A Conversation with Rebecca Hubbard
A Conversation with Rebecca Hubbard
Meet Rebecca Hubbard
Rebecca Hubbard, General Manager of the iconic Lotte New York Palace, is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the hotel industry and a longstanding reputation for exceptional quality and impeccable service. With a career spanning over 25 years, Hubbard draws from her vast experience by truly identifying with every aspect of the hotel industry and brings true passion and extreme dedication to her role.
Meet Your Host, Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker, and author and mean it.
His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on several boards of directors in various capacities.
His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 60 books, including his best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting (from McGraw-Hill) now in its 30th year and sixth edition. His newest is Your Legacy is Now: Life is not about a search for meaning but the creation of meaning (Routledge, 2021). His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, and the Wharton School of Business, and have been translated into 15 languages.
Get to know AlanShow Notes
I’ve been staying at the Lotte Palace Hotel in New York City since it was solely “The Palace” and run by the legendary Leona Helmsley. It’s ideally situated on Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st, right across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and in easy walking distance to all Broadway plays and only about 300 good restaurants.
Becky Hubbard has been the general manager for a dozen years amidst her 20 in the hospitality industry.
We speak here about staffing and sustaining a highly supportive and polite work force; of the rebound since Covid; of international tourism rebounding; and of a day that had her walking home around eight at night, while her daughter tracks her location on her cell phone.
She presides over a 900+ room, elite hotel which she calls her “inn” and has just overseen a $140 million renovation. We talk here about her preference for dealing directly with guests and the importance of the “first see, last see” front door staff.
We discuss the dramatic rise in hotel charges to guests (in Florida right now they are up as much as 64%) and how to overcome rising costs to the hotel. And we talk about the continuing need for innovation and adaption of technological solutions. (Even low-end hotels are offering keyless entry using smart phones and check in remotely.)
Alan Weiss’s The Uncomfortable Truth® is a weekly broadcast from “The Rock Star of Consulting,” Alan Weiss, who holds forth with his best (and often most contrarian) ideas about society, culture, business, and personal growth. His 60+ books in 12 languages, and his travels to, and work in, 50 countries contribute to a fascinating and often belief-challenging 20 minutes that might just change your next 20 years.
Introduction to the show recorded by Connie Dieken
