Hoyt H. Harper II: Part-time top gun

Hoyt Harper was a sophomore at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., in the mid-”™70s when he took a Navy aviator”™s test and aced it. The Navy arranged a T-34 flight for Harper and after a few loops and a hammerhead above Lake Geneva ”“ when the vertically climbing plane paused and rolled back toward the Heartland in a hurry ”“ Harper was hooked. He reported to Milwaukee for further tests only to discover he possessed a “color vision deficiency” that prevented him from distinguishing, for example, landing lights on a flight deck. His fighter pilot experiences would be forever fated to the close-but-no-cigar realm and 20 viewings of “Top Gun.”

So might have ended Harper”™s hot-shot flight career, but his wife Beth Eggenberger six years ago gifted him with a chance to reacquaint himself with defense-themed aviation as a birthday present. Like that first time in Kenosha, “I was hooked again.” He has flown every year since.

When he spoke Aug. 24 in his Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. office at 1111 Westchester Ave. in White Plains, Harper was preparing to fly for the second time this year. The travelling flight company ”“ Air Combat U.S.A. ”“ with which he was to take to the air would fly this time out of Newburgh International Airport. Harper flies a twin-seat Marchetti aircraft in which the seats are side-by-side, each with its own controls; he originally flew with the company out of an airport outside Boston.

 

Once airborne in the world of Air Combat U.S.A., the real fun begins: dogfights. Harper, who acknowledges being “competitive by nature,” was nonetheless getting skunked in aerial combat when he first began: 0-2 after his initial encounters with enemy bogeys. His copilot offered advice that changed his piloting life and at the same time meshed well with Harper”™s get-it-done mindset: “”˜Hoyt ”“ he who pulls the most g”™s wins,”™ he said. That”™s exactly how I approach my job. I won the next three rounds and have been going back ever since.” Harper pulls about 6 g”™s on a typical flight, or six times the pull of gravity.

 

Harper is senior vice president for brand management for Starwood. Since 2007, he has worked to revitalize the Sheraton chain, one of nine Starwood brands that include Westin, St. Regis, Four Points Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Le Méridien, Element, Aloft and W Hotels.

The revitalization carries a $6 billion price tag ”“ $4 billion in North America ”“ and will see 98 North American Sheratons built or remade and 40 closed. New properties will debut in Puerto Rico, Brooklyn, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Turkey. Remakes include company “gateway” facilities in Denver, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, Waikiki and Montreal.

The plan, which is 70 percent complete, also includes a $400 million investment in guest initiatives, including work on what Harper calls “the next great bed.” Starwood”™s concerns are for firmness, linens, blankets, pillows and duvets. Besides 40 winks, the plan features spruced-up social spaces, lobby computer stations called Link@Sheraton and gyms. (A template Link@Sheraton station is up and running at 1111 Westchester Ave.) The overarching idea, according to Harper: “Now these are places to connect and stay in contact. We are already seeing real results. We have the highest guest satisfaction ever. By adding new flagships, renovating existing hotels, enhancing our signature services and existing properties, we”™ve vastly upgraded the brand and improved consistency.”

Starwood owns about 900 properties in more than 100 countries and employs 155,000.
The Westchester Avenue office is its world headquarters.

Harper, 56, and Eggenberger have four boys: Hoyt III, called Trip, 20; Will, 18; Alex, 16; and Jake, 12.