Latest / Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast / 189 – TMG Hospitality Trailblazers: Whitney Altizer
Transcript
- Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Welcome to another edition of our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. I got a fantastic guest. We actually had an opportunity to meet with someone from the, the Newport Hospitality Group just a couple weeks ago at the Hospitality Show, but we got a brand new guest here with us today, senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, Whitney Altizer. Whitney, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot today with me. Whitney Altizer: Hey, Ryan, thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: We're gonna have a fun conversation today. A lot of exciting stuff and news about Newport Hospitality, but as tradition here on the Suite Spot, hospitality, as we know, is one of those things where people can come from all different places, brands, management companies, and unique journeys that led you to where you are. So let's hear about yours, Whitney. Talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to Chief Commercial Officer at Newport Hospitality Group. Whitney Altizer: Yeah. Well, I always joke that Newport raised me. You know, I went to Virginia Tech for business and hospitality, and then I moved to Atlanta and worked with Darden restaurants for a stint. You know, and I love the experience, but I just decided I needed a new perspective on food and beverage and the industry in general. So I ended up back in Blacksburg at a full service Holiday Inn that Newport actually owned and managed at the time. So 22 years ago, I walked into that Holiday Inn as a director of catering and sales, worked there on property, and then, moved up to the corporate director of sales, a corporate revenue manager. Then I was the director of Revenue and Digital. Then came along the Vice President of Comms Stratt, which catapulted me to where I am today which is the Chief Commercial Officer. Ryan Embree: Your story is a genuine reflection of our industry, of how many facets there are to hospitality, from everything from food and beverage to sales, to all the positions that you, that you held in, in between. You know, it's one of the reasons a lot of people love hospitality is because you can really do anything within it, right? It's almost its own ecosystem within our industry, and it's really cool to see, and I'm sure that was, you had some incredible experience, which lends you to where you are right now and knowing different people's positions. That's what we hear is sometimes the most successful hospitality people are the ones that got exposure to those different aspects of hospitality and kind of use that in their experience today. Some of those, hospitality professionals maybe even had to, you know, during that, that 2020 era had to get into some of those departments that they hadn't done in a minute, and certainly shared some experience there. But, we won't talk about that time, but doing some research for this episode, I wanna talk about Newport Hospitality and their story. Right? I always find it so fascinating when we talk about to these management companies and brands about how they first got into hospitality and fun little facts. That the origin story really dates back all the way to the 1850s. It goes back way, way far. Could you give a little background on the early days, maybe not take us that far, but a little bit early days of Newport Hospitality and how it's led to the amazing growth that you guys are experiencing right now in 2025? Whitney Altizer: Yeah. Newport, in my opinion, was built on hard work, dedication, and two families. So in 1990, we were officially founded by Bill Carey and Mike Pinger, and but as you noted, the story dates back much further than that. Bill came from a ranching and entrepreneurial background and was the great grandson of a man that had built a large land in cattle business in West Texas in the 1850s. And that cattle business is what went on to help fund the start of Newport, and then as well purchase a lot of the hotels that we currently own. Ryan Embree: Absolutely incredible. Just such a unique story. So happy that it's on the website where I'm sure employees and and guests can even check that out and share that. And led to where you are today. And I want to talk about fast forwarding today, 'cause you got some exciting news, a new website on the horizon. Talk to us a little bit about this project and this new chapter, for Newport Hospitality Group. Whitney Altizer: Website debut coming soon. We are beyond excited. This has been a labor of love. There's been joy, there's been passion, there's been divine intervention. We are just so happy to see it come full circle. Really the design intention was to speak to our partners, our clients, our team members, but do it all at the same time in the same platform, right? So we've tailored this website so that it doesn't matter who you are or what you're looking for, you will find the ability to get the information that you are looking for and the correct person to interact with you know, in this current climate of digital changes. Its been very interesting to walk through this process. It's a lot different than, you know, 10 years ago when, when we started on WordPress, right? <laugh> Now it's the AI integration, it's large language models, it's SEO. We're taking into account all of those things, but trying to still keep the website