Forty Over 40: Winning With Well-Earned Wisdom

February 3, 2025 | Awards

Wisdom always wins the day. Sometimes it earns industry recognition, too.

Jodie Kuchta, OTO’s Senior Regional Director of Sales, has been honored among Hotel Management’s 2025 class of Forty Over 40. The magazine celebrates hospitality’s most exceptional leaders, aged 40 and up, whose well-earned experience shapes our industry while serving as an inspiration to the next generation.  

Exemplifying leadership, vision, and resilience, Kuchta was tapped for her accomplishments and positive attributes, including:

• Wealth of knowledge in sales, marketing, and revenue generation
• Unwavering commitment to personal and professional excellence
• Proven ability to meet (and often exceed) ambitious goals
• Dedication to elevating both the guest and the employee experience  

Read Hotel Management's 2025 Forty Over 40 Special Feature

Kuchta has been part of OTO Development’s sales team for 15 years. Starting as a Dual Director of Sales, she held roles of increasing responsibility and, in April 2024, was promoted to Senior Regional Director of Sales. As such, she now oversees the sales, marketing, and revenue-generation effort for 15 select service and lifestyle hotels across Florida.

Strategically adept at developing and implementing creative processes and procedures, Kuchta drives all categories of hotel room sales, plus catering and event bookings, to boost revenue. Nine hotels in her region have been renovated and rebranded; she has deftly guided the sales teams through the myriad challenges of repositioning.

Kuchta works collaboratively with her team of sales and marketing directors, managers, and coordinators, most of whom consider her their primary mentor. She excels at leading Performance U, OTO Development’s proprietary skills-development program that provides hotel sales teams with the knowledge and tools they need to achieve their ambitious goals.

That she sets an example of excellence is proven by the variety of accolades earned by her team members, such as Marriott Select Brands Sales Leader of the Year and OTO Development Director of Sales of the Year awards.

As someone who has worked her own way through the ranks, Kuchta takes special pride in the 18 promotions-from-within on her sales teams over the past few years.

Read on for her Q&A with Hotel Management:

Q: Tell us about your experience in hospitality before now, and what made you choose hospitality as a career?

I grew up in a family that took annual vacations, which instilled in me an early love for traveling and seeing new things. I always knew I wanted to explore more when I grew up.

I began my career with a travel agency, selling wholesale packages to Las Vegas. Loved the work but eventually I aimed higher, literally, by becoming a flight attendant. Furloughed after 9/11, I was working for a copier company and happened to cold-call on a hotel. To make conversation, I asked the general manager what she loved about working in the hotel industry. She replied with “Funny you should ask, because I’m looking for a Director of Sales!” After hearing what, why, and how much this general manager adored hospitality, I was sold on a hotel career. 

In 2009, I joined OTO Development as Dual Director of Sales at a Hyatt Place/Hyatt House in Dania Beach, Florida. This was my first dual role — at what was also OTO Development’s first dual-branded property. From there, I moved on to become an Area Director of Sales (four hotels), Regional Manager of Sales (six hotels), Regional Director of Sales (nine hotels), and now Senior Regional Director of Sales with responsibility for 15 hotels.   

Q: What is the most pressing challenge you’ve faced on the job in the past year? How did you resolve it?

The most pressing challenge in the past year has been the ever-evolving market. We cannot control that a lot of Florida markets are showing declines; what we CAN control are the strategic and intentional actions we take to outperform our competitors. Even in a down market, we want to lead. Therefore, 2024 was all about detailed, decisive action plans and still-ambitious goals individualized for each market. By focusing on follow-through, we were able to consistently exceed the comp set.

We even focus on performance in the midst of unprecedented circumstances. In a sub-region hard hit by Hurricane Helene, then hit almost immediately again by Hurricane Milton, my teams were proactive about calling prospective clients who might need rooms. Despite having two properties close in the mandatory evacuation zone, we were able to book more than $1 million in room revenue during these two storms.

