knowing the players.”
Brush said it is not uncommon for a new hotel, such as the Renaissance, to come into town and entice professionals already working in the industry with higher salaries.
“It’s magnified in the relatively small market we have here,” Brush said. “That’s why you’re sensing it more.”
Along with DePeri’s departure to the Renaissance, three other management changes at hotels owned by The Procaccianti Group have occurred in recent months.
The company transferred Sam Guedouar from its Four-Star InterContinental in Kansas City because with the expansion of 200 additional rooms and 103 luxury residences at the Westin, the company wanted someone who had experience running a luxury hotel, said Ralph Izzi, spokesman for the company.
Izzi also said the company transferred The Hilton Providence Hotel’s general manager, Kathy Schnell, to the Sheraton Providence Airport Hotel in Warwick after purchasing the Sheraton last month.
The company then transferred Brian Smith from its Hilton in Dedham, Mass., because it wanted someone with experience running a Hilton at the Hilton in Providence, Izzi said.
The purpose of the transfers was to “put the people that have been with our company for a while in key positions,” he said.
He added: “It’s all an indication of our growth as a company and … of the renaissance and rebirth of the city.”
