Higgins Dives Right Into CEO Role At BW

PHOENIX— Tom Higgins’ first few weeks on the job as the new president/CEO of Best Western International are stacking up as a whirlwind of activity, setting the tone for the hospitality industry veteran’s approach to his high-profile position. For example, a week into starting the job on Oct. 28, Higgins was set to be in Las Vegas, meeting more than 2,000 members of the global lodging chain during their annual convention, delivering remarks during the general session. A week later he was headed to London and World Travel Market, with stops in Shanghai and Bangkok on the agenda, before bouncing back to the U.S. to start strategy sessions here with the global lodging chain’s corporate divisions. Higgins, who until this past summer had been sitting in Parsippany, NJ, running Cendant Corp.’s Days Inn Worldwide brand as president/CEO, told HOTEL BUSINESS® his priority was to find out what is at the top of association members’ lists of concerns. “I have a question I usually ask: ‘What advise can you give me as I move into this new position?’ And, of course, there’s usually no shortage of answers to that. I take a look at what the trends are, what’s hot, what’s geographically important to people. I kind of take my agenda— at least initially— from the members. What are they most concerned about,” said Higgins. While the broad swath of Higgins’ 30-year career is wrapped around hotels and food service, he admits running a global organization is different from running just a global brand. “My expectations are we have issues from one part of the world to the next that are going to be a little be different. We won’t be able to categorize, if you will, that this is the way people think within our organization because people come from all over the world. Secondarily, our approach to problems may have to be slightly different from one area to another. But, ultimately, I’m a consensus builder. So, where we start and where we wind up, we begin to get toward the middle. And while we try to operate a global brand, we do so with the full understanding there’s going to be some slight idiosyncrasies relative to geography,” he said. Higgins sees his skill set resting within operational, marketing, development and human resources tracks, and is comfortable with the Best Western organizational structure. “We’re not a corporately owned company, we’re not a franchise company; we’re a member association and obviously you just don’t go out and tell people about what’s going to happen. You’ve got to influence, you’ve got to consensus build, you’ve got to team build. I feel with my past background…I’ve been able to use those skills to drive a consensus so we can reach our goals and obtain the results,” said Higgins. Asked when was the last time he stayed in a Best Western (prior to taking the job), and his experience from a customer’s point of view, Higgins recounted several stays in Texas properties, but would not disclose locations. “The experience was actually very solid,” he said. “Best Western has always been held up as a standard-bearer in the midscale properties. Consistency is always an issue with any brand. The larger you get, the harder it is to maintain that consistency. Overall, for the value and the amenities, friendliness of staff, etc., I found it fully acceptable,” he said. “Now, can we do better? Of course,” Higgins said. “Can we give our members tools on a continuing basis to do the best job possible? We must. Overall, I don’t see there are terribly big flaws in the brand, operationally.” Higgins said he was not stepping into the job with any preconceived notions about how the company should be run and was eager to meet with the senior staff to examine their individual pieces of BW’s 2003 business plan. While not delving into proprietary data, Higgins said he found the plan “very doable…nothing in there scares me.” The new CEO did not foresee any significant changes coming out of Best Western, but noted the chain’s IS area was