In 2024, more than half of our Florida hotels ran 1 or 2 in the RevPAR Index; a dozen are expected to do the same in 2025.

Q: Tell us about any awards, accolades, or positive feedback you have received in your career thus far.

• OTO Development’s Director of Sales of the Year in 2016
• Nominee for Hyatt Director of Sales of the Year in 2016
• Promoted from within four times at OTO Development  
• Even more special: watching my mentees earn awards such as OTO Development Director of Sales of the Year and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn & Suites Sales Leader of the Year

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years? How are you working today to develop your career for your next roles?

I see myself continuing to grow my career with OTO Development over the next 10 years, helping the company evolve with new leadership while maintaining a culture of excellence. I anticipate developing my current sales leaders into something more, with an emphasis on promotions from within. Mentoring my sales teams, working with new ownership companies, taking on the challenge of new and repositioned hotels — all of this sets my company up for future success while moving me toward my personal goal of becoming a Regional Vice President of Sales.

Q: In your opinion, what is the biggest concern or threat facing the success of the global hotel industry, and how would you propose addressing it?

The hotel industry has changed so much from a labor perspective since the COVID-19 pandemic — and, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be improving. To attract the most high-caliber employees, companies will need to offer more competitive benefits, including flexible schedules and work-from-home options where possible. In the face-to-face, hands-on world of hospitality, many roles by definition cannot be remote; however, hospitality companies can start with positions that potentially do allow some flexibility, where employees work from home some of the time and/or work alternative schedules. Then, see how this impacts productivity. I’d propose a committee, comprised of team members as well as corporate leadership, to experiment with a variety of flexible compromises while offering more incentives conducive to all employee positions.

Q: Who do you consider your professional mentor and why?

Kelly Haager, Regional Vice President of Sales, has been a steadfast mentor throughout my tenure with OTO Development. Humility is one of our company’s guiding principles, and I’ve been able to reach out to her in that spirit for any and every possible thing I’ve been unsure of over the years. Kelly is infinitely patient and abundantly wise; she is always available to explain, to advise, to support when I’ve felt overwhelmed or under-confident. Kelly has taught me, via example, how to take care of my people, how to focus on what’s important to our stakeholders, and how to fight for what I believe in. She has been my biggest cheerleader over the past 15 years while guiding me to become the leader I am today.

Q: Please share some candid thoughts on the pros and cons of working in the hotel industry.

The pros of working in this industry are endless. I’ve met so many people, colleagues and clients, who have since become my friends. I’ve had clients introduce me to their colleagues to help me build new business for my hotels. Relationships are endless and you can never know enough people — nowhere is this more true than in the hospitality industry.  Another pro is seeing new places and uncovering new properties. Hotel brands are always coming up with innovative concepts and it’s exciting to experience the latest and greatest amenities.  

The cons? Working in a 24/7 industry. Hotels are always open, so there is never enough downtime; somebody is always working after hours and, especially, working on holidays. This industry is closely tied to the economy, so another con is how quickly we are affected by market forces. When the economy declines, people stop traveling, they stop spending discretionary income, and that has a negative impact on our employees.

Q: It often seems like global hotel companies are focusing more on attracting travelers from younger generations. What would you say if you could tell the industry, “Hey! This is what travelers over 40 really want in a hotel stay!”

As an avid over-40 traveler myself, I’ll say attracting us is all about providing compelling experiences. Give me a few fantastic dining options with delicious food and fun drinks. Be in a great location that is also close to shopping — preferably local and unique boutiques — and near plenty of things to do. Give me a nice hotel gym, one that’s big enough and well-equipped so that I can get in a solid workout while on vacation. I love a hotel with a collaborative lobby where I can relax, have a glass of wine, and socialize. Oh, and I absolutely need a cozy room with a comfortable bed — sleep is a priority the older we get!  

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