Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree s:

INDUSTRY LEADERS WHO MEET CHALLENGES WITH COURAGE AND CREATIVITY AND ACHIEVE GOALS WITH GREAT CONCEPTS

There are a great many [ TARYN SCHNEIDER ] achievers; those who have influenced and impacted industries and professions.

But every so often, individuals e is one of the most porations gives us a sense of history, but emerge who are driven by respected leaders in hos - also a real sense of responsibility as we principles, ideals and beliefs pitality and travel. try to emulate their aspirations and that drive their passion, focus Committed to the power ensure this company will be successful of partnerships and rein - for decades to come,” says Tisch. That their vision and really make a venting the customer means heeding the original goal that was difference. Here, we pay trib - experience, he is driven by passion, dedi - set out by the brothers to be “as success - ute to two such individuals, cation, enthusiasm and optimism. ful as we can but always understanding Jonathan Tisch, co-chairman of the the needs of guests and co-workers.” HSMAI’s latest Lifetime board of Loews Corporation, and chair - Since taking over the helm in 1989, Achievement Award recipi - man and chief executive officer Loews Tisch has engineered Loews ’ ents, Jonathan M. Tisch, co- Hotels, is one who really gets it. expansion and emergence as a leading chairman of the board of Not one for complacency, this third luxury chain by infusing the prop - generation hotelier grew up in the busi - erties with a corporate culture that is Loews Corporation and chair - ness that was started 65 years ago by his high on partnerships. Uniqueness is man & chief executive officer father and uncle, Preston Robert (Bob) what defines and distinguishes the hotel of Loews Hotels, and Florence Tisch and Lawrence (Larry) Tisch. While company. Rather than being uniform in I. Quinn, president and Loews Hotels is one of the smaller sub - design, every Loews Hotel is deliberately sidiaries of what is today Loews planned as a reflection of its locale. With founder of Quinn & Co. Corporation, a publically traded compa - a current portfolio of 18 properties, ny with $18 million in assets, it was Tisch another will open in Atlanta and contin - Hotels that started it all. ued growth is expected through acquisi - “To think of how Bob and Larry tions in the next year. began with a few hotels and that now has Looking back over the last few emerged into one of America’s great cor - decades, Tisch says that while the actual

14 HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW • AUGUST 2009 ‘business of hotels’ has dramatically changed and has become exceedingly Lowes Hotel, Miami Beach sophisticated given the great interest from Wall Street, private equity, the REIT industry, and wealthy individuals who invest in hotels, “what hasn’t changed since the first person checked into a hotel is the hotel business itself, which is based on the very simple concept of hos - pitality, of ensuring people that we understand the reasons why they left their own home, be it for business, plea - sure, or attending a meeting, and it’s up to us as a hotelier to ensure their stay with us is a success.” As one of the smaller players in the marketplace, creativity becomes all the more important. “At Loews we have used the ability to do things a little bit differ - ently to our advantage, and creativity allows you to get the attention of your clients, your business partners, and the community, and also gives you the opportunity to take chances and think revitalization of the old Art Deco St. organization is capable of mobilizing all about challenges a little bit differently.” Moritz Hotel, the proposed site for the the resources required to accomplish A great example of that is when he new hotel. To some that may have everything it needs to do; operating with - dressed in drag for a video he produced seemed like risky business, but to Tisch, out partners is not really an option for to win the bid for the Miami Beach “the chances I took in presenting the any but the simplest of businesses.” He hotel. In the video, Tisch asked people video to the city council was in the inter - says the key to success is smart partner - on the street what they thought of the est of showing them that we really cared ships, six types in fact—partnerships with about coming into town, that we wanted employees, customers, communities to be their partners and will stop at noth - where you operate, other businesses, the ing to make the partnership work.” As government, and owners. the underdog in the competition, the Tisch shares a vision for a more uni - presentation was designed to show not fied workplace and articulates how peo - just their professionalism and intelli - ple need to care more about their neigh - gence, but their heart. “That turned out bors. He disagrees with the old school of to be a great opportunity for us because thought that you can’t do well and good the hotel has been very successful and at the same time. “It’s important to always viewed as a real catalyst for the rebirth of have a sense of responsibility in the com - South Beach—it stands out as a moment munity, and we do it to help our neigh - I am very proud of.” bors, but also make our coworkers feel As are his best-selling books. “The proud of the organization that employs writings grew out of an opportunity to them. When you think that hotels are discuss some ideas that I think are employers of people in the neighbor - important.” In The Power of We, Succeeding hood, that we are open 365 days of the through Partnerships , Tisch provides a year, it really is up to us to set a standard blueprint for achieving enduring success for other organizations and businesses to through partnerships that empower demonstrate that they care.” employees, satisfy customers, contribute That’s where Loews Hotels’ longstand - JONATHAN TISCH to communities, and improve the bot - ing Good Neighbor Policy thrives—a Recipient of the 2008 HSMAI tom line. He talks about putting aside company-wide commitment to communi - Albert E. Koehl Lifetime individual concerns and working togeth - ty where it has hotels. Launched in 1991, Achievement Award er towards the greater good. it set a precedent as the most compre - “In today’s complex world, no single hensive community outreach program in

