One of the last of the Mohicans from a hoteliers’ perspective, San Francisco’s Stanford Court President and Operating Partner Jim Nassikas passed away on Sunday in Scottsdale, Arizona, at age 91 with his son Bill and daughter Christine at his side.
HOTELS first Independent Hotelier of the World award winner in 1986, Nassikas’ motto then, ”The ever-present menace of mediocrity requires untiring vigilance,” summed up his approach to hotelkeeping. He was legendary for walking the lobby, emptying ashtrays, picking lint off the carpet and for pleasing customers, believing and proving profit would be the byproduct of meeting lofty standards.
After starting his career at the Mayflower in Washington, D.C., the Plaza in New York City and with the Sonnabend family’s Hotel Corporation of America, Nasikkas went on in 1957 to conceptualize and build the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, where he stayed until 1969. It was then that he started planning the the refurbishment of a tired but elegant apartment building on San Francisco’s Nob Hill, opening a 402-room hotel in 1977 that would mark many firsts. He was credited with, among others, having first U.S. hotel with an armoire to disguise the television; the first to have a towel warmer in the bathroom; and the first to have a small television next to the bath’s marble washbasin.
He was credited for bringing in an interior designer from outside the hotel business to create a more residential feel and giving it more originality, especially at its award-winning restaurant, Fournou’s Oven. With his background in F&B, Nassikas also served as the hotel’s F&B director and ran an award-winning wine cellar.
“I have always believed profoundly that the hotel and restaurant business is people serving people, people caring for people, and most importantly, hotel and restaurant people serving the myriad of sensitivities and emotions which emerge from our guests each day,” he told HOTELS in 1986. “It is quite obvious that the finest hotels throughout the great capitals of the world are small hotels, and most often are owned independently, as opposed to being a part of a big system.
“This is where I think the Stanford Court has succeeded,” Nassikas maintained. “It behaves small. It is of human scale. I believe the hotel and restaurant industry in the years to come will achieve its greatest success with the smaller, more personally and individually oriented concepts.”
Richard Holtzman, vice president and managing director of Montage Kapalua Bay in Lahaina, Hawaii, was a college roommate of Bill Nasikass, as well as a friend of the family and business partner of Bill’s in Carefree Resorts. “I remember the first time I met Jim Nassikas, when he spoke at Cornell when Bill and I were students. He was so passionate about his craft. I can confidently call Jim Nassikas ‘the hotelier’s hotelier.’ He was a proud and innovative professional that sweated the details tirelessly. There is a large Nassikas ‘hotel tree’ made up of many proud people whose careers and approach to their craft were touched by Jim Nassikas – a true legend in our business.”
Bill Nasikkas, president and COO of Westroc Hospitality, Scottsdale, Arizona, said his father, Jim, taught him a hotel profession is a way of life. “There is no lock on the front door in the 24-7 living, breathing business,” Nasikkas told HOTELS on Tuesday. “Often, dad left for hotel before we kids got up in morning and didn’t return home until after we went to sleep. But good news, he always came home to a loving wife and mother of two kids.”
Bill continued that life as a hotelier’s son meant minding your manners; good grooming and appropriate attire were the orders of the day; respect all staff andguests come first; and never be found in public areas of the hotel without a coat and tie.
Bill said his dad also taught him that opening a hotel is the most critical time in its life. “For if you do well the in beginning the end will take care of itself.”
Lastly, Nasikkas shared that his dad taught him there was no job in the hotel that you shouldn’t be able to do yourself. “So I learned experience in this business is the best teacher. I feel confident in knowing I can step in when needed.”