About Tom Patton Tom has been involved in the hospitality industry all of his adult life. He started out working in a restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, which is where he grew up. Tom came out to California to attend college at the University of California Santa Barbara. He worked at several hotel properties during college before graduating with a Business Economics degree. After a couple years of working, he went back to school to earn a Masters in Business Administration at Pepperdine University. Tom is married and has two adult sons along with two Labrador Retrievers. How long have you been the General Manager at the Ramada Santa Barbara? I have been involved with the ramada Santa Barbara for almost 25 years now as the general manager and one of the general partners. Our hotel has been franchised with ramada since 1998; prior to that it was an independent hotel. What is your favorite part of being General Manager? The opportunity to set the tone at our hotel and help ensure that our guests have a 20 California Hotel & Lodging Association WinTeR 2016 Manager of the Year for mid-size hotels (100– 300 rooms) by the California Hotel & Lodging Association. While it is always wonderful to be recognized it is truly a reflection of the great team that we have at the ramada which includes ownership, the management team and all of our employees. Is Green Lodging important to your business? Absolutely. Santa Barbara is very environmentally focused and we like to ensure that we are doing our part. We were the first hotel in the area to install three electric car HOTELIER PROFILE Tom PPPaaattttttooonnn memorable stay with us. no two days are ever the same; that is what keeps things interesting. I also enjoy seeing employees move up the ranks and continue to succeed in our industry as they move on to other opportunities. Being involved in the local community is very important—as is serving on local, state and national hospitality boards. Has your property won any awards? We have won the top 25 hotel award from Ramada Worldwide for four consecutive years. This award recognizes those properties that have done an exceptional job in customer service, quality assurance and brand participation. We are one of only a few Ramada hotels to have won the award that many times. This past year we won the top award for the Wyndham rewards frequent guest program. We were also nominated for the Large Business of the Year in 2014 by the Santa Barbara region Chamber of Commerce. Have you won any awards? I was awarded the Greater Santa Barbara Lodging & Restaurant Association “Hospitality Star of the Year Award” in 2013. And last month I was recognized as the Outstanding General
CH LA Lodging News Winter 2015 2016
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