From lifestyle choices to luxury decisions. Back in January, when we unveiled the newly redesigned Hotel Business, Eric Danziger was the subject of our cover story for the ALIS issue. He had recently joined Hampshire Hotels Management as president and CEO, and had just transformed the operator into a full-fledged brand company, Début Hotel Group, which would become the umbrella for five brands (Augustus Hotels & Resorts, Dream Hotels, Time Hotels, Unscripted Hotels and Night Hotels).
Now, here we are in October, our Lodging Conference issue, and Eric is on our cover again. But this time, in name only. You’ll hear from him as part of this issue’s cover story (see sidebar, p. 31), but our primary focus is on Ivanka Trump and, more directly, on the decision to hire the industry veteran to lead the Trump Hotel Collection as it expands its owned and managed portfolios internationally, which she details in the article.
Sure enough, when the news broke about Eric taking the post as the CEO, two industry colleagues independently said to me that, while they expected to hear/read about Eric’s view on why he made the move, it would be even more fascinating to get Trump’s take on the hiring. After all, until now, the luxury hotel owner, which proudly backs its properties with the family name, has operated without a CEO helming its Collection. And, management has remained largely a family affair.
So, we did just that. We got the Trump perspective. Ivanka, who shares the title of EVP/development and acquisitions for The Trump Organization with her brothers, agreed to talk to Hotel Business in an industry exclusive and to share with us, and our readers, why Eric was the ideal choice to lead the charge for global growth and, in her words, “take it to the next level” as the brand evolves. For Trump, this decision to get the “right guy” to execute on the strategic vision, was the right move at the right time to position the fairly young hotel company for fast growth. And, in many ways, for both Trump and Danziger, as you’ll read, it’s not just about experience and strategy in transacting business; it comes down to relationships and people. The heart of the deal.
So, there you have it. Our decision to put the Trump name on our Lodging Conference issue seemed to make perfect editorial sense: For a conference built on a foundation of generating deals, how could we not feature the ultimate dealmaker?