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Hotel Executive Niki Leondakis's Visit to Temple University

Hotel executive Niki Leondakis remembers leaders in the tourism and restaurant industries telling her about their business successes during presentations.

But from her days as a child in her grandmother’s eatery – known as the first stainless steel diner in western Massachusetts – to her time studying hotel and restaurant management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Leondakis said she “never really imagined I’d be doing this in reverse.”

That’s how Leondakis, chief operating officer of Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, began her Executive-In-Residence presentation before more than 100 students and faculty in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) on Oct. 14 – the day before Hotel Palomar Philadelphia, the newest Kimpton property, was set to open in Center City.

Leondakis’s visit to Temple University came amid a partnership with Kimpton that has given STHM students a first-ever opportunity to participate in a hotel opening.

Two alumni are Hotel Palomar employees, one student interned at the luxury boutique hotel and some 35 others volunteered for marketing efforts before the grand opening. STHM students also served as “Hotel Ambassadors” by giving private tours to prospective guests.

Dr. Elizabeth Barber, associate dean of STHM, said she was impressed that Leondakis not only visited Temple a day before the hotel opening – and the same day an adjacent Kimpton restaurant, Square 1682, welcomed customers – but that she was joined on campus by her senior staff.

Leondakis oversees operations, marketing, human resources and social responsibility initiatives for Kimpton’s 48 hotels and chef-driven restaurants in 29 markets in North America. The company employs 6,500 people. She joined Kimpton in 1993 as director of restaurant operations, and she became chief operating officer in 2003.

Her journey in the hotel and restaurant industry began modestly – she was a Hardee’s fry cook at age 15 – but included many achievements, including the distinction of becoming the first female food and beverage director for a hotel during her time with The Ritz-Carlton in the 1980s.

“She’s saying that as somebody who has been there, done that,” Barber said of Leondakis’s tips for success, which included integrity, self-awareness and self-leadership. “She had to have followed those rules to get where she is today. If she didn’t follow those rules, she wouldn’t have been as successful. So I hope they [students] hear it. I hope they listen.”

Leondakis, regarded as one of the most powerful women in travel, told STHM students that “this is the worst time that any of us have seen in our industry,” and she emphasized that executives are cutting costs and getting more creative with marketing techniques to capture guests. She said the hotel market is expected to bottom out in 2010, followed by a multi-year recovery.

Leondakis said Kimpton has maintained its market share despite the recession, likely due to increased branding efforts, customer desire for personalization and experience instead of predictability, and corporate clientele who are attracted to Kimpton’s social and environmental efforts.

Leondakis has led Kimpton’s Women InTouch initiative to market to women travelers, formed the company’s mentor program and launched its diversity initiative. But she said front-line employees are the ones who enhance Kimpton.

“That’s the beauty of what we do,” she said. “It’s organic and from the ground up.”

Leondakis, who lives in California, was welcomed to Temple with a “Time Capsule Luncheon” with STHM students, faculty and staff, as well as area industry leaders. During lunch, Leondakis was presented with a time capsule that included notes of well wishes to show the strong foundation that was built by the community for Hotel Palomar – and how “those ties will remain forever strong.”

In accepting the gift, Leondakis said Kimpton is “thrilled to be supporting Temple University.”

“This is going to be a great partnership,” she continued. “And I hope it is a very long, long relationship.”