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Prior to arriving at Starwood, van Paasschen was CEO of Coors
Brewing Co. and before that, he held several positions with Nike,
ultimately overseeing its business in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa. He was previously a vice president in finance at Disney
Consumer Products and began his career as a consultant at the Boston
Consulting Group and McKinsey & Co. While at Nike, it was routine to have meetings while jogging, giving van
Paasschen an informal chance to give updates to his boss. Now, at Starwood,
when van Paasschen travels, somebody on the hotel staff usually invites him
on a run or a bike ride. "A run in the morning is sometimes the best way to see a place right, particularly if the rest of your day is booked," he says. "You end up in some places you wouldn't expect." Managers who work for van Paasschen know that feeling. He moved the company's entire leadership team to Shanghai for a month in 2011 and to Dubai for a month earlier this year. He plans another month overseas in 2015. He wants his staff to better understand the cultures they are opening hotels in. "One of the best ways to draw attention to something is to go there," he says, adding that staff back at headquarters in Connecticut had to adjust to doing business across several time zones. "My focus was to reinforce the notion of a global mindset." "There's just something different about actually seeing entire cities being built in one stroke," he adds. We near Central Park's Great Hill and I ask if he minds peddling up the steep incline or wants to take a flat shortcut. Van Paasschen says that "climbing is really my great weak spot in cycling." But then he flies up the hill, answering questions the whole time.
That shouldn't have been a surprise. Last year, he did a four-day charity bike ride that covered 350 miles from Chamonix, France, through the Alps, to Monaco. It included some of the most challenging, high-altitude climbs from the Tour de France. This year, he rode from Salzburg, Austria to Munich. "What I've learned is on those climbs, I'm going my own speed and it's a lot slower than most everybody else's," he says. So, I wonder, is van Paasschen one of the most fit CEOs in America? "I'm not competing against other CEOs," he says. "It's really a kind of a personal goal-setting thing." Every road warrior has his or her own habits. For instance, Van Paasschen is ultimately responsible for the types of closets and dressers guests encounter in his hotel rooms. But he typically doesn't use them on his own travels. Instead, he lives out of a suitcase. "My wife is actually quite tidy," van Paasschen says. He's the opposite. "I'm always quite fascinated how quickly I can make a mess of things." Starwood has made a concerted push to win over road warriors who spend 50, 100 nights a year at hotels. Last year, it introduced a personal ambassador service for its most-frequent guests, a personal point of contact to handle their needs. "About 2 percent of our travelers account for about 30 percent of our profitability," van Paasschen says. "What I think is surprising is that they actually don't have very extravagant demands. But what they want are a few things consistently executed." That often means a microwave in the room for popcorn, having the temperature set in advance or stocking the fridge with Diet Coke. Big requests only come when they are traveling with their families. "Folks who travel as much as they do, they do want to be a hero," van Paasschen says. "They want to make up for it somehow." Just as we start to break a sweat, it's time to end the ride. I get the sense van Paasschen wouldn't mind being out in the park all morning
-- but he has a scheduled meeting about future hotel development. We finish our last lap and an aide thanks me for returning her CEO in one piece. I think: He's the triathlete; I sit in a cubicle all day long. I'm
the one who's thankful for being back in one piece.
[Associated
Press;
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