Former Amanresorts Exec Tapped As Island Outpost COO

MIAMI BEACH— Island Outpost has a reputation for opening and operating getaway hotels and resorts with a laid-back tropical charm where guest service is job one. With the hiring of a new COO, it wants to make sure it stays that way. Despite its home away from home charm, which soaks up the local culture in each location, Island Outpost has been impacted by the sagging economy not unlike other destination properties. Instead of continuing to grow locations, the hotel and resort company is taking a hard look at its current portfolio with an eye to bolster the quality of service at each hotel. Enter new COO Daniel Reid, formerly area manager of Amanresorts, Indonesia. “We, like everyone else, have suffered over the last year. This season however is showing good signs and bookings are looking very good,” Chris Blackwell, owner and founder of Island Outpost, told HOTEL BUSINESS®. “Dan is an experienced and well-respected hotelier. We had a need for a COO to oversee the various properties we have within our portfolio. Dan has operated in properties in different parts of the world— Indonesia, the Philippines and the Caribbean. His experience will be invaluable in incorporating the very different elements of service into an Island Outpost style of service,” he said. Island Outpost currently has 11 distinct and small properties in South Beach, FL; Jamaica; the Bahamas and Utah. Its concept was created in 1991 with the opening of the Marlin hotel in South Beach followed soon after by The Kent and The Tides. Like other hoteliers and even other industries, sometimes with expansion comes a slack in service. And although Island Outpost executives claim the guest service at each one of their locations is still top notch, they want to make sure it stays that way at this crucial juncture when travelers are expecting more from their hotel providers. “We are trying to go back in the direction started by the two original properties,” said Reid, in his first interview since being named COO. “We are going to spend more focus on each property, on providing great service levels. The group, in my impression, needs more attention and we need to make sure the concept and the vision of each is true to the owner’s heart.” To do this, immediately following his hiring, Reid took a whirlwind trip with Blackwell to each hotel to see first hand the properties, talk personally with the mangers and even the guest staffs. What he sees is a dynamic group of properties and individuals that simply need to get back to the basics, he said. “All the existing managers are doing great stuff. They just need more focus and attention from the main office in South Beach,” Reid said. “We need to provide support for all the properties and we haven’t been so successful with that from the home-office perspective.” As a result, Island Outpost has no plans to open any new locations in the immediate future. “We are focusing on the further development of our existing properties and have delayed, for the time being, the development of new properties,” Blackwell said. Added Reid: “We have a few management contracts out there to open new locations next year, but we really are not sure. We are just hedging our bets. We first have to improve our own properties again.” In fact, this development gets down to such nitty-gritty items as working with the chefs in each location to make sure they are serving up the most authentic local cuisine, Reid said. “We want a well-run consistent property where the food is true to the [local area]. The chefs have to be creative and offer the guests whatever they need, even if it is not on the menu,” Reid said. “We want the service people to interact really well with the guests. We want them to be approachable, which is the basic precept of comfortable service. We want to make sure we meet this everywhere and exceed it often,” he said. Most of Island Outpost’s properties have been doing “okay” in this tough economy and post 9/11, with the exc