Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> July 26, 1999
ROBERT COLE is the President and CEO of Lodgian, located in Atlanta, GA.
Lodgian is the new company formed as a result of the December 1998
merger between Servico and Impac Hotel Group. Today, Lodgian is one of
the hotel industry's largest owner/operators wit 143 hotels totaling
more than 27,000 room in 35 states, Canada, and Europe. The organization
currently employs more than 10,000 associates and is one of the largest
Holiday Inn & Marriott franchisees. A native of upstate New York, Mr.
Cole officially began his career in the hospitality business as a busboy
for a Steak & Ale Restaurant in the late 70's. Even before that, Robert
learned about the hotel business growing-up, as his father was a very
active and hands-on owner/operator. Robert graduated magna cum laude
with a degree in Hotel Administration from the University of New
Hampshire in 1984. From there, Mr. Cole held several general manager
positions at various hotels throughout the country. Mr. Cole was the
President of Impac since its inception in 1990. He led the company's
growth plan, which featured a combination of developing new hotels and
acquiring under-performing, under-valued hotels. The company grew from
one hotel in 1990 to 55 by year-end 1998. Lodgian is one of the few,
fully-integrated hotel companies; not only does it have an outstanding
track record managing hotels, but in the last two years the predecessor
companies of Lodgian completed in-house more than $150,000,000 of
renovations. In addition to the renovation expertise, Lodgian has
developed or has under development approximately $200,000,000 worth of
hotel real estate. Finally, the company has won numerous awards of late,
including the Torchbearer Award from Holiday Inn, four consecutive years
winning Holiday Inn's Modernization Award, and several development and
quality awards
from Marriott.
sector - Lodging Profile
company, just to set the stage.
Mr. Cole: Lodgian was formed on December 11, 1998 as a result of the
merger between