intuitive and engaging for anyone that would visit it and be looking for information. Ryan Embree: Well, it's, it's kind of, it's exactly what you said, Whitney. It's very fortuitous timing as far as, you know, 'cause I'm sure even the way that websites are being designed and kind of strategically, you know, built today, it, you said 10 years ago, I would even argue just a couple years ago, is very different in the landscape, even with the way that people are trying to look for information, whether that is, young hospitality professionals trying to find out some background, about the hotel or the culture that, which we're gonna touch on here in a minute, to ownership groups and developers that are, you know, trying to look for information. So, great timing, can't wait to see it. But on that, that new website is, is gonna be that diverse, incredible portfolio that Newport holds right now. And as marketing people, we always love to talk about what's next, right? What's in the pipeline, what exciting project, what are you, what's getting you excited right now about either projects or, or stuff in the pipeline right now at Newport Hospitality? Whitney Altizer: Yeah, so the biggest thing right now is that we're gonna be opening a new Hotel in Q1 2026. So it's currently under build right now. It's with a partner that we already work with, Andre Hickman and Sanford, Florida. And this is his second hotel with us. We built his first hotel. Now we're getting to build his second hotel with him. And we're just beyond excited to see that all come to fruition and have two hotels in the same market with the same great partner, you know. And then of course, our Chief Development Officer, Sean, is always moving and shaking. He's always got something on the horizon. And right now we're looking at three potential acquisitions in Virginia, two in Ohio, and then a large expansion into the Northern Territory. We're mainly east coast right now. Those are not over the finish line yet, so I can't quite say much more than that. But we've been very thoughtful about who we wanna grow with, how we wanna grow, and making sure that we're aligned with those partners so that we're all walking together on the same path. Ryan Embree: Thats fantastic. And, you know, Sanford, right here in our backyard Travel Media Group's backyard, right down the road, right down I-4 which, which could take a little little time depending on, on when you're going. But, uh, but, you know, so exciting to see. It looks like you've already might already need some new changes for that, updated website here soon with some new properties. So we'll continue to keep an eye on that. Another aspect that really stood out to me, you know, doing some research for, for this episode, as well as talking to Brendan at the Hospitality show was the commitment to employee culture. And I saw right now on social media, which you got a huge presence on. You're running this voice of 35 campaign. I wanna talk a little bit about that campaign, but you were actually featured on there, Whitney, and you shared, we not only invest in our people, but the relationships with our owner as well as the community. So again, maybe talk about that, that voice of 35 campaign, what you're trying to accomplish there, and then expand a little bit more on that, investing in people, relationships, and community. Whitney Altizer: Yeah, absolutely. Well, voices of 35 is something that we feel like captures the heart of Newport. It puts into words why I've been here for 22 years. So the intention was to celebrate the whole 35 year journey, the people that made it possible internally, externally, and then to reflect on those team members and their growth. So we're really lucky that at the corporate level, we've got over 10 employees that have been with us for 20 to 30 years, so do the math on that. They pretty much been around since the, the inception. And then just even within my department, you know, a lot of the commercial strategy people have the same story that I do. One of my revenue managers, him and I started on property together 20 years ago doing banquets and catering, and I've gotten to watch his journey beside my journey. And that's just really what Newport is, right? We invest in the person and then we help them figure out what will fill their tank what's their next big step? What do they wanna learn? And then offer the learning, the support, and ultimately the positions to help them have a path that is what they're interested in. Ryan Embree: Love to hear it. I think it's a true testament to what you said, Whitney. I mean, having those stories within your organization of people there that have been there a decade, you know, two decades plus is something that, you know, we had a separate series 'cause the hospitality campus crawl, where we would speak to hospitality schools and educators and talking about this next generation of young professionals. And one of the challenges was just showing that this doesn't have to be something that you fall into. It doesn't need to be a career that you have a summer job and now next thing you know, you look up and you're 30 years into it, you can actually pursue this as a 30 year, 40 year career. And having those stories within your organization, again, just huge testament and testimonials to the employee kind of culture and development that you're doing over there at Newport. And it's, it's certainly paid some dividends. 