Lewis Takes Reins At GuestHouse, Improves Communication Among Franchisees

ATLANTA— GuestHouse International Franchise Systems named Kevin Lewis as its new brand president, following the departure of Rob Wilson, who left the company to pursue other interests. In his new role, Lewis plans to encourage more communication amongst franchisees to foster problem solving, develop advertising groups to promote the brand, and improve the chain’s guest loyalty program. Wilson, who previously served as president of GuestHouse, but announced earlier this month that he would step down to return with his family to Arizona, their long-time home, was well liked among his peers and will be missed, said Greg Plank, president of Suburban Lodges of America (parent of GuestHouse). But Wilson’s successor is also well known within the company. “Lewis was one of the first employees of GuestHouse… he has been with us for a long time. He knows the hotel owners well and has spent time building relationships with them.” Lewis previously served as managing director of franchise sales for parent Suburban Lodges and helped establish the fair franchising principles on which the GuestHouse International brand was founded, according to Plank. “Lewis has a lot of energy. I think this will actually be the easiest transition in the history of the hotel industry,” Plank noted. It may be an easy transition, but it comes at one of the hardest times for the hotel industry, which has been hit hard by an economic slowdown coupled with a travel slump following the events of Sept. 11. “We’ve been having meetings to decide what we really want to focus our efforts on. We know for the franchisees, it’s really tough right now,” said Lewis. To help with the rough times, Lewis set up regional “associations” within the GuestHouse chain that are banded together by key point persons. The groups allow franchisees to communicate with others in their geographic regions, fostering problem solving and business strategizing. In addition, GuestHouse has set up co-operative advertising groups to raise money and promote the brand in certain regions of the United States. Taking the current economic and industry situation into account, Lewis said GuestHouse has revised its goals for the number of new hotels it expects to add to the system. “We had expected to add between 40 and 50 new hotels, but now we revised that number to about 25 new properties for 2002,” he said. In addition, Lewis noted some adjustments were made to the development team to reward and hold on to the “strong producers” of new business, he said. Currently, Lewis said the company is working on revamping its guest loyalty program, which will be rolled out in the beginning of next year.