William Nassikas: Sales and Marketing Skills in the Hotel Industry

William Nassikas has been in the hospitality and hotel industry for decades as a manager and business owner. He is the President and Chief Operating Officer for Westroc Resorts in Scottsdale, Arizona, which has redeveloped and remodeled several historic resorts and hotels throughout the state of Arizona. Nassikas has been involved in the development of new resort properties in the area for decades. Nassikas wouldn’t have been successful as a small business owner in any industry if he didn’t understand basic skills in sales and marketing to find new customers and investors for his company. Over the years, he has developed an understanding of how marketing and sales come together for the hotel industry.

William Nassikas has developed many key skills that all small business owners have to have to be successful in any industry. In the hotel and hospitality industry, offering services and experiences that competitors cannot is the name of the game. Nassikas has to convince tourists and other guests looking for a luxurious place to stay to choose his resorts and hotels over myriad others in the same area. And what attracts customers to hotels they have never been to? The chance to stay in historic buildings, such as several of the resorts that Nassikas and his partners at Westroc have done since the company was founded in 1999. People want new experiences when they travel to new places, and Westroc has striven to provide these new experiences to all of their guests over the years.

William Nassikas has honed his marketing and sales skills over his long career.

William Nassikas: Three Things to Consider in Golf Course Management

William Nassikas, as the President of Grand Bay and Westroc Resorts, has managed several golf courses during his career in the hospitality industry. He founded Westroc Resorts in 1999. Since then, the company has renovated several historic and charming properties for guests to stay in throughout the Scottsdale area and the state of Arizona. One of the many improvements Nassikas has included in these projects is a new golf course. But there are many things to consider when managing a golf course at a resort, including:

• Approaches and surrounds. The approach to the putting green on each hole is crucial to all players’ performances. William Nassikas works hard to make the approaches as clean yet challenging as possible. Firm, smooth approaches to putting greens and fairways usually require specific maintenance inputs to deal with unique issues.
• Management and labor. You’ll have to manage the labor of putting in a new golf course and for its maintenance. Be sure you account correctly for labor hours, how to absorb costs, and how to provide the best experience for players, guests, and your own staff who keep up the course.
• There are many ways to install sand traps and bunkers to add some challenge to your golf course. There are ways of making low-cost bunkers work by carefully managing how they are installed to the type of sand used. Usually, golf courses with high-quality bunkers and hazards attract more players.

William Nassikas has renovated and designed many golf courses to fit with his customers’ needs over the course of his long career in the hospitality industry.

William Nassikas: Three Essential Finance Skills Every Small Business Owner Should Have

William Nassikas has owned his own businesses for decades. William Nassikas started Grand Bay Resorts in the 1990s and grew the business to include many new resorts and hotels before he sold the company. In 1999, he founded Westroc Resorts, a hospitality company based in Scottsdale that he has guided to longstanding success. Westroc has several hotels and resorts in Arizona, including the recently renovated Mountain Shadows resort. Over the years, Nassikas has learned skills that have helped him keep his businesses running. Here are three examples of financial skills that every small business owner should know.
How to read basic business financial reports. Basic business financial reports include profit and loss reports, income reports, balance sheets, and more. As William Nassikas knows, these forms are the basic building blocks of your business’s budget.
How to analyze financial statements. There are many important metrics to look for on business financial statements, including the current amount of the company’s assets and its current liabilities. This will give you a quick idea of how well your business is doing in a snapshot and help you make decisions to improve profit margins going forward.
How to form a budget. Just because you have new revenue streams rolling in doesn’t mean you should budget your expenditures strictly. Every outgoing expense has to have a purpose while balancing your budget.
William Nassikas has learned most of these finance skills on the fly while managing hotels and resort companies. He has built his current company, Westroc Resorts, into a popular and successful business.

William Nassikas: Three Things a Restaurant Manager or Owner Should Never Do

A large part of what William Nassikas has done during his long career in the hospitality industry is manage restaurants. People staying at luxurious hotels expect the finest dining options and experiences as well. William Nassikas has been a Food and Beverage Director for several resorts with Hyatt, and used his extensive experience in the industry to form his own hospitality company—twice. He is now the President of Westroc Resorts in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has learned what not to do as a restaurant manager many times in his career, including these three things:

Mistreat employees. William Nassikas has always been respectful and supportive of his employees as a business leader and manager throughout his career. Mistreated employees turn into disgruntled employees pass down their mistreatment to customers, who become increasingly disgruntled themselves.

Don’t leave customers with any avenue for feedback. How can a restaurant improve if the staff and ownership doesn’t know what’s working and what’s not? Skilled restaurant managers check in on customers or provide comment cards whenever possible.
Ignore customer complaints. After a restaurant manager has opened a dialogue with customers, he or she has to heed complaints with their service or food to improve and expand their market share.

William Nassikas learned from the best at GIRARDET while he studied hotel administration at the Swiss Hotel School, considered while he was there to be the best restaurant in the world. Nassikas has a long history in his career of merging fine dining experiences with excellent overall experiences at his resorts and hotels.