MINNEAPOLIS— As the new executive vp of development for Carlson Hotels Worldwide, industry veteran Sam Winterbottom finds himself responsible for the strategic direction of hotel brand development in The Americas. Coming on board the privately-held corporation in the fourth quarter of 2002, Winterbottom told HOTEL BUSINESS® the greatest challenge in the short term— the next three months— is to get the organization up and running under its revamped structure. This includes oversight by Jim Olson, vp, development/full service (Regent International, Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza), and John Sturgess, vp, development/limited service (Country Inns & Suites by Carlson, Park Inn). “We’re well on the way to doing that but we’ve got some more work to do and we need to finish that up,” Winterbottom said. Position Wrangling Winterbottom also finds himself wrangling a position that called for a seasoned hotel development executive with experience in both franchising and corporate acquisitions and corporate development. “Someone who could synthesize those functions in one or two functional teams,” said Winterbottom, who most recently served as president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ franchise division in Atlanta. “It’s the way Carlson wants the organization to behave on a going-forward basis.” In terms of actual developments, Winterbottom reinforced the notion that Carlson will remain primarily a franchise-focused company; however, he said “within corporate development— where we’re keenly interested— we need to make sure we’re clear internally and communicate externally where it is we’re interested in owning corporate real estate by brand and by marketplace. And communicate to developers and other owners of real estate where it is and what it is we’re looking for so we can fulfill the company goals in that regard.” Despite the current economic environment, Winterbottom believes the gap will close in the months ahead between buyers and sellers, making the acquisition of real estate not so onerous. “And Carlson, as a private company, doesn’t have the public shareholder pressure on deployment of capital. I think Carlson will be better prepared than most of the competitive companies to deploy some capital and get some of the opportunities I think are coming out over the next several months,” he said. He stressed Carlson would not be sending out mixed signals to potential owners or venture partners who may be eyeballing the same markets/locations that Carlson has interests in developing. “The development team is going to be communicating with owners, and clients are going to know the answer to the question of where Carlson is interested or not interested in deploying capital, and they’re going to communicate that in advance to both franchise or venture partners, so everybody should hopefully be aware of where Carlson has interest in these markets on a capital basis,” he said.
