Pyramid International Hospitality Chief Working Officer Eric Habermann retired in April following seven years with the corporate and a virtually 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 vp of enterprise analytics and operational excellence. Hicks was subsequently promoted to govt vp of operations, finance, and analytics, and in 2022 was named chief monetary officer. Having labored with Habermann for almost 15 years—properly 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 shoppers, 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 accommodations,” mentioned 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 accommodations no matter the place they have been positioned, “we’ve now positioned the leaders of our accommodations within the areas the place they function,” mentioned Hicks. “So, we’ve got those who know the markets significantly better, a lot deeper, and have a complete staff of individuals. … We’ve supplied assist to every one of many areas in a really purposeful approach. Everyone has an HR lead, a gross sales lead, a finance lead, and many others. And so at the moment, we’ve got 4 areas, each east and west, but additionally one chief for our branded portfolio and one for our impartial portfolio in order that they will actually concentrate on how these sorts of accommodations in the end outline success, which is just a little bit completely different.”
On the know-how aspect, “Eric launched the concept of utilizing huge knowledge to assist handle our enterprise,” mentioned Hicks, including that he drove this initiative by constructing a enterprise intelligence platform. “I wished to provide our house owners entry to the info analytics platform we name NEO and produce them into the fold … in order that we are able to all begin to communicate the identical language,” Hicks mentioned. The platform consolidates trade knowledge from a number of sources—e.g., STAR Stories, Cvent, and PMS knowledge from particular person accommodations—to facilitate decision-making.
“It has actually allowed us to get higher visibility on the efficiency of every particular person asset, which is in the end driving higher habits and higher productiveness throughout our personal programs and higher efficiency on the lodge 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 all people else.” The enterprise analytics platform can also be accessible companywide. “A whole lot of firms don’t have that; they’re chasing knowledge manually, and our groups don’t have to do this. They simply log in to our enterprise analytics platform,” he mentioned.
New CFO
Transferring into Hicks’ former position as CFO is Judy Brigham, whose 12 years at Pyramid embrace her earlier position as govt vp of company finance. “I’m not a CPA, however she is,” mentioned Hicks. “So actually, the way in which she appears at issues and understands company finance is completely different than my strategy 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 excellent at these.”
Concerning each Hicks’ and Brigham’s promotions, Warren Fields, CEO of Pyramid International Hospitality, commented in a press assertion: “These inside promotions replicate the power, depth, and succession planning of our full management staff. This staff has performed an integral position within the firm’s success, together with the enlargement of our international footprint, recognition as a high place to work, and continuation of our objective to be the supervisor of selection.”
Portfolio Development
The lodge administration regionalization that Habermann carried out and the big-data platform that Hicks developed proceed to learn new shoppers 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.