'cause obviously you hear that, that term all the time of happy employees equal happy guests. You have an entire page dedicated right now to some of the accolades and achievements. I wanna make sure I get all these cover all these Marriott Partnership Circle Awards, Hilton Awards of Excellence. When you see that list, Whitney, in your position, what does that mean to you and how are you using it over at Newport to kind of earn more business, both on the traveler side, demand side, as well as ownerships and partnerships? Whitney Altizer: Well, obviously we're incredibly proud of those awards. It gives our owners the recognition that they deserve. They've trusted us with their investment and it affirms that trust. It keeps our name active and respected in the marketplace. You know, it, it gives us something to put on the new website. Well, ultimately it's just as important to our team members. It shows them that their hard work really does pay off. These aren't corporate level trophies. These trophies were won in the lobby at the front desk, in the laundry room on the construct call. And they represent the regal people that are doing that exceptional work. You know, from a business standpoint, it demonstrates to our perspective owners and partners that we don't just manage the property, we invest in it and we invest in the success. You know, as a revenue person, obviously strong performance translates into even stronger revenue, which allows us to reward our employees and then also provide owners with bigger returns. When I see that list, I think pride, validation and proof that what our we're doing for our approach actually works. Ryan Embree: Incredible and hope to hope to see more of those come through and hope for more updates on that websites moving forward as you open these new properties and have them in the pipeline. But speaking of along the lines of online reputation, especially we kind of talked, touched on a little bit about the digital landscape of today where, online reputation a few years ago, maybe a decade ago, used to just be, here are the comment cards and reviews that I'm getting on my TripAdvisor now. It encapsulates so much more than that when it comes to reputation and one of those being social media. And I've seen you guys have a really, really prioritize a strong social media presence across your portfolio. What role, Whitney, do you feel that social media is playing right now in that traveler's booking journey? Whitney Altizer: Yeah, well, I'll start with a huge shout out to Travel media group. We partnered back in the summer, and, you know, you've just allowed us to take what we wanted to see and translate it. And that has been just phenomenal for us. You know, to us, social media is a huge role in a traveler's journey, right? It's the first way that they interact with your property. So we kind of think about it in three buckets. So strategies to sell, stories to share, and then stars to celebrate. So strategies to sell. It lets the guests see the value in choosing us. You know, it highlights the offers or the packages or something unique about that hotel. Stories to share lets us bring that experience to life. So they get a taste of what it feels like to actually be on property to the point where they already have a connection before they step foot inside of that building. And then, of course, none of this is possible without stars to celebrate, right? So that is the ability to spotlight our team and our, um, our special guests and show that engagement and responsiveness in real time. So to us, social media is, it's the tangible, interactive way that we allow a guest to experience us and want to come and be part of us. Ryan Embree: Well, thank you. And you know, it's a privilege to work with partners like Newport Hospitality Group Whitney, that really get it. And you encapsulated it, and articulated it perfectly with right now what's happening with social media, especially with the younger generation that might even use it as the first place that they do search for a hotel or a property. And it's much more now than does something look pretty on social media. It's that feeling that you get, right? And we're craving that feeling, especially in a time which we're gonna touch on in a minute, where the one thing that AI is still will struggle with hopefully is feelings, right? And sentiment. And you know, what it's like to walk in through a lobby on a busy, after a business trip where you've had maybe a delay because the airlines and you're greeted just so warmly at the front desk and everything is seamless and nice. So, you know, these are the type of feelings that we, and sentiments that we try to capture in social media, because it can create that trust and authenticity, which, which we create. We're craving so much right now. But speaking of AI, don't think it'd be a podcast in 2025 if we don't touch on some sort of AI and technology. So how are you and your team at Newport Hospitality viewing AI and and are you using it to more to empower your employees, which is one way that I'm hearing a lot of people are doing that, or is it to improve the guest experience? Whitney Altizer: Yeah. Can I say all of the above? Ryan Embree: Absolutely can. Whitney Altizer: AI is not a buzzword to us, and we have woven it into every day. So it feels like it's normal, like it's part of what we do and how we execute things. We use it in all facets. So we work with Lighthouse Analytics and that helps us with all of our revenue management stuff. And where there are big changes, I come in every morning and I've got a bullet point for each hotel from an AI tool saying, this happened, you should do this. And then of course, we allow the revenue managers then to make decisions based on all the information. But we use Collibra's Hummingbird for all of our sales data mining. We use Core to communicate within the hotel to all the different departments. We use guest facing apps to welcome them and solve problems while they're there on property. So we've just tried to make it something that is part of daily life so that it feels more personal and is still something that is just an extension of the people not machine led. