Park People
parkworld-online.com
Matt Ouimet Cedar Fair Q Lines
What could the park and attractions business learn from other industries?
Over the past few years we have become much more receptive to the adoption of best practices from adjacent industries. Revenue management analytics and a customer relationship management (CRM) platform are two examples. We spend a lot of time looking at the hotel and cruise businesses particularly. More broadly, we need to get better at incorporating the digital entertainment world into our parks. I believe there is an opportunity in this area to add to the way guests experience our parks, while at the same time removing some of the stress points I mentioned earlier. We have several ideas that we will be testing.
Matthew A Ouimet, 55, is the president and CEO of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a publicly traded company that owns and operates 11 amusement parks in North America. Matt is one of the most
experienced hospitality and service industry executives in the country, having served in executive positions with the Walt Disney Company for nearly two decades, ultimately as president of the Disney Cruise Line and Disneyland Resort. He joined Cedar Fair in summer 2011 and just last November was invited to address to the GM & Owners’ Breakfast at IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando. Here he shares some of the insight delivered during that event, and more, with Park World readers.
What have you and your team achieved since your arrival at Cedar Fair in 2011? Based upon the classic business metrics, there have been a lot of achievements, but most importantly we’ve put the plans and people in place that will allow us to live up to the high standards that Cedar Fair has always been known for.
How does the company culture differ to Disney? What attributes does it share? There is more commonality than differences. A commitment to guest service is the most obvious shared attribute. As for the difference, our scale allows our leadership team to be much more personally connected to the guest and employee experiences. We also can make decisions in days that would take much, much longer in the large Disney corporate structure.
What lessons could the parks and attractions business teach to other industries?
The success of all businesses depends upon delivering value to a consumer. While not necessarily unique to our business, I’ve always believed that the hospitality business needs to focus on reducing the stress points of a visit. Ordinary life is stressful enough – if we don’t add to it the consumers will reward us with their business; if we actually take some of that stress away, they will reward us handsomely. Lines are stressful, starting shows late is stressful, attraction downtime is stressful, inaccurate information is stressful, blaming someone else is stressful, etc. At Cedar Fair, we spend a lot of time and attention on minimising the stress points for our guests.
30
The parks and attractions industry hires a lot of seasonal employees, by the nature of its business. How do you ensure these staff members are equally as motivated as your full-time employees? We have to remember to respect, value and appreciate all of our employees – full-time or seasonal. We also have to be not only good managers, but good leaders as well. As one of my colleagues is fond of reminding us: you achieve compliance by telling someone what to do. You achieve the much more valuable commitment when you explain why something is important. Leaders take the time to explain the “Why?” While seasonal employees may not have the same perspective as our full-time employees, you should not assume they are by nature less motivated. They bring new, fresh energy and ideas every season.
What has been some of the most interesting feedback you have had since your address to the IAAPA GM & Owners’ Breakfast? The industry has a strong culture, committed to the guest experience and recognising the importance people play in delivering the experience. I’m not sure I said anything that was any different than what others, such as Jim Atchison [SeaWorld] or Joel Manby [Hershend], as just two examples, would have said. However, the comments I received after the speech were focused on how this was a good reminder that it is a lot easier to build a 400ft-tall rollercoaster than it is to lead thousands of people in the July heat.
At that Breakfast, you spoke about leadership. How can (or does) Cedar Fair provide leadership within this industry? We have to do the right thing each and every day. This comment is intentionally broad, but there are two critical areas.
The first is safety. Our chief operating officer, Richard Zimmerman is leading our team to reassess all of our
MARCH 2014
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48