After a long career with Hyatt in food and beverage and as a general manager, George Vizer last year was named to be vice president of the chain’s new franchise and owner relations group. He task is to oversee the company’s venture into franchise development for its full-service Hyatt Regency brand (other Hyatt brands—Grand and Park—were excluded from the full-service franchise mix, but, as Vizer said, “never say never”).

I’ve known George Vizer for a long time. We met for the first time years ago at a hotel conference where, as vice president of food and beverage for Hyatt Corp. he was invited, as one of three key speakers, to address the concerns every f&b director confronts, not the least of which is the ongoing struggle to stabilize costs while, simultaneously, trying to add more dollars to top and bottom lines. I was impressed with his vision, his analyses, and, ultimately, his incredible self-confidence in unerringly providing solutions to the most damnably perplexing food and beverage problems: for instance, how do you persuade guests to use your foodservices other than at breakfast?

Vizer held that position for five years, the average tenure for that slot.  He stepped-down in 2006 at which time Hyatt named him general manager of the Hyatt Regency McCormick where, for three years troubleshooting the troubled property, he stunned corporate with a makeover that transformed its humdrum image with one that thrilled guests and drew comparisons to other impressive convention hotels throughout the country. It included a restaurant and a snappy bar both doing overload business before, during, and after the convention center shut down for the day.

Make no mistake, franchising at Hyatt had been around for several years, but restricted exclusively in recent years to its limited-service hotels (today, 130 Hyatt Place hotels, 30 Hyatt Summerfield Suites). However, having dipped its toes into those waters and found them to its liking, Hyatt, in 2008 plunged headlong into the already crowded pool of full-service mega-hotel companies franchising their brands; and, so far has managed not only to stay afloat, but to worry the competition.

I sat down with Vizer in May in his hometown, Chicago, during the National Restaurant Show. He had been at his new job for just six months.

Hyatt’s a bit late coming to the party. New kids on the block, as it were.
Absolutely.

Marriott and Hilton have . . .
Forty-two percent of Marriotts are franchised; 40 percent at Hilton.

Hyatt’s been around since 1957—more than five decades; you’ve been with the company for 29 years. What took you so long?
You have to understand that Hyatt has always viewed itself as having a rich heritage as a management company: we feel very good about our skill-sets and our competencies; so, to relinquish to other companies what we’ve built up over the years with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears gave us a lot of heartburn—for years we wrestled with the idea to let someone else become the steward of our brand; that was not an easy decision to come by.

No kidding. By comparison, a lot easier to manage company-owned hotels than franchised ones?
Of course.

So, why bother? What’s the benefit, the advantage; why not continue to build and operate company-owned and managed hotels?
We’re not altering our mission of growing our managed portfolio. Growth on the managed side comes slowly: putting together those kinds of deals is complicated. When you look at Marriott with more than 2,000 properties with only roughly a third managed, clearly the desired distribution has to come through multiple channels—franchising being one huge opportunity.

Conversions of existing properties?
From an architectural and design perspective, we have very detailed sets of standards that franchisees must comply with. We attach a PIP—a property improvement plan—to every conversion: upgrades (or enhancements, if you will) that must be accomplished by the potential franchisee. If there is a disconnect at that point, it can become a deal-breaker.

Talk about “desired distribution.”
Hyatt has a tactical disadvantage competitively because of our distribution. Our brand is extremely strong; however at the end of the day, if there is no distribution in cities where our valued guests are visiting, that puts us at a disadvantage. No Hyatt?  They stay someplace else.

You lose that guest to a competitor and, perhaps, you’ve lost that guest forever.
Without question. As a company, we have to be at more places to make it easy for our guests to find us.

And franchising does that for you?
Not that simple. Our obligation to franchising must be 100-percent: we create a master-plan; we commit the entire organization to the process; we take the commitment very seriously because we are dealing with very serious operators—as committed to the plan as we are—who are assuming stewardship of our brand because they see value in it.

