4 min read December 2023 — In an interview with Invest: Doak Walker, executive vice president of Presidian Hospitality, talked about the current state of the hospitality labor market and how Presidian Hotels aims to provide holistic experiences to guests, as demonstrated by their management of Estancia del Norte.
Is there still room in San Antonio for more hotels?
San Antonio is such an exceptional destination for both the group and leisure customer. With both business travel and the group segment continuing to return to pre-pandemic levels, I believe the city would benefit most from more experiential and soft branded hotels that offer unique and personalized experiences. The leisure segment in our portfolio has shown strong production over the course of the year and customers continue to search for new experiences and concepts as they travel.
What is the criteria when looking at opportunities for investment?
Generally speaking, current interest rates can make it difficult to grow a portfolio by acquisition. That said, if there is an opportunity that we are considering, it will need to check multiple boxes for us to move forward. We are currently looking to expand not only in the San Antonio market but throughout the state of Texas. Hilton, Marriott and IHG are the brands that we would have the most interest in. We are also interested in the right boutique or independent property if it makes good financial sense. We look for properties to add to our portfolio that have personality and that have room to improve performance financially.
What strategies do you have in place to provide holistic experiences to guests?
We look at each customer experience as sensory and work diligently to program this at each property. We are mindful of the selection of scents for our public spaces, the programming of lighting to make our customers feel welcome at different times of the day, what our guests hear when they arrive or throughout their stay in each space, quality of the amenities in our guest rooms, and of course the selection, quality and level of service in our food and beverage outlets. At Estancia del Norte, we have partnered exclusively with AnArte Gallery & Studio to provide a dedicated gallery displaying the works of local and regional artists, which gives our customers a unique visual experience. This collection of work is also displayed throughout the hotel as well as in Leddy Ranch. We also make sure that our team members are well informed about the many unique experiences and local businesses customers may enjoy visiting during their stay, providing a concierge-like experience at our front desks.
How would you assess the talent pool in San Antonio?
I began my career in hospitality as an hourly employee, like most of my colleagues in leadership positions in the industry. A career in hospitality has provided an amazing life for me and my family, so reaching people who are not aware of our industry and promoting the career path available within the hospitality sector is a passion of mine. We are seeing an increase in the number of applications we are receiving currently but a large number of these applicants possess limited hospitality experience, coming from different industries with the intent of trying something new. We’re taking more calculated risks now and hiring employees with less experience while focusing on training and development at the hotel level. We also recently launched two new initiatives that not only benefit our existing employees but add value to the recruitment platform as well. We rolled out digital tipping to our portfolio recently to ensure that, in a time where customers truly carry less cash, every guest has an opportunity to recognize associates for impacting their experience. We also just launched on-demand pay, which gives associates access to their paychecks in increments during a pay cycle.
What main challenges is your company facing?
The broader economy is the key challenge for us at the moment. The increase in the cost of goods and services that we continue to see directly impacts profitability. Supply chain, although continuing to improve, still remains an issue. We need to be mindful and manage through those obstacles. Additionally, our industry has relied quite a bit on temporary labor to fill open positions, specifically in housekeeping, which comes at a high cost compared to history. We work very aggressively to recruit for those roles internally and mitigate that additional expense.
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