SeaWorld’s new CEO aims to open hotels
Orlando, Tampa Bay theme parks possible sites
SeaWorld Entertainment is poised to get into the hotel business for the first time, with the Orlando and Tampa Bay theme parks included on the list of possible sites, the company’s new CEO Marc Swanson said in an interview.
Swanson made it clear his Orlando-based theme parks company is seeking to go into expansion mode and seriously consider building hotels now that it appears to have weathered the pandemic crisis that shut down all its parks last year.
After last week’s changing guidelines from the CDC, “We’re pretty much at full capacity now” at the Florida and Texas theme parks, Swanson said, adding he feels confident about safety since guests have hundreds of acres outdoors to spread out.
Looking ahead to the hotels, “This is a strategy now that we’ve become more recently focused on executing,” Swanson said. “We have some land parcels and some other things that could make for some exciting hotel locations, either on our park property or adjacent to our parks. It’s something that we would look at across multiple parks ...
“Nothing specific has been determined, but certainly Orlando would be one that we would consider. Same for our other locations.”
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay also has good potential for a hotel, Swanson said, since it could take advantage of views overlooking the zebras or giraffes and the rides.
SeaWorld operates about a
dozen theme parks and water parks across the country, none of which has hotels — unlike at Disney World, Universal Orlando and Winter Haven’s Legoland, which all have them.
Swanson spoke to the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday, almost two weeks after he officially won the job of CEO on May 5. Since April 2020, Swanson had been running SeaWorld Entertainment as the interim CEO after the previous leader resigned during the height of the pandemic.
Swanson’s new base pay is $450,000 a year, according to a SEC filing.
Swanson called it an honor to be named CEO after more than 20 years working at the company.
“I’m excited to be in the role,” said Swanson, 50, of Winter Garden.
Swanson, whose tenure dates back to getting hired as an internal auditor when the company was still owned by Anheuser-Busch, said he likes to surround himself with “really smart people” to share ideas.
“I have a lot of empathy for what happens in our parks, how they’re operated,” said Swanson, who in his early 30s worked as the head of finance at Sesame Place in Philadelphia and dived into business strategies.
“I can relate to some of the challenges, good and bad, of running a park. And I think there’s a lot of good that comes with that.”
But on days when that park was short-staffed, “you might find me making chicken fingers or lifeguarding or working the front gate,” he said.
Swanson moved up in the ranks and moved to Central Florida in 2008 to work at the Orlando corporate offices.
His previous titles include company controller and chief financial officer, although twice he was called up to be interim CEO. The company has dealt with a revolving door of leadership, with two CEOs in a row resigning abruptly after only a few months on the job after clashing with the company’s board.
Swanson’s vision seemed to be similar from the company’s priorities in recent years.
He pledged to keep opening new rides and adding more events. He wants to move forward with new technology, rolling out a mobile app and being able to communicate better with guests by targeting deals based on their interests.
In Central Florida, theme parks fans are waiting for the openings of Iron Gwazi in Tampa and Ice Breaker in Orlando, the pair of coasters that still don’t have opening dates this year following the pandemic’s chaos.
Swanson hinted more thrill rides could be coming in future years.
“We’re going to continue to have new rides and attractions,” he said. “Our goal is to have something new in every park every year — and that would certainly include the parks in Florida.
“We have some things that we can’t obviously announce right now, but I think people will be excited when they see the future plans for not only our Florida parks but really our parks all across the country.”
Swanson also addressed the future of orcas, beloved by some loyal SeaWorld fans who enjoy coming to see the animals. Animal rights activists, enraged by the anti-whale captivity documentary “Blackfish,” have pushed the company to phase out its live animals in captivity.
“Orcas are going to be with us for some time obviously,” Swanson said. “If you think about it, orcas can live for decades ... We have several orcas that are younger. So we’re going to continue to showcase and educate people about those animals and all the other marine mammals in our parks as well.”
Following a trainer’s death by a whale in 2010, SeaWorld has changed its orca shows over the years. Trainers no longer get in the water, and in 2020 the focus became more on education and less on spectacle.
SeaWorld Orlando is unique among major theme parks because of its employee-only area where animal rescue teams care for manatees, turtles, dolphins and other animals from the wild that are hurt or sick.
Even during the pandemic Orlando-based rescue teams traveled on calls to save animals, which also rang up expenses at a time when SeaWorld sought to free up liquidity to manage the emergency economic crisis from the theme park shutdowns.
Under Swanson’s leadership, the animal rescue teams will remain a focus.
“That’s something that we’re very proud of doing,” he said, adding that he can sometimes see rescue animals coming in from his office window.
“I’ll stop a meeting and say, ‘Guys, look out the window. Here comes a manatee’ ... That’s just a really neat part of our company and something that we’re going to continue to do and talk about and be proud of doing.”
Swanson is married to his wife, Jennifer, and the father of three teenagers who are either graduating from or will be enrolled in West Orange High School next school year. His hobbies include exploring nature trails in Florida.
“We’re big fans of Central Florida,” Swanson said. “It’s a great place to live.”