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TOP CHARGER:
Peter Sula ’03 Builds a Dream Team to Transform Boston’s Battery Wharf Hotel by Kate Seamans photos by Michael Seamans
B
y the time sport management major Peter Sula ’03 gathers his team for its daily 9:30 a.m. stand-up meeting, he’s been awake for almost seven hours. The general manager of the Battery Wharf Hotel in Boston’s North End steps outside his office into the circle of directors. He positions his six-foot-five basketball player’s body into a comfortable power stance, arms crossed, and listens.
The reports roll in on that Monday’s arrivals and departures; the number of rooms sold and what that might mean for rate adjustments; upcoming events and meetings; recruiting updates; a potential airline partnership; and possible entertainment options. He confirms a 10 a.m. walk-through of the property to check the progress on an ambitious list of projects (a new ballroom, coffee shop and spin studio, plus restaurant and lobby renovations and more). Sula mentions that a pipe burst the day before in the parking lot and urges the use of earpieces to facilitate communication between staff during guests’ welcome. The team dispenses a lot of information in nine minutes but still has time for a laugh, to analyze the Celtics’ game the night before, and to share a wistful desire for more coffee. The day’s game plan is set, and Sula briefly returns to his office. After 10 months as the luxury waterfront hotel’s director of sales and marketing, Sula was named general manager (GM) in January. He was recruited from a seven-year post as Liberty Hotel’s corporate travel director.
30 colby-sawyer magazine