(San Francisco, CA – February 9,
2012) --- In a world where high tech often
trumps high touch and relationships develop via digital devices, the
hospitality industry remains a bastion of tradition, one in which
exceptional
service standards elevate hotels to greatness.
Achieving
that greatness requires an outstanding leader, a get-things-done
outside-the-box thinker with the skills of a diplomat, the agility of
an
acrobat, the acumen of a CFO and the humility of someone truly
dedicated to
service. And it would be difficult to find a person who better embodies
these
qualities than David Lewin, General Manager of the John
Portman-designed Hyatt
Regency San Francisco.
Lewin’s
destiny was set at an early age, thanks to his father and uncle, the
legendary
hoteliers Werner Lewin and Henri Lewin. David learned many lessons from
them,
but there was one bit of advice that has no doubt helped contribute to
his
success. “Watch after the little guy, whether that means the associate
or the
guest,” he says. “Those who do the most mundane jobs will have the most
dramatic impact on the guest experience. If there’s lipstick on your
Champagne
glass, it could turn out to be a disaster. And whoever’s at the bottom
now will
be at the top soon.”
His father’s
and uncle’s rise in the industry from waiting tables in Shanghai after
escaping
Nazi Germany to making a name for themselves as hoteliers with Fairmont
and
Hilton are perfect of examples of that. Lewin took a different route to
success: the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and a
management-training
program.
Judy
Chronkhite, the hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing, uses three
words to
describe David Lewin: engaging, straightforward, supportive. “David is
an
outstanding communicator. He’s very compassionate and has a very
dynamic
personality. He’s one of those people that you really love to be
around,” she
says.
And David
loves to be around people. “I’m very visible. I like my guests. I like
my
staff, so I spend a lot of time with them. People feel comfortable
letting me
know how they feel. If they’re not comfortable being around you,
they’re not
going to be forthright when something is wrong and needs to be
addressed,” he
says.
Lewin’s
unique dress style with his signature bow tie makes him visible in
another way.
“I started wearing one when I was working as a doorman at a nightclub.
You
can’t grab someone by the bow tie and throw them against the wall like
you can
with a necktie. That’s how it started, but I liked them and kept
wearing them.”
The reason
for wearing a bow tie may be habit, but it goes beyond that. “I do
things that
make other people wonder why I do them. Bow ties are just one of those
things,”
he says. “I also wear a Speedo. I started wearing one really young and
saw how
upset it made people and thought that to get that kind of rise out of
people
for such a small thing was amazing.”
Keeping the
hotel’s traditions alive is one of David’s primary duties as GM.
“Our
culture is one of the most important things that we have,” he says.
“From the
top down we’re encouraged to celebrate that culture and to come up with
new
traditions to further it.”
One of these
new traditions has transformed the tired-old Employee of the Month
Concept into
Employees of the Month, with a winner chosen from each department. All
winners
are invited to a reception where they can bring two guests, and their
pictures
are pasted on Wheaties boxes in the cafeteria for a month. A name is
drawn, and
the winner can pick what will be served in the cafeteria for a day.
Communication
is key in David’s world, and he has installed whiteboards in every
department.
If an employee needs something, they can write it on the board, and the
manager
takes over. Not email, not texting but just simple communication is
what he’s
after.
Another
innovation David has come up with is to create new ways to blow off
steam. He
recently brought in a boxing coach for two one-hour body strengthening
classes
for any employee who wanted to attend. About 10 percent did. “We could
go out
to a bar, but we teach the staff that there are lots of other ways to
blow off
steam,” he says.
Whether it’s
helping employees blow off steam or dealing with a difficult-to-solve
problem
facing guests, David has it under control. “I’m the make-it-happen kind
of GM,”
he says. It’s my job to beat the drums and be the voice that gets it
done.” And
if his experience at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco is any indication,
his is
loud and clear.
About David
Lewin
Born and
raised in San Francisco, David Lewin attended the Statler School of
Culinary
Arts, City College of San Francisco, and graduated from Cornell
University’s renowned
School of Hotel Administration.
He launched
his career with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts in 1986 as a corporate
management
trainee at the former Hyatt Regency Los Angeles and soon after become a
sales
career as a sales manager at Grand Hyatt Regency San Francisco. David
was
promoted to Associate Director of Sales in 1990, where he won Hyatt’s
prestigious “Sales Manager of the Year” award, and to Director of Sales
in
1992, where he won Hyatt’s esteemed “Director of Sales of the Year”
award.
In 1997,
David transferred to Hyatt Regency San Francisco as Director of Sales
and
Marketing. During his time in San Francisco, he shared his
hospitality
knowledge and experience as an instructor at the University of San
Francisco
from 1990 to 2000, enlightening aspiring hoteliers about hotel sales
and
marketing and hotel operations.
Completing
his career in sales and marketing in 2000, David was promoted to
General
Manager at Hyatt Westlake Plaza, where he oversaw the property until
2004. He then moved to Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport as
General
Manager, a position he held for three years before relocating to the
Hyatt
Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa. In 2011 he transferred to the Hyatt
Regency
San Francisco where he now serves as General Manager.
About Hyatt Regency San Francisco:
Situated on the Embarcadero Waterfront, across
from the iconic Ferry Building Marketplace, with ferries to Sausalito,
Tiburon
and Alameda, the Hyatt Regency San Francisco is the city’s most
accessible
hotel. The hotel is at the beginning of the California Street
Cable Car
line and is also in close proximity to the Embarcadero Center’s shops
and
restaurants, Financial District, Downtown, Chinatown, North Beach,
Union
Square, South of Market, AT&T Park (home of the SF Giants) and
Embarcadero’s waterfront walking and jogging trail. As the city’s
largest
luxury waterfront hotel, the Hyatt Regency San Francisco boasts 802
rooms and suites. Guest services and amenities include
Wi-Fi
service throughout the hotel, 24-hour automated business center and
newly constructed 24-hour StayFit @ Hyatt Fitness
Center. Situated in the soaring atrium lobby of the hotel, amidst
magnificent trees and trellises that create a serene and relaxing
environment,
the Eclipse Café serves breakfast, lunch and dinner featuring
classic
interpretations of local cuisine.