PULLMAN, Wash. — The Creative Hotel Associates, LLC, chairman will visit Washington State University Wednesday, Sept. 20, to present the fall Burtenshaw Lecture.
Robert C. Hazard Jr. will share his insights into how the Internet will affect the hospitality industry when he presents “As I See It … Tomorrow’s Travel Industry” at 3:30 p.m. in Todd Hall 130 on the Pullman campus. The lecture is free and open to the public. Hosting the program is WSU’s Hotel & Restaurant Administration.
Hazard began Creative Hotel Associates after retiring in 1996, following 17 record-setting years with Choice Hotels International, Inc. His team is credited with growing Choice from a regional group of 339 roadside Quality Inns into a seven-brand, global hotel megachain of more than 3,800 inns, hotels and resorts with more than 330,000 guest rooms in 43 countries. Under his leadership and vision, Choice grew to include Quality, Comfort, Clarion, Sleep, Econo Lodge, Rodeway, and Mainstay hotels.
The “Cornell Quarterly” dubbed Hazard the “father of hotel segmentation” in recognition of Choice’s introduction of multi-brands at different price points — a strategy later adopted by Marriott, Cendant, Hilton and Holiday Inns (Bass).
Hazard also served as CEO for Best Western International from 1974-80, growing that organization from 800 motels to over 2,900 inns, hotels and resorts worldwide.
The Arizona businessman has received numerous hotel industry awards, including the New York Hospitality Silver Plate award, the Cecil B. Day Award, Economy Lodging’s “Man-of-the-Year” award, and the Albert E. Kohl Award for Choice’s long-running “celebrity-in-a-suitcase” television advertising campaign in the 1980s.
Hazard is the 41st presenter of the Burtenshaw Lecture series, which has brought hospitality professionals to WSU since the fall of 1981. The series was begun by DeVere Jerry and Angelina Burtenshaw in memory of their son, Calvin Brett. The lecture is given twice yearly.
For more information about Hazard and the Burtenshaw Lecture, please contact Andrea Luoma at 509/335-9619.
