On 30th Anniversary Of Hotel Management Company
Marshall Hotels & Resorts founder Chuck Marshall to retire
SALISBURY, MD - Charles "Chuck" Marshall, founder and chairman of Marshall Hotels & Resorts, announced today plans to retire from day-to-day activities on July 1, 2010, the 30th anniversary of the founding of the company. He will become chairman emeritus of the company, actively engaged on the board of directors, and become a consultant to the management company. Mike Marshall, company president and CEO, will continue to oversee the company's growing operations.
Marshall founded the company in 1980, beginning initially as a developer/syndicator with three hotels. The company today manages more than 60 hotels and resorts in segments ranging from upper upscale to limited-service. "When the tax laws changed in the late 1980s, we shifted to third-party management, which may have been the best business decision I ever made," Chuck Marshall said. "We have grown to be among the 25 largest independent management companies in the US in the past 20 years and still have growth opportunities ahead of us.
"The cornerstone of our success is developing a tailored strategy and plan with aggressive, but realistic budgets, and then sticking to them," he noted. "The budget is our bible, and we adhere to it religiously. We don't start with the top or bottom line; we begin with what is honest and achievable. We then monitor our budgets daily and adapt to changing market conditions, which allows us to focus clearly on maximizing profits and controlling costs."
Marshall worked his way through Oklahoma State University as a cook in area restaurants and hotels. Upon earning a degree in hotel and restaurant management, he began his 46-year hospitality management career as an assistant general manager of the Golden Ox restaurant in Kansas City. He entered the hotel industry as a general manager of a Ramada Inn in Wichita Falls, Texas at age 24. Over his 40-plus-year career, received numerous awards for operating excellence, including Sheraton's "Manager of the Year" and the "Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Franchise Association." The company's managed properties consistently win awards from brands for operating excellence.
Marshall said the biggest changes in the industry over the past four decades are in marketing, fueled by the Internet. "The hotel business has a great future, but has a lousy memory. This is the third time the industry has suffered a significant number of bankruptcies in my career, due to over-leveraging and over-building. Hopefully, we'll learn this time and be more realistic in the future. The keys to hotel profitability are location and good management."
"He has an uncommon ability for finding the right solution to the thorniest of problems and is a great teacher on how to maximize hotel returns and control costs," said Mike Marshall. "Fortunately, we'll be able to call on his experience and expertise on a consulting basis. He raised the bar for hotel management and established our company's reputation as an industry leader. He definitely is going out on a high note."
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