Surviving September
At 34, Chris Knable is president and managing director of the 144-bedroom Regent Wall Street hotel in New York, located six blocks north of Ground Zero.
I get up about 5.30am, partly because we have a five-month-old daughter, Zoe. I go for a jog around the reservoir in Central Park and get back to have breakfast with the kids.
I'm not a big breakfast eater, but sometimes I have to make a show of eating my bowl of cereal to get my son Nathaniel to eat his. I take him to school and then jump on the subway to Lower Manhattan.
Like most hotels, we have an executive committee meeting at 10am, when we go through the important details from the evening before and the day ahead. I have a hotel manager, Sandra Finlay, who runs the day-to-day operations. Most of my time is spent on marketing and finance-related issues. I also do lots of work with community projects, which has become even more relevant since 11 September.
We did not close during September, although we did stop taking reservations for a while. We turned the hotel's ballroom over to rescue workers, and then the Red Cross took it over for a week-and-a-half to provide food and somewhere for them to sleep. The space was going empty and we felt it was better for the community to use it.
I'm currently vice-president of a group called Wall Street Rising, which is trying to drive business back to the Lower Manhattan area. The group was set up in the first week of October in the aftermath of 11 September. From our hotel's perspective, we've seen a dramatic increase in occupancy, with November and December running at about 70%, compared with 20% in September and 40% in October.
If I don't have a business lunch, I go to the staff restaurant around 12.30pm. In the afternoon I'll spend time in the lobby, meeting guests and talking with staff.
When you manage a hotel, you don't really do much of the nitty gritty. I'm usually working on strategy for three, six, nine months down the road. At the moment we have lots of legal and insurance issues because of 11 September, and we will be making a substantial seven-figure claim with Lloyd's of London.
We also had to lay off 30% of our staff following 11 September, so there have been lots of HR issues to be dealt with. Every day we are evolving a bit and testing how the market is feeling, how our clients are feeling, and trying to encourage people back to the hotel.
Getting the next generation of hospitality enthused is important to me. I lecture at New York University, and the hotel offers internships to high school students who are taking the Academy of Travel and Tourism programme. It's designed to introduce them to a career in hospitality.
I usually go home between 7pm and 9pm, depending on whether I have a function in the evening or not. I love cooking and I used to be the chef at home but, because we both work now, we have someone who comes to do all our cooking for the week and she just freezes it, so we have supper ready when we get in.
My wife runs our family, does all the finances and lets me believe I'm in charge, but I'm not really.
My weekend is reserved for the kids. We take them out to the park, and I like to go away just with Nathaniel so we have some time together, too.
By midnight, I'm in bed with a cup of tea and a book. I'm keen on history, biographies and espionage.
Just a minute…
What's your ambition? I would like to run a corporation, but it will not necessarily be in hospitality.
What has been your greatest challenge? My relative youth. Most people said I was too young and didn't know enough to be a general manager. I was made general manager of the Regency hotel in New York at 30 and I'm still the youngest GM among the luxury hotels.
What would your last supper be? It would be with my family and be very over-the-top - caviar, foie gras, steak, lots of chocolate and good claret.
Regent Wall Street
55 Wall Street, New York City, USA
Tel: 00 1 212 845 8600
Bedrooms: 144
Turnover: $25m (£17.3m)
Occupancy: 70%
