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Zaki of Strato Hotel Consultants

'We need to strap in and be prepared for an E-ticket ride because it's going to get really interesting out there, and for a while.'

By Maria Wood | Updated on August 27, 2009

Drawing upon their decades of experience in the hospitality industry, Karima Zaki and Stephen Beck founded Strato Hotel Consultants last year. The principals of the San Diego-based firm focus on aiding smaller, boutique hotels–independent or franchised–weather the current economic storm with an array of services that include sales and marketing strategies to yield management and operations, as well as filling executives positions at the property. Its staff of 15 is currently working on assignments for 10 hotels. GlobeSt.com recently spoke with Zaki about the company, the impact of social media on room-night sales and what hoteliers can do to survive today.

GlobeSt.com: Why did you launch the company?

Zaki: My partner and I both worked for Hilton Hotels. I was an area vice president and he was a regional director of sales and marketing. What we could see in our roles was that sometimes the interests of the owners and the interests of the brands didn’t necessarily overlap. When we went out on our own we wanted to take our expertise, the experiences we had collected over two decades, and go to ownership groups of smaller hotels that didn’t necessarily have the resources that a big company like Starwood, Hilton or Hyatt has. And say to them, ‘You need these resources, but you don’t need to hire them permanently onto your staff. You can use us.’

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