CLEVELAND—Bob Megazzini’s career has taken him from the kitchen to the corner office.
Now the GM of Cleveland’s 484-room Westin Cleveland Downtown, Megazzini started his hospitality career as a cook with Marriott International 30 years ago. But the GM role, which he has held for more than 12 years at various hotels, is where he wants to stay.
Originally from Springfield, Massachusetts, Megazzini has been part of the Cleveland clan since 2007. He was GM of the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center for seven and a half years before “retiring” from Marriott to join Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s Westin brand in January at the 9-month-old hotel.
At one point over the course of his decades-long career, Megazzini found himself in an executive chef position at a hotel. Still today he talks about concocting the perfect chicken wing or salmon.
“A lot of general managers don’t have a culinary background,” he said. And he speaks highly of the Cleveland Westin’s farm-to-table restaurant Urban Farmer.
“We have our own butcher here; they’re cutting the sides of meat and aging the meat. They really do a good job with service as well as the food quality,” he said.
Although Megazzini speaks passionately about food, when asked if he would ever want to go back to the kitchen, he said, “those days are gone.”
“I enjoy talking about it, and have a great respect for people who do it. I love chatting with the chefs in the hotel and talking about food and trends and what they see is coming down the road. Those conversations are great, but to actually put my culinary uniform back on and work 14 hours a day, six days a week, I don’t think so,” he said.
He said the GM role is less physical, and involves more brainpower and social interaction.
“You’re constantly meeting new people and entertaining people and trying to find new business and cultivating relationships, whereas as a chef, you’re certainly more focused on the food aspect,” he said.
Read what other GMs are up to in HNN’s Running the Show series.
Putting people first
Megazzini loves that his days as GM are diverse, from the people he encounters to the community around him.
“The day turns to weeks and months and years, but it’s a people business. You have to love people in all regards—the people who work for you, the people who are your customers, your colleagues in town,” he said.
Community is important, he added. For example, Megazzini is on the board for the local convention and visitors bureau, Destination Cleveland.
His management philosophy at the Westin is to “put people first—at every level of the organization.”
“I think you need everyone to give not just their hand and their physical work, but their mind to the job because everybody can go through the motions, but the people who make a hotel great are the people who have their minds engaged into the business and want to make a difference for our guests,” he said.
He said it’s important his staff truly cares about the guests. For instance, he looks for staff who engage a guest during check-in, asking questions such as “How was your flight?” and “Where are you coming from?”
“When they pick up on cues to make your stay that much more enjoyable, they can act on those cues. So if you’ve just spent 15 hours on a layover, your flight was delayed and you’re exhausted, what can they do to make sure that they’ve put you in a quiet room so that you’re not being woken up by an ice machine or an elevator?
“It’s that mental engagement at every level of the organization that makes a hotel great,” he said.