HSMAI Hospitality Hero: Geoffrey A. Mills

As part of the 2020 Adrian Awards, HSMAI Hospitality Heroes is honoring hospitality professionals for their efforts to take a leadership position, champion a cause, or create a program that has directly benefited industry workers, medical personnel, first responders, or communities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Nominations are open.

HOSPITALITY HERO: Geoffrey A. Mills, regional vice president and general manager at Hudson New York for sbe Lifestyle Hospitality

CONTRIBUTION: Located on West 58th Street in Manhattan, the Hudson has stayed open throughout the pandemic. Under Mills’ leadership, the Hudson negotiated with city and state emergency-management agencies to serve medical workers and other first responders. Mills also purchased additional personal protective equipment (PPE) on behalf of the property and created protocols for safely housing first responders. And the Hudson’s sales team leveraged their connections to help find rooms for COVID-positive children in Brooklyn.

RESULTS: Mills has led the Hudson to donate nearly 2,000 thousand room nights as well as masks, sheets, pillowcases, gloves, and disinfectants to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, which has been on the front lines of COVID-19; donate PPE to Mount Sinai in New York City and Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey; and offer discounted stays to the staffs of staffs of Mount Sinai, NYU Langone Medical Center, and Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

NOMINATED BY: Darren Skomorowsky, director of sales and revenue management for Hudson New York — “It has now been five months since the world changed. I am sure we can all mark the first week of March as one of the scariest times, not just in our industry but for New York as a community. We here at the Hudson were fortunate — more fortunate than most — in that our leadership retained its tenacity, its grit, and determination. Geoffrey’s personality and leadership style pushed the team to find a way in the face of what was surely the greatest challenge we may ever face in our professional lives.”

The HSMAI Adrian Awards have been honoring excellence in travel marketing for 64 years. Entry information for the 2020 Adrian Awards will be available soon. For more information, visit www.adrianawards.com.