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Reint Reinders

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A NATIVE OF THE NETHERLANDS who grew up in the hospitality business, Reint Reinders has been a highly visible—and sometimes controversial—figure in San Diego tourism for two decades. His 21-year career with Marriott Hotels ended in La Jolla 15 years ago when he left to head the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau. During his tenure as president, tourism has reigned as the region’s number-three industry, with the city playing host to two America’s Cup races, two Super Bowls and the 1996 Republican National Convention. In 2001, Reinders was chosen as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry by Meeting News magazine. On May 24, days before he retires from the ConVis Bureau, he’ll be in Washington, D.C., to accept the prestigious Professional Achievement Award from the Professional Convention Management Association. Reinders and his wife, Angela, live in Scripps Ranch, and are parents of a daughter, Cara.

TOM BLAIR: Retirement. Are you counting the days?

REINT REINDERS: No, no. There’s a lot to do, and there’s still something going on every day. It’s obvious I’m moving on, but it hasn’t really hit me yet.

TB: From the time you were a boy in The Netherlands, you’ve been in hospitality and tourism—nearly half a century. Is that long enough, or do you have a new gig lined up?

RR: I don’t have anything lined up. There’s obviously something people can call on me for, when it comes to the hospitality business. I have equity in it. But I have to ask myself how hard I want to work. This is not a part-time business. Tourism is a 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year business. I’ve thought about consulting. We’re going through a new wave of development—in San Diego, too—with some new products that are going to be different from what we’ve been accustomed to. In lodging, a lot of new hybrid development —condominium hotels, fractional sales and time-share. So there are lots of possibilities.

TB: San Diego has scored impressive gains in tourism during your 15 years at the ConVis Bureau. You’ve won national plaudits for your innovations and San Diego’s growth as a destination. And yet at home, you’ve taken some pretty tough hits from elected officials and some clients you serve. Why do you think that is?

RR: When you’re in the spotlight all the time, it’s hard to be an adored leader on an ongoing basis. You look at Fortune 500 companies, and the average lifespan of a CEO is six years or less. We’ve had 1,600 member firms in ConVis, and for most of our members—God bless ’em—it’s all about them. It’s not about the other members, it’s about me. It’s not about downtown, it’s Mission Bay, or La Jolla or Mission Valley. So to make everyone happy is impossible. Some of the noise over the past few years was generated by a handful of people who had the political tentacles and were able to convince some of the politicians to bend to their wishes. Not to boast, but if you went to our membership, I think you’d find 98 percent, if not more, who’d say this organization has done a great job.

TB: With San Diego’s fiscal crisis, cost cuts have been inevitable. But the Convention & Visitors Bureau has seen its budget shrink dramatically. You’ve gone from $14 million in city funding three years ago to $9.8 million last year—down nearly 30 percent. Why were you hit so hard?

RR: Well, part of that is transfers we’ve made to the Convention Center Corporation—of people and a commensurate budget. We moved $1.1 million of our budget over there, along with that division of citywide salespeople. But yes, we’re down. I think we were hit harder because we were probably looked upon as vulnerable, because of some controversies that, in the end, turned out to be nothing. But a couple of people were able to make it into a seemingly negative situation.

TB: You’re talking about the city audit—citing the size of ConVis executives’ car allowances and bonuses, including your own; and a loan to you; money spent on employee tickets to sporting events; expensive meals and wines. Do you think the city cut your budget in reaction to these things? Was it punitive?

RR: Yes, some of it. And it was because whoever was behind it was able to do this kind of thing—they had the opportunity to have the newspaper go after us. But even the newspaper articles always made some reference to the fact that, well, this is not unusual in our business. As for my salary and my bonus and all of those things—in this kind of organization, we’re governed by a board of directors that has oversight. This is not something I decide; this is all contractual. But because the city was going through tough times, you had [San Diego Councilmember] Donna Frye grabbing onto it, and calling for an audit. And some others grabbed onto it as if there were improprieties. There weren’t.

TB: The city also stripped ConVis of responsibility for marketing the Convention Center. Was that punitive?

RR: I considered that somewhat punitive. In my view, it was more about politics than something our customers were asking for. We got a new city manager, and two weeks after he got the job, he called me in and told me, “From now on, you’re not responsible for citywide convention and trade shows anymore.” Where did that come from? There were a few people behind the scenes who made that happen, who basically gave the okay. What really happened was that we did not have, and I personally didn’t have, the relationship—though some of my opponents did—with Mayor Dick Murphy’s office. Maybe my fondness for Dick’s political opponent, Ron Roberts, had something to do with that. But that’s not right, to penalize an industry or organization because, at one point, they favored your opponent.