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and that's what I was talking about empowering, employees and giving them the right data. I think that is, there tends to be this trend right now in hospitality where people are just like having this FOMO effect of like, I'm not utilizing technology and AI to the degree that I should, and my competitors are doing this, or they're seeing these robots at these, at these shows that are doing this and that, and they have an expectation of where they should be. But really all of those use cases you gave me right there, Whitney, that's creating an ecosystem and embracing technology and AI, and I think I feel like is probably the most far forward. You know, you can be right now because we're seeing sometimes that those robots might fall flat at a hotel. It, it's a big splash, but it's not helping the daily efficiencies of everything we talked about how intricate hospitality is, how many elements there are to it. So there's a lot of use cases in there. And finding those little ways I think is gonna be more impactful than going after the shiny big AI and technology that that, that seems so futuristic out there. And maybe your guests don't respond to that as well as likely. So I talked about at the top of the episode, meeting up with SVP and COO, Brenda McCoy at the 2025 Hospitality Show in Denver, Whitney, a lot of panels centered around challenges to profitability right now, margins are tighter than ever, especially in today's climate. The travelers feeling it in their pocketbooks or wallets. Where do you think there's opportunity right now, Whitney, when you see our industry, especially for hoteliers and owners who are starting to really feel the weight of that economic uncertainty right now? Whitney Altizer: Brendan and I talk about this with our teams every day. Obviously operations and commercial strategy are walking together, intertwined, the days of set it and forget it, they don't exist anymore. Every hotel, we have a very targeted plan right now to go after their business and their specific markets, because every market is different right now. The Strat calls some markets, the philosophy is, okay, we're gonna use really competitive rates. We're gonna drive occupancy, and then when a DR starts to recover, we're gonna push up. We've got some hotels where it's all about that base business and we're having a hard time finding it right now. And so it's, what are those new creative non-typical pieces of business that we should go after? Are we okay with the different stay pattern? Maybe we need to consider that L&R down the street that only has 50 rooms to give us right now and, and grow with them. So we work from a revenue management standpoint, but then of course, also on Brendan's side, it's about payroll and expenses and just managing all of that stuff. Clearly you can't manage a hotel and a profitability, but you can certainly influence it. And so we're just proactive and strategic, and honestly, we have to adapt on a daily basis. You know, the plan at nine o'clock on Monday morning may not be the same plan at three o'clock on Tuesday. And we've got a great team that helps us just do what we need to do at the right time. Ryan Embree: I would argue, and we might be a little biased here, Whitney, but hospitality people are, we love, we love a good challenge and ingenuity and creativity comes out in those times of challenge. And I think that's what's happening right now. Do we like to obviously like stress about all of this stuff and maybe not see the greatest news coming out? Absolutely not. But I do think it's during these times where hoteliers start to get really, really creative. We raise the bar on our service because we almost have to at that point, and we kind of take it up a notch to say, okay, we're gonna have to really fight for that occupancy right now. We're gonna have to show that a DR has value and is worth it to our guests. And we're we're gonna get loyalty and get those guests to maybe spend a little bit more because of the service that we provide. So, you know, again, in a challenging time like this, I've been to enough of the hospitality conferences to hear the issues and, but I do think that there's going to be some good that comes out of this time, and it's going to be the management companies and brands that come together, like you were talking about Whitney, and come up with a well designed plan and strategic kind of cerebral plans to that that really thrive. And I think there's still opportunity out there. It's not, we're not done growing as an industry. We've been down and out before. This isn't there, but just to stay focused. So, one thing we switch topics a little bit to what we talked about. On this podcast, I have the privilege of an honor of having a lot of tenured hospitality professionals with ton of great