WHY DO YOU WORK IN A HOTEL?

My first hotel career memories are not of a grand lobby, a busy front desk or a ballroom chandelier, no; and actually most of the best ones do not involve the physical hotel at all; they are of people.

They are of:

·      Enjoying my first ever client event in The Ritz-Carlton Doha club lounge with Pierre Perusset

·      Standing in attention at my first ever ATM back in 2001 with Craig Senior as he said hello to what seemed like every single human being there

·      Working very hard as a green sales coordinator then getting my first promotion to a very proud sales executive with Thorsten Riess

·      Running out of gas on an insanely hot desert road after many sales calls with Yigit Sezgin

·      Standing next to Darrell Sheaffer as we welcomed various world leaders and dignitaries

·      Following Pascal Duschuffour at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain as he walked briskly around the resort noticing faults that should be impossible to the human eye

·      Having a latte with Andreas Kohn while we walked in front of watch boutiques at marina bay in Singapore admiring their beauty and complexity

·      Taking a drive down the hill to Enniskerry village just outside Dublin with Allan Federer to the local pub in the village to have a pint in Ireland while working at The Ritz-Carlton, Powerscourt.

·      Sitting through orientation with Arthur Kiong as he blew away the room with his energy and passion at Banyan Tree head office in Singapore.

·      Learning leaps and bounds with Bernold Schroeder as we reviewed various project feasibility studies and ROIs at Banyan Tree, Bangkok

·      Having intelligent and stimulating discussions with Kenneth Law. More important is having open ears when I needed to chat.

·      They are of paying respect to visiting monks at our spirit house as they blessed the hotel with Sriram Ban and Khun Kai and the absolutely amazing team in Bangkok whose warmth, trust and respect humbled me.

·      Quite recently, my fresh memories are of respect to the likes of Toufic Tamim, Antony Treston, Declan Hurley, Max Zanardi, Jamal Hussein, Scot Toon, Can Goktas, Cem Kul, Christian Pertl, Kerry Healy, Ibrahim Karajeh, Elias Pertoft and many others who have shown their unwavering desire to invest in their teams, to make them stronger commercial leaders and in return make their hotels ever more energized and successful.

·      Most relevant of all my memories, and one that I still remember with every pixel as if it was yesterday even though it was more than 14 years ago; involves me walking out of the sales office on a fine Monday morning to the lobby lounge to welcome a new sales manager of another hotel in town to give the coveted site inspection and today she is the mother or my children and wife; Maya Naji.

This post is meant to remind everyone that travel is meant to be romantic, our industry revolves around people.

Remember to maintain humanity and humility in your interactions, remember to care for your teams as they will make or break you.

Never forget that a warm, authentic and energetic team managing a seemingly ordinary hotel with caring guidance will always be more successful than a concrete structure filled with gold, silk and marble.

If you love what you do, you will do it well, let your passion show, wear your heart on your sleeve and people will take note.

Success will surely follow.

Thank you for reading and sharing...........

Tareq Bagaeen / Founder & CEO of aQedina.com / [email protected]

Sales Trainer, Online Assessments, Upselling Programs, Sales Mystery Shopping, Hotel Representation, People Placements

Below are links of other published articles that from me that you would find beneficial:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/dosms-gms-top-10-success-tips-2018-tareq-bagaeen/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/dosms-gms-top-10-success-tips-2018-tareq-bagaeen/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/top-10-luxury-hoteliers-all-time-tareq-bagaeen/