AUGUST 2009 • HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW 15 the hospitality industry and was honored convenience, such as Loews Loves Pets, by the President’s Service Award from Loews Loves Kids and Generation G. the Points of Light Foundation. Beyond the hotel scene there’s Tisch’s The success of The Power of We led to TV show “Beyond the Boardroom,” his second best seller Chocolates on the where he goes one-on-one with the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing the nation’s top CEOs. Viewers get an insid - Customer Experience (a third book on ers’ look at names they’ve read about on civic engagement will be out next May). the business pages, such as American In today’s ultracompetitive world, there’s Express’ Kenneth Chenault, NFL only one way that any organization can Commissioner Roger Goodell, Matthew attract and retain customers, clients, or Blank CEO of Showtime, and Vera other followers; and that’s by becoming Wang. “What has emerged as the com - truly customer-centric, offers Tisch. “It mon thread amongst all these top lead - means providing not just a product or ers is the importance of building a team At Loews we service but a total experience, beginning to grow a business, especially in these dif - with the first moment that person consid - ficult times to ensure everyone is working have used the ers becoming a customer and extending off the same message and is looking at through the months or years until the the challenges together.” ability to do experience becomes a memory.” One to welcome challenges, Tisch The customer challenge has intensi - served as chairman of the Travel Business things a little bit fied, asserts Tisch. “Today’s traveler is Roundtable (TBR), a prominent coalition differently to our knowledgeable, sophisticated, demand - of chief executives from various sectors of ing, and spoiled, and the Internet is the travel and tourism industry who repre - advantage, and helping revolutionize people’s expecta - sented a real voice for a unified travel tions. They know that they have a industry. On TBR’s merging with the creativity allows tremendous number of options in most Travel Industry Association of America, markets, making customer service more Tisch says “The time was right for us to you to get the important than ever; it is one way you take our knowledge of lobbying on can ensure people will come back to Capitol Hill and merge it with TIA and its attention of your your property.” ability to spread the message about the He adds: “Unless we as a particular brand: “the United States of America.” clients, your property or as a chain find a way to With his continued involvement as chair - business part - break through the clutter and really man emeritus of what is now the United make clear what we stand for in terms of States Travel Association, he will continue ners, and the brand and brand perception, then we’re to speak out about the importance of a just going to get lost in the morass of all strong travel and tourism industry. community, and of these hotel products. Every company Committed to being involved and facili - has its own take on how they perform tating change, Tisch has held leadership also gives you their service, but because consumers can roles in organizations such as chair of NYC vote with their feet and go somewhere & Company, “New York Rising,” a task the opportunity else to stay, it’s incumbent on us to do it force set up to help rebuild the city by correctly every visit.” reviving tourism post 9/11, the American to take chances Tapping into what’s happening on the Hotel & Lodging Association, and has and think about cultural scene is a way that Loews Hotels served as vice chairman of The Welfare to stays at the cutting edge of what interests Work Partnership, among many others. challenges a lit - guests and keeps the buzz about the But at the end of the day, what is par - brand alive. “What sets a company apart ticularly gratifying to Jonathan Tisch is to tle bit differently. is the consistency with which it works on work in an environment that is still enhancing and improving the overall focused on family, and the ability to carry JONATHAN TISCH customer experience, looking for the on the goals that his father and uncle ‘wow!’ zone in which customer expecta - started early on. Although he candidly tions are not only met but exceeded.” An admits: “I would have loved to be a wide example of that is Home Sweet Loews, receiver for the NYC Giants (owned by marketing savvy, branded programs that Loews Corporation), but I’ll just have to are centered on family-style comfort and settle for being treasurer.”