experience. I'm sure you have the opportunity to interact with a lot of younger professionals. First getting into their, you know, career. I'd love to try to get just some nuggets of wisdom from leaders like you, Whitney, of what you would share. What advice would you share to the younger hospitality professional, maybe listening to this podcast early on, just trying to learn about the industry. What would you share with them today? Whitney Altizer: It's really simple, Ryan. It's live hospitality, be what our industry is, create a memorable experience with every person you interact with, whether it's a guest, a partner, a vendor, your own team, someone in your parking lot. I think for me, a lot of my success has come from being able to be part of all those different teams. And so everyone sees I'm willing to do the hard things. I'll roll up my sleeves, I'll pour the water in the banquet room. I'll do anything that we need to do to work together as a team and accomplish that goal. And to me, that's how the trust is built. Leaders all the way down to the bottom right. And one of my most favorite quotes from Simon Sinek is that leadership is not about being in charge. It's about taking care of those in your charge. That's the essence of hospitality. Take care of people, they'll take care of the guests, the owner, the business, and if you take care of each other, you will be successful. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I love it. I mean, hospitality along with, again, being creative and, and in our problem solving, it's also the ultimate team sport. Everyone has to kinda work together within that organization, within that hotel and ecosystem to make the best day. Your a tribute to that, to that story of be open to any opportunities too. Learn everything, you can be a sponge in hospitality because you never know what your next position is and the skills are so transferrable, right? Hospitality, it might be a different market like you mentioned in Sanford than up north right now, but the hospitality is the same, it's still hosting guests, serving people, exactly what you were talking about, taking care of people. So, love that. Thank you for that, Whitney, if you can believe it, we are coming up on the end of 2025 and we're headed straight to 2026. I mean, this feels like one of the, one of the fastest years as we reflect. This is always, I love this time of year, Whitney, 'cause it's a great time to reflect on, on this past year and we love to look forward in hospitality, but also reflecting back, what would you say your biggest takeaway for 2025 is, and then looking ahead, you know, what are you most excited about for Newport Hospitality Group as we go into 2026? Whitney Altizer: So for 2025, I'd say engagement, right? Engagement, meaning understanding how travel's evolved and continues to evolve. You know, we're sitting in the middle of a government shutdown and a lot of travel delay right now. So it's understanding what guests need, booking behaviors, their use of technology, and again, being able to shift, to help those people in that moment. But it's also engagement in platforms. Newport's been lucky enough to put a lot of new technology and platforms in the last 18 months. So a lot of 2025 was built on great. We got the platform. Now that we understand how to use it the best we possibly can, are we getting everything out of it? And, we've brought, brought in a lot of speakers about each one of those pieces of technology to help us do trainings to make sure that the general manager gets out of it what they need. And the director of sales gets what they need and housekeeping gets what they need to ensure that those were dollars well spent and they're gonna catapult us forward. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we had a hospitality professional on the podcast a couple episodes ago that just said there's no way that you can mentally be an expert in every aspect of hospitality, right? Like from the pH levels to your pool, to how you're sourcing your food. We have a lot of unbelievable people and smart people in hospitality, but for you to be a savant with all of that stuff, it's so challenging right now and it continues to get more challenging, especially with AI and technology that feels like it's changing every single day. So to have those speakers have those professionals to lean on in our industry, so important. Love to hear that, that you guys are doing that. Wish you nothing but success for 2026. We'll continue to watch that with all the new openings and, and pipeline development that you have going on. As we wrap up today, we covered a lot, advice for the young generation, AI and technology, social media, reputation, all the above. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today? Whitney Altizer: No, I just really appreciate the time to be able to chat with you and we expect to see you with that Comfort Inn Sanford Grand opening. Ryan Embree: Let's do it. Let's, yeah, I would love to be there. Can't wait to see it. And like I said, Whitney, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot, sharing some of your insights and expertise, with myself and our Suite Spot, hotelier audience out there. Excited to continue to watch Newport Hospitality Group grow and such privilege to be partnered with you as well. So thank you Whitney. And thank you for listening. We'll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I'm your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.