IAHI President Eva Ferguson talks about her motto in life, advice to hoteliers – and her favorite place to travel…

Q. Who do you admire most and why?
A. My parents – for giving me the grounding that I needed to be successful. They were very positive role models

Q. What do you consider to be your biggest achievement?
A. Working my way through Holiday Inn and IAHI into my position now.

Q. And your biggest regret?
A. Not furthering my education – who has time?

Q. What is your idea of bliss?
A. Sitting on the beach with a stack of books and nice glass of wine.

Q. What is your motto in life?
A. Work to live – don’t live to work.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?
A. Travel. I’m very fond of Asia, but I love Phuket, Thailand – one of my favorite places.

Q. What do you feel is the greatest strength of the Asian hospitality sector?
A. The ability to focus on the customer and ensuring that the customer’s needs are met.

Q. How and why did you get into the hospitality industry?
A. I was living in Memphis in the early 80s and was offered an ob on the ground floor of Hampton Inn before the first one opened. I was able to move from there to the corporate side of Holiday Inn, then to IAHI.

Q. Who do you admire most in our industry?
A. Probably [Holiday Inn founder] Kemmons Wilson – he was such an icon in the industry being such a great entrepreneur and building this company into what it is is such a huge accomplishment and he never lost site of his goal.

Q. If you were President of the United States for a day what changes would you make?
A. I would try to repair the damage that has been done by the current administration regarding travel. Travel is a good thing --it helps the economy and it employs people.

Q. With the present downturn, what advice would you give Asian hoteliers?
A. Try to persevere as much as possible, focus on the guest needs and at the same time manage operations so you get as high a return as possible.

Q. What changes do you foresee in the next five years in hospitality?
A. Technology innovations – they change every day and I think we will see a proliferation of those. From watching hotels to reservations, there will be a lot out there. People will be able to make a reservation on a PDA or phone at any time. Those types of things are going to keep accelerating.

Q. What quality/virtue do you like to see in others?
A. Honesty.

Q. What is your biggest strength?
A. Being able to work with so many personalities – corporate side, franchisee side, get a new chairman every year. It’s being intuitive to what people want and what they need.

Q. What irritates you?
A. Dishonesty.

Q. Do you play an active role in the community?
A. I volunteer at Enable Georgia, a facility in Atlanta that works with mentally challenged adults. I’m also on the board of the Ravinia Club in Atlanta.

Q. What is your most treasured possession?
A. A cut-glass tray that was a wedding gift to my parents over 60 years ago – my sister and I still fight over it when she comes over!

Q. Who would you most like to have dinner with?
A. Julia Child.