Holiday Season Reflections and Gratitude
The Holiday Season, from Thanksgiving through the New Year, is rich with opportunities for celebration,
reflection and renewal. There are also opportunities for learning. I recall celebrating New Year’s Eve 1999
at our newly opened Embassy Suites Centennial Olympic Park. Back then, there was no Centennial Park
District. Holidays in downtown Atlanta were quiet with low hotel occupancies. What our hotel’s newly minted
management team failed to recognize was the cult following that a “Widespread Panic” concert would bring.
Young people began to check-in – quadruple occupancy, coolers in tow. A raucous night followed. After the fire
alarm was set off a third time at 4:00 AM, there was the voice of the hotel’s overwhelmed chief engineer on the
PA system threatening jail time to anyone who did not immediately return to their hotel room. It was one of my
many pioneer experiences!
Nineteen years later, Legacy Ventures enters the Holiday Season as a seasoned and accomplished hospitality
enterprise. The Centennial Park District has evolved into a tourist destination, now celebrating a renovated Park,
a reimagined State Farm Arena, and its own Menu Guide Magazine that highlights many of our restaurants.
Legacy Ventures will end 2018 with wonderful new and reimagined properties including OGG, El Citron, The
Drafting Table and DoubleTree Northlake.
As a father of young children and chief executive of Legacy Ventures, I am grateful for many things at this time
of year. I so appreciate the exceptional guest experiences that you are delivering. Such engagement is key to
our continued improvement as a company, and it enables us to meet our new opportunities in 2019 and beyond.
The entire Marvin family wishes each of you a joyful Holiday Season.
David