Julie White, vice president, commercial, EMEA
As
vice president, commercial for EMEA at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Julie
White is responsible for driving collaboration across loyalty, sales, revenue
management, distribution and marketing to maximize the performance of managed
and franchised hotels across the region.
In a
series of interviews with executives participating in the online event in
September, PhocusWire finds out what they have learned from the COVID-19
crisis.
Knowing
what you know now, if you could go back to the start of the crisis, what would
you do differently?
Hindsight
always tells you to start taking action sooner…
What
have you learned from this time about the way you’ll manage and communicate
with your team moving forward?
Managing
through any crisis forces you to work cross functionally and make decisions
very efficiently – you don’t have time to debate and get to 100% certainty. You
have to rely on less facts and more collective instinct.
The team has
realized there are benefits to working this way outside of crisis mode and have
come together as one team stronger than before.
What
do you miss the most about travel?
I
miss the anticipation of traveling, looking forward to a journey is as
important as the journey itself! Missing the excitement of changing
scenery, experiencing new places and meeting people who can teach me about
their culture.
What
have been the surprise benefits to not traveling?
I’ve
had the joy of getting to know my neighbors much better - my street has come
together as a community, originally to support each other through lockdown and
now we’ve become good friends!
What
lasting changes will there be to you personally from this time?
The
10 pounds I’ve gained from all the baking…
What’s
been your one guilty pleasure during lockdown?
Baking
homemade bread and lots of cookies!