Throughout his career, Joe DePalma Sr. was recognized as a hospitality industry leader. Known for his property workout and turnaround skills, Mr. DePalma spent the last 33 years of his career as President & CEO of DePalma Hotels and Resorts.
He began his career in the early 1970s as a Food & Beverage Director, and property workouts and turnaround projects soon became his specialty. Early on, as General Manager, he engineered a $4 million profit turnaround for the Royal Coach Hotel in Dallas.
In the mid-1970s, Mr. DePalma took responsibility for the struggling Americana Hotel in Bal Harbour, Florida. Within two years he dramatically increased occupancy while improving operating profits by more than $5 million, an achievement that brought him to the forefront of the Americana organization, where he was promoted to Vice President of Operations.
Mr. DePalma joined the Pratt Hotel Corporation in 1981 as Senior Vice President of Operations, supervising the acquisition and development of multi-unit portfolios. At Pratt, he was instrumental in developing Holiday Inn's Crowne Plaza concept and developed the prototype Crowne Plaza property, the Centre Plaza Hotel, which reached 80% occupancy within two years along with an equally impressive gross operating profit.
In 1983, Mr. DePalma formed the DePalma Hotel Corporation, which became DePalma Hotels and Resorts. He built a talented team of hotel professionals with the experience to provide a broad range of hospitality management services. His philosophy of balancing the needs of the guest, the associate, the management company and the owner has proven extremely successful, and the company continues to operate on those principles today.
Mr. DePalma was widely quoted on industry issues in hospitality journals and was recognized for his support of hospitality education by the Educational Foundation of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, where he was an active board member. He also served as President of the Texas Hotel & Motel Association and received the TH&LA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Joseph DePalma passed away in 2016 at the age of 73. He will always be remembered for his contributions to, and passion for, the industry he loved.