TB: The Convention Center seems to be expanding its marketing operation. It recently contracted with an out-of-state company to publish its own delegates’ guide to San Diego. Could you see a time when the Convention Center Corporation takes over all duties of the Convention & Visitors Bureau?

RR: I don’t know. Based on the actions I’ve seen over the last few years, most of these actions were done unilaterally. I’d have breakfast with [CEO] Carol Wallace at the Convention Center, and she’d just tell me, “This is what we’re doing.” I couldn’t fight that. And now I hear a lot of bellyaching that there’s not enough [convention] business and we need more subsidy. And we shouldn’t allow competition coming in. That’s typical of how a bureaucracy operates. Competition is competition. Welcome to America. But it’s a difficult business to be in right now, because citywide convention and trade shows are not a growing business. Attendance last year was up, but the number of events is not really growing. New associations and trade shows are not being formed.

TB: Despite your budget cuts, San Diego tourism appears to be healthy. Visitor spending was up nearly 5 percent to $5.6 billion in 2004, and up again to $5.9 billion last year.

RR: Well, you may do 600,000 room nights this year at the Convention Center hotels, and drop to 500,000 the next year and then go to 700,000 the following year. It’s unsteady. It’s not like you’re going from 500,000 to 600,000 to 7, 8 and 900,000—a steady climb. This is what the rest of the hotel business has been doing for many years here. When you look at the number of room nights in hotels who are selling to other group business and pleasure traveling, especially, you see a continued trend of growth.

TB: San Diego hotels have been blessed with high occupancy rates and increasing room rates. But few new hotel rooms have been added to the supply in recent years. With an estimated 2,000 new rooms coming on line by next year, might we soon be facing an oversupply?

RR: Well, right now, business is good. The economy is good. People are feeling good about travel and have the money to travel. So now, people are starting to build or plan new hotels. By 2008 or 2009 or 2010, you’re going to see more supply come on. And that could change things. On the other hand, it’s harder and harder to find good sites in good cities. San Diego’s a prime example. So you’re going to have some restraint on continued hotel growth. And that will bode well for San Diego. This place is getting better all the time—especially when you look at the downtown and waterfront. That’s only in its infancy. In not many more years, we’re going to have the same demand for urban tourism that you have in New York and Chicago and San Francisco. So in that regard, our product must continue to grow. For instance, Balboa Park is nice. But we could bring Balboa Park to a world-class status. Mission Bay Park—it’s a shame to see how it’s not finished. Concentrating on those kinds of product enhancements will create more demand. And we’ll need it. We figure that in five years we will require another million visitors a year in San Diego just to remain where we are today, in terms of occupancy.

TB: You’ve dealt with some pretty tough veterans in San Diego’s hospitality industry. I’m going to throw out a few names for your first reactions. Hotel man Doug Manchester?

RR: A brilliant visionary. We owe a lot of thanks to Doug Manchester for what is happening downtown.

TB: Atlas Hotels’ Terry Brown?

RR: You have to give him a lot of credit for sticking with it and still being in Mission Valley. With what he has gone through, and how competitive this market is with national players, to be that kind of a player with that kind of facility [the Town & Country] is quite remarkable.

TB: Bill Evans Jr.?

RR: Bill has flashes of brilliance. What he did with The Lodge at Torrey Pines is quite commendable. I wish Bill could use a lot of his energy to truly be a leader of the tourism industry here, but he’s been more of a divider than a leader.

TB: Patti Roscoe?

RR: A wonderful person. She has a lot of smarts. What she’s accomplished with her PRA [event planning company], not only here, but having the smarts to expand it around the country, says volumes about her. The thing she has that I like in a manager is that she surrounds herself with good people, and she gets out of the way.

TB: San Diego Convention Center CEO Carol Wallace?

RR: She runs a great facility. And we’re fortunate we have such a high reputation for our convention center.

TB: A national search was launched last summer for your successor. How soon do you think we’ll know the name of the new boss? Any leading contenders?

RR: I’ve been kind of surprised. I know everybody on a national level at my position—and it is a very secretive process —but I’m surprised that in the last 90 days or so I haven’t had a single call from one of my cohorts asking me about this job. Or to give me the skinny. But the search firm is out there, and they’ve identified about 40 to 50 names, and they’re just starting to get to these people.

TB: So, are you getting any calls?

RR: Sure—somebody called me about Pasadena the other day. They said, “I understand you’re leaving San Diego; how about Pasadena?” And I said, “And what’s next, San Bernardino? Bakersfield?” I don’t think so.

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