Luca Finardi: "You have to seize opportunities and have some courage."

From night porter of a 3-star hotel to Europe's youngest hotel manager, when in 2005 at just 32 years old Luca Finardi took the reins at Helvetia & Bristol in Florence. Since 2014 he has been GM of the Mandarin Oriental, Milan and vice president of brand operations in Italy.

In 2014 you were appointed Director of Mandarin Oriental, Milan. What have been the satisfactions during these years?

First of all, opening the first Mandarin Oriental in Italy for me was a great satisfaction, but above all the opportunity, which is very rare, to be able to hire every single colleague; it was an incredible satisfaction and we turned to young guys with a lot of heart, who maybe had less experience than many other professionals but who somehow excited us.

After that we did a great job of training and here we are today, clearly in addition to them we got some unique people, like our chef Antonio Guida, our first doorman Mario Picozzi or our bar manager Guglielmo Miriello.

So in your opinion it is important to start from the human side because then the craft can be learned?

This is a job that is first of all a passion and then a mission. If you don't have the passion for this job, you will never be able to do it well because it is a job that makes people feel good, that makes people have an emotion and especially today an experience. If you don't have that passion to be able to share what is the beauty of the hotel, the city, the art, the culture and the gastronomy, you don't have that main characteristic that is about the art of hospitality.

Your first job as Hotel Manager was in 2005, if you could talk to a Luca Finardi starting his first day on the job, what would you tell him today??

That he jumped into the fire and knew absolutely nothing about what he knew at that moment. Mine has really been an exciting journey because in 2005 I found myself in a situation that I could never have imagined. I had started working at Helvetia & Bristol in Florence as Resident Manager. A month later the incumbent GM got a very important position within the same group, and they asked me if I felt up to taking charge of a 5-star hotel in downtown Florence. I "jumped in" recklessly but that is what I think made the difference in my career. Sometimes you have to see the opportunities, jump in and have some courage.

And then I was also lucky because 2005 was a very important year for the city of Florence, with a lot of support from the American market. I took the briefcase and went to the United States to all the different agencies creating relationships with all the stakeholders and we managed that year to get the hotel into the Leading Hotels of the World, American Express' Fine Hotels & Resorts and many other groups. And then everything else is history.

Delighting and completely satisfying your guests, this is what Mandarin Oriental's signature art of hospitality is based on. In concrete terms, what does that translate into?

Then in my opinion the most important thing today is to anticipate and then surprise. To anticipate you have to know the guest coming first, and we have the opportunity to understand through the media what the tastes and needs are. But at the same time we ask directly because when they book they leave us the email. This allows us to anticipate their wishes but at the same time to surprise. How? By listening and observing the habits of our guests. However, every day is a challenge because these attentions are not always enough; we must always be ready to give our best.

?What are the values you want to convey to the team? How do you enhance their creativity and positivity every day?

Look I have to tell you that without my colleagues I would be absolutely nothing. They are truly extraordinary. It's probably to my credit that I was able to value them and make them feel empowered to be able to make decisions and especially the freedom to bring new ideas to the table all the time. You see the Chef, I never allowed myself to comment on a Silk dish or to reason about SPA treatments. What I like is the sharing, the involvement, on the ideas that come to me, so empowerment is critical to success.

Where do you find this motivation and charge every day?

Well for me it's really fun to come to work and especially to live together every day with my colleagues as in a big family with the purpose of making the guests who come to visit us happy. That said, I think the motivation also comes from the fact that I work for an amazing brand that has great owners that allow us to always renew ourselves. Having these opportunities motivates us to do more and more.

If you had to describe the experience here at Mandarin Oriental Milan with two objects, what would they be?

Authentic because it's unique and above all it's an experience that represents the city and so it's completely local and allows you to experience Milan. And then friendly because it is discreet but at the same time warm.