Leadership Corner: Gerhard (Gary) Seibert
Interviewed by Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Name: Gerhard (Gary) Seibert
Age: 56
Title: Area Vice President and Managing Director
Organization: Hilton Hawai'i
Born: Zeil, Germany. Moved to U.S. as a youth and lived in Indianapolis, Ind.
College: Purdue University
Breakthrough job: First general manager position at the Northfield Hilton in Troy, Mich.
Little-known fact: Seibert is listed in the credits of "The Fugitive," which was partially filmed at the Chicago Hilton and Towers where he was general manager. He was also instrumental in getting a hotel scene rewritten.
"The initial scene that (director) Andy Davis had was the bad doctor is speaking at the convention and Harrison Ford comes in and the crowd panics. I said, 'No, we've already identified the Chicago Hilton a hundred times in this movie. If you're going to show a panicky crowd, you're going to have to allow me to show how we deal with it.' " The scene was changed so that the crowd parted rather than panicked.
Book recently read: "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown
Hobbies: Fishing and scuba diving
Q. You started your position here June 1 and will be replacing Peter Schall, who is retiring after 19 years at Hilton in Hawai'i. Should people expect big changes in direction?
A. No, I don't think so. Peter has been here for 19 years for a reason. It's because he was able to establish a good operation, a pillar in the community, a good corporate citizen in terms of Hilton Hawaiian Village, a good staff, good relationships. And all of those foundations are the basis for doing good business and I have no intention of changing that. Would there be perceptions of change? Possibly, because we all have different means of communicating, so some people may perceive that it's different. But I think with the whole management and business philosophy, there won't be a change in that.
Q. What are your goals for Hilton in Hawai'i?
A. In the short term, we want to get the ($5 million) Ocean Crystal Chapel (at the Hilton Hawaiian Village) off and running. It's a wonderful venture that we're entering into with Best Bridal out of Japan. We hope to be open in December of this year.
Q. How important is the wedding chapel for Hilton?
A. It's a new market for us. That's not to say we haven't done weddings before; we have. But I believe that this is the first and only free standing chapel within a hotel on Waikiki Beach. And marriages, while to some extent are somewhat seasonal, happen throughout the year. This will provide another market segment that I hope will even out the ups and downs of business levels a little bit during the traditional slower months. I think it will contribute to increasing the Japanese market share overall, and for a hotel this size, that's a good move.
Q. And your long-term goals?
A. My long-term goal is to keep this whole endeavor here at the Hilton Hawaiian Village successful and grow it to the extent possible. I don't mean physical growth because I think we're at a level of inventory that is good. But grow it in terms of market share and in terms of customer contribution, which of course will benefit all the community, the team members and the customers because with additional customer contribution you can also eventually inaugurate additional services and features.
But we can't do that by ourselves. Hotels are located in a community and are dependent on that community and from what I've seen, Hawai'i has done a great job of coming out of the economic downturns from the mid-90s or so and even after 9/11. I think we're growing, but it's not just because those times are behind us, it's also because I think Hawai'i has taken the steps to continually improve. And I think that's going to be a challenge for all of us for the future. We need to continually improve to keep the customers interested and to encourage repeat business.
Q. When will the restoration of the Hilton lagoon be completed?
A. For all practical purposes, we have started in the sense that we have drilled the deep water wells where the saline water is going to come from to feed the lagoon. ... We have pretty much finished the design and the engineering requirements and getting into the stage of permitting. And if everything goes right I think we can hopefully look at the completion date in a year to a year and a half."
Q. What's the status of Hilton's plans to build a new time-share project at the site of the former Waikikian Hotel and Tahitian Lanai restaurant?
A. It's in design drawings and engineering drawings. ... It's not yet in the stage where I could give you details, but we're pushing forward and plan to make it reality.
Q. The Hilton Hawaiian Village has been upgrading its rooms and amenities. Are there any other changes planned for Hilton's properties here?
A. Yes. We've got a very aggressive program to maintain and update the existing product. In the (Hilton) Waikoloa, we're going to finish up this year and early into next year a total rooms rehabilitation. ... The planned budgets for next year are probably higher than ever in capital expenditures. Rooms renovations (at the Doubletree Alana Waikiki) are done. If you want a guest that stays longer and pays more, you've gotta make sure that your product is totally up to date, and that's our aim and goal.
