Pyramid International Hospitality Chief Working Officer Eric Habermann retired in April following seven years with the corporate and an almost 40-year profession in hospitality. His successor within the place, Isaac Hicks, is a 30-year veteran of hospitality who joined Pyramid six years in the past as senior vice chairman of enterprise analytics and operational excellence. Hicks was subsequently promoted to govt vice chairman of operations, finance, and analytics, and in 2022 was named chief monetary officer. Having labored with Habermann for almost 15 years—nicely earlier than their collaboration at Pyramid—Hicks shared with LODGING a few of his predecessor’s key contributions that ship extra worth for Pyramid’s purchasers, in addition to his personal plans to construct upon these initiatives as the brand new COO.
“Eric modified the dynamics of how we handle our lodges,” stated Hicks. “It’s actually about how we’re structured, which permits us to scale and supply higher service to the proprietor.” Whereas the corporate beforehand had centralized administration for a shopper’s lodges regardless of the place they had been positioned, “we’ve now positioned the leaders of our lodges within the areas the place they function,” stated Hicks. “So, now we have folks that know the markets significantly better, a lot deeper, and have an entire workforce of individuals. … We’ve supplied help to every one of many areas in a really purposeful method. All people has an HR lead, a gross sales lead, a finance lead, and so forth. And so immediately, now we have 4 areas, each east and west, but in addition one chief for our branded portfolio and one for our unbiased portfolio in order that they will actually give attention to how these forms of lodges finally outline success, which is a bit of bit completely different.”
On the expertise facet, “Eric launched the thought of utilizing huge knowledge to assist handle our enterprise,” stated Hicks, including that he drove this initiative by constructing a enterprise intelligence platform. “I needed to present our house owners entry to the information analytics platform we name NEO and convey them into the fold … in order that we are able to all begin to communicate the identical language,” Hicks stated. The platform consolidates business knowledge from a number of sources—e.g., STAR Studies, Cvent, and PMS knowledge from particular person lodges—to facilitate decision-making.
“It has actually allowed us to get higher visibility on the efficiency of every particular person asset, which is finally driving higher habits and higher productiveness throughout our personal methods and higher efficiency on the resort stage,” he defined. “We’ve invested an enormous quantity in that house, and going ahead, I feel it’s a key differentiator between us and everyone else.” The enterprise analytics platform can also be accessible companywide. “Loads of firms don’t have that; they’re chasing knowledge manually, and our groups don’t have to try this. They only log in to our enterprise analytics platform,” he stated.
New CFO
Shifting into Hicks’ former position as CFO is Judy Brigham, whose 12 years at Pyramid embrace her earlier position as govt vice chairman of company finance. “I’m not a CPA, however she is,” stated Hicks. “So actually, the way in which she seems at issues and understands company finance is completely different than my method was, as a result of I don’t have a company finance background. My background is operations finance. … She loves type of conventional CFO duties and is superb at these.”
Relating to each Hicks’ and Brigham’s promotions, Warren Fields, CEO of Pyramid International Hospitality, commented in a press assertion: “These inner promotions mirror the power, depth, and succession planning of our full management workforce. This workforce has performed an integral position within the firm’s success, together with the growth of our international footprint, recognition as a prime place to work, and continuation of our aim to be the supervisor of alternative.”
Portfolio Development
The resort administration regionalization that Habermann carried out and the big-data platform that Hicks developed proceed to learn new purchasers as Pyramid expands its portfolio. Final June, the corporate grew its U.S. portfolio with the addition of 4 resorts: Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix; Naples Grande Seashore Resort in Naples, Florida; Chatham Bars Inn in Chatham, Massachusetts; and Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels, Maryland. And in November 2024, the corporate’s European division, Hamilton Pyramid Europe, merged with Axiom Hospitality, including greater than 30 properties to Pyramid’s European portfolio.