We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Hill a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Jennifer with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
When I was about 5 years old, I was at work with my mom on New Year’s Eve, where she was running the much-dreaded task of a month-end, year-end night audit as the front office manager of a hotel. Around 11:30 pm, she panicked because she couldn’t find me in the back where she had put me to bed on a rollaway cot. She looked out over the front desk and spotted me at the door of the ballroom, where I was attempting to collect (another) cover charge for the attendees of the hotel’s annual New Year’s Eve party, so it was no surprise that I ended up in hotel commercial strategy, the confluence of sales and revenue management (the folks who set the room rates!).
I grew up in a single parent household, watching my mom work day and night to support us. She worked for the same company, owners and operators of that hotel in our hometown, from the time I was born through my senior year in high school. I had babysitters and after school care; however, the hotel business is a 24/7/365 one and often that meant I ended up at work with my mom, in whatever position she had at the time. If it was running the front office, I’d be at a desk behind the scenes drawing, writing, or maybe doing some homework. When she was running sales & catering, I learned to file and sort paperwork.
We didn’t own this hotel. But it was “our” hotel. “Our” hotel opened as a Holiday Inn in 1963 and my grandmother worked there as a host in the restaurant, then as a banquet manager. My mom, her siblings, and their children worked at “our” hotel for the next almost 40 years. It was as much home to me as our own modest home was, a single-wide trailer in a trailer park 20 minutes away.
My mom took two weeks of “vacation” every year; one was taken the week before school started, where she’d deep clean the house and get things ready for me. The second was usually the last week of the year and was really the only time she just took OFF and didn’t do serious deep cleaning or projects at home. There were no true “vacations.”
I watched, without realizing it, my mom blossom in her own career within the walls of that hotel, and fell into step behind her. I watched her work indefatigably to ensure we had all our needs met and more, while teaching and mentoring others, including myself, in the art of true hospitality.
I am grateful every day for her example and try to live with this quote in my mind: “My mother worked too hard for me not to be great.” I work to be a great partner and wife, a great friend, a great colleague, a great business partner.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a hotelier at heart and always will be. I believe in hospitality and the importance of hotels in the travel journey and in the communities they support and thrive in. Our firm supports hotels in identifying and capturing additional opportunities for profitable revenue generation. We do this through data science, machine learning, and our collective experience in the hotel industry. My role specifically as VP, Commercial Strategy is a bit of a utility position. I’m fortunate enough to now have 6+ years of experience in the tech/vendor arena to build on my 20 years on the hotel side of the business.
As an innovative thinker and insatiable learner, I embrace curiosity, collaborating with partners, clients, and colleagues to craft cutting-edge solutions that drive revenue optimization and growth in hotels. Especially during times of change, I believe keeping an open mind and exploring new approaches is paramount, even when revisiting proven strategies. Leveraging my extensive experience in commercial strategy and hotel revenue generation, I design creative, flexible plans harnessing the power of advanced hotel data analytics. Beyond hospitality, I am continually learning and discovering new interests. I am an avid reader of all subjects. I strive to be an active listener and am a student of improv. I live by the “yes, and” philosophy. Championing diversity, equity and inclusion, I’m passionate about mentorship, leadership development, and nurturing improved communication skills for women.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’ll focus on qualities, and recommend these three: 1) be an active listener
2) stay curious and open-minded
3) if you’re scared, do it anyway*
*It’s unfortunate, but I think it’s important to give this a parenthetical disclaimer: By “scared,” I do not mean if you are scared for your mental, physical, or emotional safety or wellbeing! “Scared” to fail, “scared” to be embarrassed, “scared” to not look like you know what you’re talking about … that’s the “scared” I’m talking about here.
To develop and improve in these areas, it truly just takes reps … one after another. Choose one to focus on for a day, like being an active listener. Work to listen for understanding instead of waiting to respond. Don’t multitask. Lean into the conversation by making eye contact and having an open posture toward whoever is speaking. Take a moment to process the information or question and then respond. One of the toughest parts of being an active listener is balancing it with being heard and contributing. It will take practice.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I often feel overwhelmed and anxious. Most people would be disinclined to believe that (based on responses I get when I share that I feel that way!), but it is true. There are times when there’s no choice but to go through the overwhelm, whether it is an overwhelming situation or just a feeling overall.
In the last year or so, I’ve worked on admitting feeling overwhelmed and taking time to acknowledge, assess, and process it. The first thing I do is try to take a break from whatever it is that’s causing the overwhelm. Even if I can find just a few minutes to step away, I find that I have more perspective to handle the situation and my own feelings. Ideally, I would take a day or two, but that’s not realistic! However, separating myself from the situation or space that I’m feeling overwhelmed is important. I also have been working at getting comfortable letting the people around me know when I am feeling this way, so that I can manage expectations.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: revparjen
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jenniferhill1
- Twitter: revparjen
Image Credits
Headshot (personal photo): 36DView Photography