16 lorence Quinn’s favorite dential election, Quinn conceived thing is being creative. putting an international ballot box This multi-platinum award in the lobby and asked foreigners to winning agency chief is cast their vote—the results landed driven by the idea that on the cover of the Wall Street great Public Relations Journal . Other ideas that ran counter needs a ‘big idea.’ President and to what everyone else was doing: founder of Quinn & Co., whose When NYC hotels did Broadway impressive client list extends beyond Show tie-ins, Quinn launched the hospitality and travel to the realms of first-ever Talk Show package.” real estate, food, wine and spirits, Rather than celebrating Mother’s Quinn is credited with bringing cre - Day with the promise of long steam ativity to the travel PR world that did - roses and a pre-fix menu, Quinn n’t exist before. She believes that “A reached out to President Clinton’s great PR campaign begins with a great mom to find out her son’s favorite concept—something that has never boyhood foods and turned it into a been done before, that makes people salute to Virginia Kelly. smile, that people ‘get’ even if they are When the agency she helped grow not in our industry. Forget the fact from seven to 35 employees was pur - that we are travel, think about what’s chased in 1989, she knew it was time FLORENCE QUINN going on in the world, in your life and to fly solo. Driven by the the life of your friends.” Recipient of the 2008 HSMAI entrepreneurial itch to start her own Winthrop W. Grice Lifetime Today, with endless outlets for Achievement Award company and chart her own creative publicity, it’s all about image, posi - course, she took the leap. It was then tioning, timing and imagination. In a that her unique style of PR creativity perfect PR world, the product is so world and in our own lives.” It’s that really kicked in. sought after and special that the buzz ingenuity that keeps the clients com - With her artsy edge and enterpris - happens just for being. “Given that ing and that gets the kind of ink ‘to ing spirit, Quinn shunned the corpo - most of us in travel PR don’t have die for.’ rate approach from the start. The such innately newsworthy products, Quinn’s dream was to go to New now infamous Dream Room (the we need to deliver the initiatives, York, where she landed after college anti-conference room) is where staff product enhancements and pro - and moved from job to job until dis - and clients congregate for brain - grams that will generate brand aware - covering PR and finding her passion. storming sessions. And to accommo - ness and coverage.” It was at Jessica Dee Communications, date the growing staff of big thinkers, Says Quinn: “PR was backwards; a small, entrepreneurial, woman- The Studio, fashioned after a work - you didn’t come up with the idea and owned PR firm where this wide-eyed shop, is where idea seekers roll up push it out. We look at what journal - go-getter got her start. The long their sleeves and make something ists would want, what pushes their hours and cramped quarters (in the happen. What has remained from day buttons, and we do it strategically so storage room) didn’t matter; she was one is the purple bohemian couch, a it advances the client’s message. in “travel PR.” symbol of creativity that became the Today it’s even more important to Still green and barely out of train - company mascot and namesake for drive business and operate in the dig - ing, she was handed the business for the Quinn & Co. blog: thepurple - ital world.” ’s Traveling Woman’s pro - couch.com. To create the concepts that drive gram and recalls “I was like a ‘duck in Quinn & Co.’s culture is one of the publicity, she scours every piece water. I worked my tail off and loved teamwork, innovation and accessibili - of literature and Googles into the every minute of it.” ty. It’s not uncommon for people to wee hours mining for that gem of an It was in those early years, chal - call brainstorms and everyone gathers idea. She approaches PR as an art lenged with generating newsworthy together or online. There’s training form, and her unique artistic bent storylines for the New York, a on creativity and ongoing discussions comes from her passion for art (after mid-priced hotel in the middle of about how to do it better. She credits college she went back to art school Times Square, that she realized it business trainer Grace Andrews for on a merit scholarship at the Art would take out-of-the-box thinking to helping her grow beyond her talent Students League in NYC). “We pluck get the media’s attention. for PR. “Until I met her I did what I ideas from the media, pop culture Tapping into the mindset of inter - was good at and ignored what I and from what’s going on in the national hotel guests during a presi - couldn’t do—that will get you only so

