When the W Philadelphia opened over the summer as part of a $280 million dual-brand project with an Element Hotel, it had a seasoned brand veteran at the helm as complex general manager. Edward Baten has been working with W Hotels for more than 20 years, and is continuing his relationship to lead both his—and W’s—first dual-brand property.
Baten’s journey started more than three decades ago, the summer he graduated from high school. A friend of a neighbor was a hotel general manager in Arlington, Va., and got Baten a job working at the front desk. While Baten had no plans to remain in hospitality, the manager asked him to stay on when it came time to start at Howard University and work around his classes. Baten agreed, and continued working at hotels throughout college as the property rebranded from the Imperial Hotel to a Days Inn.
At Howard, Baten studied international business and finance and planned to be a foreign service officer with the State Department. But as senior year drew nearer, he started reconsidering his career options. By this point, he was working at a Radisson in downtown Washington, D.C., and was offered a position as assistant restaurant manager. “And I thought, ‘OK, that's interesting. I'll do this until I figure out what I'm going to do.’ And long story short, 32 years later, here I am, still in the hotel business.”
His earliest years in the industry were with Richfield Hospitality Management, but he joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide right around the time the company was acquired by Barry Sternlicht. “It was a very exciting time, for sure,” he recalled. The business was still growing into the giant it later became, which made it easier for an aspiring hotelier like Baten to meet with the senior leaders within the organization and work closely with them as the company acquired assets. By the time he was 25, he was assigned to lead a Radisson in Winston-Salem, N.C., which Starwood had acquired, as a first-time general manager, getting a taste for leadership.
Baten spent the next several years as a GM at newly acquired Starwood properties, bringing them into the fold and getting them up and running under their new ownership. But Baten soon found there were things he needed to learn. “I realized that my career had accelerated very quickly and there were probably some things that I had missed along the way in my development,” he recalled. He accepted a position as director of operations at the Westin Georgetown in Washington, D.C., under Bill Petrella, a more senior general manager who spent 20 years at Starwood properties, and spent a year and a half refining his leadership skills.
Growing a Brand
In 2000, Baten joined the then-nascent W Hotels as general manager at a W Hotel in Chicago and found his niche, remaining with the brand for more than two decades. Over the years, he led the W Chicago - City Center, the W Chicago - Lakeshore, the W Washington, D.C., and, most recently, the W New York - Times Square, spending—he estimates—about four years at each. In its infancy, Baten said, Starwood developed the brand as a way to repurpose real estate assets that the company already owned that did not fit the profile of Sheraton or Westin or any other brand. Over the years, the brand evolved from a “rogue brand of disparate hotel assets” to a coherent concept, something that would be “consistent across the portfolio” based on what guests want.
As he moved from hotel to hotel and market to market, Baten learned the value of understanding what makes each property distinct. “Each one is different,” he said. “The people are a little different and the guests are a little different. So, as a general manager, you have to adapt to each one of those environments, and then as you're adapting you look at what you can contribute to that particular place to help it get a little bit better.”
At the same time, Baten learned to keep out of the way of his team as they do their jobs. “My role was to make sure they had the tools and space to do what they were good at and to step in when they got off course and needed guidance to get back on track.”
As he worked with the W brand, Baten continued his education, earning certifications from Columbia Business School and from Cornell University in a bid to broaden his expertise.
City of Brotherly Love
Over the years, Baten had heard rumors of upcoming development opportunities in Philadelphia that never took shape. “And then, finally, this one was happening—and not only was it happening, it was a dual-branded property. It was a new-build, new-construction, from-the-ground-up hotel.” This was a rarity for Philadelphia, he said, particularly in terms of a hotel that was not a conversion from a different use. “It was going to be literally changing the skyline in the city,” he recalled. “I just couldn't help myself.”
Related: First look at the new W Philadelphia
The building was already under construction when Baten came onboard to the W Philadelphia, but he was able to see what might be a challenge and suggest some changes to the way things were done around the project and improve efficiency. He also got to oversee the hiring for the new property and build his team from the ground up. “At the pinnacle of what we do are the people, and it's the people who really drive and deliver the guest experience,” he said. “As much as we focus on design and many of the physical attributes of a hotel, ultimately it's our talent around the building who make our guests feel like they're being taken care of. To be able to directly influence that with recruiting in such a big way is a huge opportunity.”
Baten’s initial interest in working at the State Department stemmed from his desire to learn about cultures from around the world: “And working in hotels has given me the opportunity to do that—with not only the people who work in the hotels who represent every corner of the globe, but also our guests.”
Ed Baten’s…
Challenge
As a young general manager, Baten found himself supervising workers who had been doing their jobs longer than he had been alive, which made for a difficult working relationship.
Success
To improve the situation for everybody, Batenn put himself in his employees' shoes and took steps to work side-by-side with them as they did their jobs to better understand what they did and how he could better help them. “In many cases, I was also learning my job from them, because I hadn't done what they were doing before.”
Advice for GMs
“Stay curious. Always challenge yourself to find new ways of doing things and really challenge yourself to be open to new ideas. Your teams are always going to have new ideas and at the senior leadership level, we like to think we know everything and [we] become a little bit less open to taking risk and letting people try new things. Creating environments where your teams are able to try new things and experiment [is] how we get breakthroughs.”
3 Secrets to Success
Listen: “We have to spend a lot of time listening to our guests and our associates to learn what it is that they need from us.”
Learn: “You have to trust your teams and work with them [until they are] able to step back and look at things from a bit of a macro level."
Have empathy: “Everything that we do in this industry has to do with people, whether it's our associates or our guests and so, as often as possible, being able to put yourself into their shoes and appreciate what their experience is and how you can have a positive impact on that experience, is what leads to our success.”
W Philadelphia
Owner: Chestlen Development | Operator: Marriott International | Rooms: 295 | Opening Year: 2021
Element Philadelphia
Owner: Chestlen Development | Operator: Marriott International | Rooms: 460 | Opening Year: 2021