A partnership?
Yes, one that’s based on the franchisee’s ability to deliver our vision, to execute on behalf of the brand and to manage up to our expectations. By the same token, we have to deliver on our promises: from marketing to managing and updating our websites and our reservations center, and so forth.

Franchisees help you extend the reach of your brand; you make sure that reach is never compromised. Not what one would call a one-way street.
One-way courts chaos. The franchisee takes us on in good faith because it believes our brand carries a lot of clout, has a good name, and a loyal following. So, we’re obliged to deliver on that. Conversely, the franchisee needs to make sure it represents the brand according to our standards of excellence.

I once thought your job as VP-f&b, was the toughest. I’m not so sure now. This new job strikes me as being a lot tougher.
First of all, let me say that I’ve never shied away from challenges. I’m honored that Hyatt felt I could deliver; and that it felt my skills were strong enough to play a role. That being said, my job is truly a multifaceted one: trying to move organizations that don’t necessarily understand our brand to a direction that parallels the way Hyatt lives and breathes every day. That, ultimately, is the test I face; but, ultimately, it’s fulfilling.  This is a new job: I can only surmise the pitfalls, the rewards, the challenges.

And second of all . . .?
The job itself. Here’s an analogy. McDonalds has done an incredible job of creating an empire where one McDonalds looks and behaves like every other McDonalds. You and I could walk into one of their stores and I defy you to tell me if you’re walking into a company-owned store or a franchised one. They do a remarkable job of creating and maintaining brand consistency across the board. In my mind, my mission is to do just that: have our franchisee properties feel, look, taste, and smell exactly the same way as the brand we have managed for more than 50 years.

McDonalds may have its core values and standards, but it does not restrict its franchisees from recommending improvements. A franchisee created the Egg McMuffin, a  very successful product launch, but at the time a deviation from corporate “standards.”
Without question. My job is to make sure our franchisees are true to the brand. On the other hand, I recognize we’re partners with operators who’ve been successful in their own right: we need to be mindful of what they’ve achieved historically—I’m of the belief that “other mothers have smart children, too.” Our partnership with franchisees gives us the opportunity to learn from good operators and to become stronger. We have no qualms about incorporating certain ideas that deviate from our values, but we need to do that judiciously so it makes sense for our brand. We cannot go running around every time someone has a good idea and just say, “OK, let them do it.” Very quickly that becomes organized mayhem.

And, I might add, compromises the integrity of the brand.
All of what we do, either internally or through our franchises, has to be done within the auspices of brand integrity. Take foodservice, for example. There is a core set of signature menu items that reflects a consistent appeal and delivers what the Hyatt guests expects. There is a huge field of other things that we feel very strongly about that needs to be in place for a Hyatt hotel to function and look like a Hyatt hotel. We’re married to our signature items and we refuse to deviate from them.

Because?
Because they provide for the brand a distinction and an identity that allows us to differentiate ourselves from our competition.

A franchisee becomes a partner. It’s been asked to love, honor and obey; to respect the brand and to implement its standards. On down the line, it becomes critical of some of the Hyatt standards. What’s your reaction?
We hope that we’re the harshest critics of our brands; that we continue to evolve and create an experience that our franchisees will embrace and not be critical of.  If that day comes, we really have to take an introspective look at whether we really are as good as we should be or as we think we are. And, frankly, after 29 years with the company, I don’t think that’s a concern.

Not a concern if you’ve done due diligence with a prospective franchisee?
We look for companies that embrace parallel values, whose culture is similar to ours, who view doing business as we do; that take the job of running hotels seriously. We currently have 11 franchise hotels on board with several more in the pipeline. By the way, current and prospective franchisees cannot manage, in addition to one of our hotels, more than three to six other brands. Before we award a franchise, we may surprise-visit the hotels they’ve already franchised to determine how well they’re managed. If their values and culture are diametrically opposed to ours, that doesn’t make for a decent partnership; it’s not a good fit. They have to appreciate our perspective.