AUGUST 2009 • HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW 17 PR. It’s just a different channel that demands the same creativity; you need to start with a wow to have digi - tal and print media work their magic.” Quinn & Co. is the PR firm behind promoting Tourism Queensland’s groundbreaking “Best Job in the World” campaign—an online contest to be the caretaker of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef and blog his/her way around the island for six months and get paid $100K. The PR and viral marketing phe - nomenon generated worldwide media attention with over $11 million worth of exposure and 627 million media impressions in the U.S. and Canada alone. Looking to get 400,000 new visitors to the Web site over the one-year campaign, there were one million hits on the second Hamilton Island day; 34,684 people from more than 200 countries applied for the job, and far. I couldn’t manage people or a Report and on the cover of the Wall a social networking frenzy let loose as company, and she taught me how.” Street Journal . people voted for their top 50 finalist. Quinn has a knack for taking And with New York’s extended stay Quinn is excited by the opportu - everyday news and making it hot hotel, the Envoy Club, Quinn hit a nities today to dialogue directly with stuff. “We like to hit it out of the triple play in the same day when consumers and how that can be park,” she says. Of their 78 HSMAI Business Week , Newsweek and Crain’s used to go viral. She believes new Adrian Awards, six are prestigious New York Business all covered its media/social media is an explosive Platinum winners and two HSMAI “Suddenly Single” program, position - marketing and PR tool, and when Best in Shows were awarded for the ing itself as a sympathetic heartbreak combined with traditional PR and Algonquin’s $10,000 Martini on the hotel and hasty retreat from the fami - advertising, the result is a dynamic, Rocks campaign, and a Procreation ly home. Divorcees and seperatees relevant, and highly effective inte - Vacation for resorts in the were offered services and amenities grated marketing communications Caribbean, which gave couples trying such as a copy of the bestseller The program. to conceive the islanders’ remedy for Creative Divorce , a list of top divorce She also says the approach is conception. attorneys and relationship therapists, much more strategic today. “It begins Tapping into the mood of the sound machines for sleeplessness, with the client’s objective, message moment has been a winning strategy self-help tapes and a session with a points and target audience and we for those big ideas. In a brilliant psychic. build a campaign around that. It move ripped from the headlines, And to create buzz about the sim - used to be about quality and quantity when the “pink slip” frenzy hit Wall ple re-launch of a Web site for The of press clips, and now it’s about Street and hordes of dot-comers were Corcoran Group (at the time led by measurable results and ROI—what’s getting laid off, a Pink Slip Pick Me one of her mentors, Barbara driving business, making the phone Up package at the Metropolitan Corcoran), Quinn was the first to ring, and the analytics that go along Hotel sympathized with the more feng shui a Web site, which got busi - with digital media. than 30,000 techies, earning coverage ness and magazine stories in the New “You can’t succeed without pas - in the likes of Forbes and Money . York Times . sion, hard work, and love of what To promote the Four Points By “For 20 years we brought this cre - you’re doing,” affirms Quinn. Add to Sheraton Los Angeles’ selection of ativity, a different way of thinking, that a mind that is determined, com - over 22 beers, Quinn & Co. created and others caught on to it,” says mitted, and unstoppable and there’s the first-ever Beer Sommelier that got Quinn. “Then the digital media hit, no bounds to what will be the next ink in USA Today , US News & World which has been a real sea change in really big idea. I

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