With more than 40 years of hotel ownership and management experience in the hospitality industry, Meyer Jabara Hotels is withstanding pandemic disruption and continues to get better with age. The company is operating 29 hotels across the U.S. representing 14 brands and several independents.
MJH President Justin Jabara attributes the company’s continued growth and success in large part to having the best associates in the industry. Today, Jabara is pleased to announce two new hires to its well-nurtured management team. Mark Kronick joins MJH as Chief Financial Officer and Daniela Burga joins as Senior VP of Human Resources.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had the opportunity to announce new executive hires, and we are quite proud of that,” Jabara said. “Meyer Jabara Hotels is known industrywide as an employer of choice because we operate with a culture in which our employees help shape the direction of the company, as well as their own hotels. Those who work for us in management roles rarely leave mainly because we provide a combination of strategic leadership tools and behavioral principles that focus each associate on providing exceptional and memorable experiences for their guests. It is this ‘Journey’ culture that enables us to attract and retain the best-of-the-best associates who deliver an industry-leading customer experience.
“The recent hire of Mark Kronick and Daniela Burga are proof that we attract top talent,” he said. “Mark comes to us with an impressive background. For the last 10 years he served as CFO for Club Quarters. He also brings experience in hospitality real estate, from working in private equity for Lone Star Funds/Hudson Advisors, to serving in the corporate sector with General Electric/Textron and the banking industry with Bank of America. Mark will assist with growing profitably through acquisitions, enhancing our brand, and scaling our business to become a world class organization, which includes raising and managing cost-effective capital to provide significant returns to owners. Daniela comes to Meyer Jabara Hotels with a background hotel HR, serving recently as a Corporate Human Resources Director with a notable hotel management company. Her experience with payroll, accounting, and benefits administration make her a valuable resource to our people — especially those eager to rise through the ranks. Daniela started her hotel career as a front desk agent who was promoted to a sales associate and then HR administrative assistant, respectively. It is this type of drive and dedication that she hopes to cultivate at our hotels.”
At present, Kronick is assisting with MJH’s soon-to-be-announced technology initiative and developing a new centralized services division.
Culture is Key to Attracting and Retaining Employees
The Meyer Jabara Hotels culture is a “Journey,” not a destination or a human resources program of the month. It is a collection of all the small actions and big strategies, the monumental decisions and the minute interactions which make up each day. Each associate is acknowledged as a key stakeholder in the company, and everyone is encouraged and trained to accept the gift of empowerment and responsibility for providing superior customer service and differentiated repeatable experiences for MJH’s guests.
Kronick said it was the Journey culture that attracted him to the CFO post, along with Meyer Jabara Hotels’ “exceptional reputation in the marketplace, its management style, and commitment to growth.”
“Meyer Jabara Hotels has the exceptional ability to make an emotional connection with its associates, guests, and the community,” Kronick said. “With hoteliers all vying for labor today, being able to stand out as an employer of choice will help drive the right employees to our doors, and in turn drive profitability. I was eager to join the MJH team because of its willingness to embrace change and its ability to strike balance between its employees, guests, and owners. In the short time that I’ve been with the company, I can truly say they are the best hotel operator in the business. It is with great pride that I join this world-class management group.”
The company’s Journey culture was also a factor in Burga’s decision to accept the HR post.
“The more I learned about the Journey culture, the more I realized its strength and its ability to help carry employees through these difficult times,” Burga said. “Even during the pandemic, Meyer Jabara Hotels did not ignore its culture or principles. This is truly a company that understands the importance of HR and its strategic purpose, and unlike many hotel companies, they are open to change and innovation.
“As Senior VP of HR it is my goal to bring stability to the many disruptions caused by COVID-19,” she said. “One of my first tasks is to make Journey training available on demand, bring flexibility to any property that is short staffed, and ensure that the Journey culture is deeply rooted in all new hires. Next, in addition to attracting top talent, I want to ensure that all our people are being supported with technology, whether it’s streamlining tasks for managers so they can focus more on their teams and guests or finding new ways to use technology to acknowledge and reward employees for their loyalty and jobs well done. Finally, it is my goal to ensure that MJH has the systems and procedures in place to allow us to remain a top employer. It’s not yet business as usual, so until then, I will do everything in my power to make sure that those who choose to work for Meyer Jabara Hotels are success and never want to leave.”
