| On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of design, procurement, and development firm Gettys, we decided to sit down with chairman and CEO Roger G. Hill II, to discuss two decades of innovation and reinvention in our industry. Hill co-founded Gettys with fellow Cornell School of Hotel Administration graduates Andrew Fay, Ariane Steinbeck, and Julius van Heek, choosing Hill’s middle name for their shingle, and bringing a business mindset to hotel design. Headquartered in Chicago, Gettys has recently expanded to offices in Dubai, Hong Kong, Irvine, California, Miami, and New York. After more than 600 projects, Hill talks about innovation, the firm’s first Far East hotel, and that secret sauce |
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HD: Your background includes a degree in hotel administration. Has this helped you focus on the business of the hotel business, and has it influenced your design work?
RH: Yes it has. It’s helped us both focus and see the opportunities, and create a business focused solely on the hospitality business. When we had the vision to come up with the business model 20 years ago, there were developers and brands that understood the value of good design, but not nearly as many as there are today. That’s part of where we saw opportunity; we could combine great design and a great brand. And that’s become table stakes today; 20 years ago that was the minority of thinking. You couple that with the standard then of a developer hiring a procurement firm, project manager, interior designer, program manager, architect of record-we understood that we could accept the responsibility and be accountable for all of it. |
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HD:When you founded Gettys, you said a few notable things about your business approach to hospitality design. Would you mind reciting those tenets?
RH:I said that we build profit centers, not monuments. The world has changed since then, but the tenets of our ‘great design is good business’approach remain the same at Gettys. |
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| From Top: The Presidential Suite at the Westin Abu Dhabi; a guestroom at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Macau. |
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HD: Gettys has always focused on the future. Why is that in your DNA?
RH: I think because our foundation was built on the fact that we are all entrepreneurs. We wanted to continue to create an environment to attract entrepreneurial people. We always want to refine ourselves. It’s part of our core values. |
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HD: You mention core values. What is most critical to Gettys?
RH: We treat people the way we want to be treated. That’s why our average tenure of our leadership team has been over a decade. We share the successes and the challenges. We approach things collaboratively. Even with our clients, we share the successes and the challenges. |
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| A Mock-up guestroom at the Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou. . |
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| From top: The spa lounge at the Four Seasons Chicago; the lobby at Hotel Felix |
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HD: What have you changed design-wise that shows you were thinking differently?
RH: I think we were thought leaders particularly when it comes to mass customization. We have evolved our Guestroom Expressâ„¢ program since we launched it in 1994, originally as a way for developers to get good, cost-effective design that could be evaluated quickly as meeting or exceeding brand standards, and for knowing pre-schematic what the costs are-a dealer model. The idea came from a project we did for a major fast-food chain, helping them create a series of designs for their restaurants. We thought if it was appropriate for restaurants it should be appropriate for hotels. That’s not to say everybody buys that way, but it was a nice alternative. |
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HD: Are you doing things differently now than you were a decade ago?
RH: People are recognizing the “secret sauce”-which is no secret. It’s a good formula, the way we go in and make an opportunity assessment. Under opportunity, there might be redevelopment or the strategy for new development. We want to be held accountable to execute that. |
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HD: What is different from just a year ago?
RH: We’re a global company. It’s been a good defensive move due to the slowdown in the States. In retrospect, it was a smart decision and we’re very thankful. We never anticipated we’d be in the economic malaise we’re in right now. |
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HD: What is your advice on how hoteliers can survive the downturn of 2009? Do you believe solid design is part of the strategy?
RH: There’s no better time to make a commitment to your asset. Spend wisely now when you’re not interrupting your highest occupancy. We’re fortunate enough to be working for people with that vision. Renovations are not as big, but those owners will be ready to take advantage of the upturn. New supply is really being choked off here, so recovery will be much faster in the hotel business. |
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HD: Are there areas on which you’re bullish?
RH: We’re bouncing along the bottom of tough times. For those who are opportunistic, there are fantastic opportunities for acquisitions. We are seeing some light and it’s a ray of sunlight; I couldn’t have said that in January. I truly felt in my lifetime I wouldn’t have experienced this in the way my parents experienced something as dramatic as the Great Depression. |
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HD: You mention your parents. I understand that your father had been a positive influence on the firm. What did he teach you?
RH: He and my mom were very much entrepreneurs. He was a great mentor and one of my best friends. He played a key role in giving us the courage to start the business. He was our de facto controller and CFO in the early days. He was a great guiding influence and a great inspiration. He was a great gentleman, too. He taught us how you can be a very good businessperson, yet he was all about everybody winning. |
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HD: You have always championed innovation in design, in services, in sustainability, in technology, in the future of design. As an industry, are we embracing innovation?
RH: Unfortunately, as an industry, we’ve been a late adopter. LEED will continue to gain momentum. We’ve been fortunate enough to take some risks. We just opened the Hotel Felix, an eco-friendly boutique hotel, designed to meet LEED Silver certification. We’re continuing to stay true to that mission of innovation, and LEED is an important differentiator. |
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HD: Gettys has completed more than 600 projects. What stands out? What are the lessons for the future?
RH: We were brought to Macau for a project, and ended up opening up an office in Hong Kong. That was a game-changing opportunity for us. We have experienced the same thing in Florida, Dubai, and New York. People in the financial markets want our expertise. We want to be in the war room when they are determining what happens with their assets. |
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HD: What advice do you have for businesses that really want to think- and work- differently?
RH: Surround yourself with people smarter than you, and always be willing to change. |
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HD: Tell us about the newly opened Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Macau. What was Gettys’role?
RH: Gettys provided concept design and interior design services for this destination resort hotel at City of Dreams entertainment complex, on the Cotai Strip in Macau. As our first completed project in the Far East, we are particularly proud of this dramatic property. The client asked Gettys to help them craft an upscale hotel that would feature the rock ‘n’roll history associated with the Hard Rock Hotel brand and the demands of both Asian-styled gambling guests and western-styled “party until you drop” crowds. The Hard Rock Hotel is the first of three hotels to open in City of Dreams featuring 370 guestrooms and suites offering state-of-the-art dramatic and unexpected accommodations with magnificent panoramic views of the Cotai Strip and the city of Macau. Gettys was also instrumental in the overall concept development of the public areas including the arrival/check-in experience, lobby lounge, poolside bar and restaurant, spa, and fitness areas located throughout this high-energy hotel. |
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HD: What are you working on now?
RH: Gettys currently has a number of projects underway in the Middle East, namely: the new Abu Dhabi Golf Club Westin Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort due for completion in 2010; a renovation of a 600-key luxury resort in Dubai; and a new-build hotel and serviced apartments development in conjunction to one of Dubai’s oldest shopping complexes. Our Hong Kong office remains incredibly busy including the Newport Entertainment & Commercial Center, a luxury resort and casino in Manila, and a renovation of 370 guestrooms for Shangri-La Hotels in Beihai, China. On the domestic front, we have a number of exciting projects underway. In New York, we are currently working on several projects including a prestigious 5-Star property renovation and as well as providing interior design service for a new-build, 600-key, branded hotel in midtown Manhattan. Other notable projects include the Hyatt Orange County (California), the St. Louis Marriott Union Station, and numerous Radisson projects. We continue to work on U.S.-based projects helping clients realize their capital expenditure goals during the U.S.’s challenged economy, reposition their brand strategies, or renovate existing facilities with the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funding. Positively, we have been on the receiving end of an
incredible number of proposals in the U.S., Middle East, and Asia, so we are excited and thankful to have these opportunities and the potential to add more countries and hotel companies to our list of clientele. hd
www.gettys.com |
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