As a school pupil, Expotel Hospitality President and Chief Improvement Officer Michael Nixon was contemplating totally different careers—drugs, regulation, and particularly, espionage—whereas working summers at a lodge. Describing his journey from his faculty days, he informed LODGING, “I had majored within the Russian language and minored in worldwide affairs, with ideas of becoming a member of the CIA or the NSA, that’s, till I factored within the beginning wage.” With a younger household to contemplate and years of progressively extra accountable positions in hospitality underneath his belt, upon commencement, he deserted ideas of changing into a spy to as an alternative develop into common supervisor of the lodge the place he’d reduce his hospitality enamel.
Nixon stated he by no means regretted that call since hospitality suited him, because it does many others who possess the “hospitality gene.” “I’m in love with all of the issues that make good hoteliers—being with folks, workers, and constructing groups,” he defined.
Early Mentorship
All of it started for Nixon at Mark II Seaside Resort (now Seahaven Seaside Lodge), in Panama Metropolis Seaside, Florida, the place he remained for practically eight years, beginning as an evening auditor whereas in faculty and changing into GM simply two years later. Then got here practically 25 years with Innisfree Lodges, beginning as GM of Beachside Resort and Convention Heart, additionally in Panama Metropolis.
At Innisfree, he acquired “25 years of mentorship” from founder Julian MacQueen, who he locations on the “high of the listing” of those that taught him the lodge enterprise. “So far as the nuts and bolts of lodge operations, lodge improvement, lodge purchases, and so on.—I discovered all that from him.”
After all, Nixon was clearly desirous to be taught, proper from the beginning. “I used to be that man all the time asking for extra obligations, so Julian informed me to seek out some motels that have to be managed,” he stated. “So, regardless that I didn’t know actually what I used to be doing, I might make the calls, and generally stumbled throughout offers, lots of which labored out.”
He stated Innisfree was then a younger firm with just some motels, which it owned and managed, and there was a lot to do and be taught. “I helped develop a number of the instruments that they used to handle and monitor motels—I taught myself Excel—and likewise helped to construct the tradition inside the firm.” Whereas he was being mentored by MacQueen and because the firm grew through the years, he employed, mentored, and promoted others, a few of whom are nonetheless there in high-level positions.
Becoming a member of Expotel
Nixon stated of the transfer to Expotel after practically 25 years with Innisfree, “I beloved the folks and my time at Innisfree, however after I was recruited by Expotel, I used to be on the level in my life that I needed to resolve whether or not or to not stay there for the remainder of my profession.” The provide, he stated, additionally included a partnership place, one thing not accessible to him at Innisfree. Given the chance to develop into an proprietor and tackle a brand new problem, Nixon accepted the place.
He described the change from being president of what had develop into a big firm that owned the properties it managed to imagine that title at a comparatively small third-party administration firm. “It was undoubtedly a studying expertise. As a result of we’re a small firm, we don’t have an enormous infrastructure, which makes us agile,” he defined. The brand new position has additionally meant “sporting many hats,” he stated. “For instance, I underwrite motels, search for financing, and challenge income and internet incomes out over 5 to 10 years. I additionally advise on websites and markets—that’s, the strengths and weaknesses of motels, which of them to go after and which of them to keep away from, which of them are overpriced, which of them are underpriced.”
Figuring out with House owners
He stated Expotel’s small measurement additionally permits him to attach with house owners of the managed properties at a special degree, one thing he relishes. “I discover making these connections with the totally different house owners, with all their totally different particular person personalities, to be a problem and a thrill, too. We’re not simply working for only one individual; we’ve got roughly 10 house owners,” he associated.
Nixon stated of his chief improvement officer title, “I do have a knack for what’s concerned in improvement—understanding the small print alone or in conferences with others.” Nevertheless, he added, “I’m an operations man at coronary heart. If I had my druthers, I’d all the time be on the market assembly folks, like on the entrance desk.” He added that being an proprietor has coloured his view of the place he holds. Though he all the time regarded each job as greater than a paycheck, being an proprietor has made him conscious of how “all the pieces I do may gain advantage me personally sooner or later,” he stated.
Reflecting on his personal climb from evening auditor to president and accomplice, Nixon considers himself a chief instance of the rewards accessible in hospitality—for these with the hospitality gene, that’s. “It’s not likely a 9-to-5 factor,” he asserted. “Individuals who view hospitality extra as a vocation, a calling, serve themselves and people round them finest.”
The Private Strategy to Prospecting: Making Connections the Proper Method in a Put up-Pandemic World
Expotel President and Chief Improvement Officer Michael Nixon remembers his early efforts to snag third-party administration contracts by chilly calling potential purchasers, however stated there’s simply no substitute for in-person conferences at what he referred to as “the fitting reveals.” “Individuals need to promote me lists of lodge executives, however I’ve discovered that the easiest way to get third-party contracts is thru face-to-face conferences,” he stated. Emphasizing the significance of seeing these faces, he commented on how that essential connection was impacted throughout the pandemic: “It was horrible. All these 2020 conferences obtained canceled, after which throughout the first a part of 2021, we have been all strolling round in masks and we didn’t know who anyone was.” That’s why, he stated, he’s now desirous to go “the place the persons are”—primarily house owners—such because the franchise house owners’ conferences, the annual Hunter Convention in Atlanta, and the Lodging Convention in Phoenix. At such occasions, he enjoys the contact and comradery. “Even when they don’t rent us as a administration firm, I like giving free recommendation, I’m blissful to assist—I assume it’s that hospitality factor.” EM
