COLUMBUS, OH—Joe Wheeling, closely identified with the Red Roof Inn brand for nearly a decade, will retire as CEO of the Columbus, OH-based company on April 30, 2009. He will remain in an advisory role and on the organization’s board of directors for two years after he departs the post. Wheeling confirmed to HOTEL BUSINESS® that personal reasons were driving the move, not corporate intrigue. “I live in Durango, CO, and at the time of the acquisition of Red Roof Inn [by Citi Global Special Situations Group and Westbridge Hospitality Fund II, LP], I told them of my intention to get off the plane all the time. When we moved the company to Columbus it signaled that that was going to happen because I was not moving to Columbus. If we had moved the company to Denver, there is no doubt that I would have been around for the long haul, but I had to take into account that we had a lot of experience from a lot of good people that were based in Columbus and that seemed like absolutely the right move to make,” said Wheeling. The CEO, whose mother died last month, is staunch about remaining in the Rocky Mountain state to be close to his father and his own family. “I have a beautiful opportunity to devote some quality time right now when it counts,” said Wheeling. In terms of Red Roof Inn, the CEO said the intent for now is to keep things status quo as the organization looks for his successor. “We’ve invested a lot of time and money this past year in building the infrastructure for Red Roof such that it could really grow aggressively in the future. We want to bring somebody in who will help us with that growth of the company,” said Wheeling. At press time, the company was bringing an executive search firm on board to expedite the process. Wheeling said he and Mohamed Thowfeek of Westmont Hospitality/Development Group make up the selection committee working with the search firm. Red Roof Inn’s board chairman, Majid Mangalji, will participate in the final selection. While there’s no current short list, Wheeling acknowledged, “There are a lot of good folks out there right now.” He further added, “It’s clearly a position that has to be located in Columbus. That’s non-negotiable. I’m sure that will provide some limitations to some folks.” Wheeling has been a fixture with Red Roof Inn, first as executive vp for Accor North America and COO for the brand from 1999 to 2007. In September of 2007 Red Roof was acquired for $1.3 billion by New York-based Citi Global Special Situations Group and Canada-based Westbridge Hospitality Fund II, LP. Westbridge is a partnership among Westmont Hospitality Group, a privately held owner and manager of more than 400 hotels, and several Canadian pension fund managers. At that point Wheeling was named CEO of Red Roof Inn. Chief among Wheeling’s strategies has been the implementation of a national $250-million renovation program for the brand’s almost 350 franchised and corporate-owned properties. He also helped drive strong brand awareness with the launch of a campaign in 2002 and 2003 that used a bobblehead doll named Red. Using voiceovers by actor John Goodman, the doll with the bright red hair became an icon for the brand and touted the chain’s renovated rooms in commercial spots and on the company website. Wheeling also has been instrumental in helping the brand transition from the Accor stable to a stand-alone hotel company that he asserted has strong financials. “The company is healthy financially. We do have a fair amount of debt but it’s long term and at a very attractive rate. There’s nothing on the horizon that’s scary from a financial perspective,” said Wheeling. Bringing someone on board who might have a different skill set from him is viewed as a good thing by Wheeling since he will be on the Red Roof board for a while. “I certainly would not anticipate finding a clone in any sense of the imagination. We’re looking for someone who can help really grow the brand and that’s really priority number one. We may approach that from a lot of different perspectives because there’s more than one type of person who could help us get that goal accomplished,” said the CEO. Wheeling added the company has put together a “top-notch group” during the past 18 months. “It’s really now time to make sure they’re motivated and all pulling in the same direction and that they stay on board,” he said. Even as he looks to transition, Wheeling is sensitive to the impact the current economy is having on hotel brands. The company recently launched a major set of incentives for developers who decide to construct the franchisor’s new NextGen prototype hotel (See HOTEL BUSINESS®, Nov. 21, 2008) and is offering special winter promotions on the consumer side. And thus far, there’s been no talk about discounting rate across the board. “We’re trying to hold our rates as flat as we can. I think flat is the new up, at least for rate. Fortunately, we’ve been able to capture some market share for a fair amount of time and certainly in 2008. A lot of the things that we’ve done from a sales and marketing, revenue management perspective are working and we anticipate continuing that in the coming months,” said Wheeling. He added that as the economy goes into a downturn/recession, the economy hotel segment experiences it first. “So we saw the weakness a little bit earlier and we’ve also hit bottom a little bit earlier than others, but our bottom is not nearly as far down, so we’re seeing some stabilization. Are we concerned? Yes. But there’s no cause for panic,” he said. Asked about what he considers his greatest accomplishments during his decade-long tenure at the brand, Wheeling recalled the renovation and repositioning programs, but then he decided he’s not at the point just yet of being nostalgic. “There’s still a lot of work to do,” he said, noting he wanted to complete the cutover from the previous Accor central reservation system before he steps down.
