Harris Rosen is President and Chief Executive Officer of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, formerly known as Tamar Inns, since 1974. He believes in people, and it’s that belief that fosters what has now become the Rosen philosophy, known throughout the hospitality industry: “A commitment to quality starts with a commitment to the people who will be pulling it off.” From hotel management to hands-on-community involvement, Harris Rosen gives all and gets back more than he ever dreamed.

He relates the following: His company was born in 1974, when the U.S. oil supply had been essentially shut off and, thus, the vast majority of hotels in Orlando were bankrupt or closed. He bought a hotel in the midst of chaos, and getting guests to stay at the hotel was very difficult. So, early on, after he had acquired the hotel property for a week, he knew that standing there begging for business was not the appropriate thing to do---he packed a bag---got out on I-4, and set out to hitch-hike to New England where he knew there were dozens of motor coach operators who regularly came to Orlando. He hitched a ride almost all the way to New England, and finally he got to meet with the motor coach companies. He struck a deal with the President or the Chief Operating Officer of the individual companies, gave out his business cards, and would ask: ‘What rate do you want to stay with us?” They would say $8 or $9 or $7; and then he wrote down the rate, the name of the company on the business card, signed his name, and that was the “contract!”  He signed probably 11 or 12 “contracts” that way---some of the motor-coach guys were so kind---they felt so sorry for him—that they would actually drive him to his next appointment in their buses.  When finished in 5 days, he literally had enough business to sustain the hotel for the first year, and he did not hitch-hike back---he flew back---excited and thrilled that he had accomplished his mission. Many of those clients have remained with him today. He remarks that “It was one of those quirks of faith that led me to do what I did. Clearly a ridiculous attempt to market the hotel but, at that moment, the only opportunity I thought that presented itself to me was to get off my chair, go to where the business was, and try to convince people to stay at our hotel…and it worked.”

Among many of Mr. Rosen’s distinguished accomplishments are having served as Honorary Co-Chair of the Bethune-Cookman College Bronze Statue Project; being a member of the Cornell Society of Hotelmen, and the Waldorf Astoria Distinguished Alumni Association. Mr. Rosen has also served as President of the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and created and continues to support the Tangelo Park Pilot Program, which provides free pre-school for all two, three, and four year olds in the Tangelo Park community, as well as a free college education or vocational school education for all Tangelo Park youngsters who graduate from high school and are accepted to college or vocational school. Since 1994, Rosen has provided 350 college scholarships to Tangelo Park youngsters. In addition, he donated 20 acres of land to the University of Central Florida, and provided funding to build a new University of Central Florida Rosen College of Hospitality Management, which has grown from 75 students to 2,500 in just five years. In addition, he donated $2.5 million for a Rosen College scholarship endowment for UCT. He currently services on the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs, the Boggy Creek Gang, and the YMCA Aquatic Center.