by Dr. Iain
Corness
The
new Resident Manager at the Dusit Resort is an ambitious young German,
Stefan Heintze. When I asked him towards the end of the interview if he
were ambitious, he just nodded and said, “Very!” That ambition has
stood him in good stead, and this young man is a rising star who will
achieve much.
He was born in south-west Germany in the Black Forest
region. His father was a high-powered businessman who ran the largest
paper mill in Europe, hardly the kind of man who would be encouraging a
career in the hospitality industry for his third son. In fact it was the
endless round of entertaining that businessmen do that started young
Stefan’s interest. He also thought, “How nice it is to make other
people happy.” So despite parental opposition (at first), he decided to
follow his star into hotel school.
This was not so easy. The best school was in
Switzerland and there was a waiting list. He also needed fluent French, so
was sent to the Sorbonne in Paris to brush up on how to say “Bon
appetit” convincingly.
After the Sorbonne, the school in Lausanne still had no
vacancies and so he entered into an apprenticeship in Baden-Baden close to
his home. This gave him a little income, but he still needed family
financial support. “At the beginning my father was not in agreement, but
he became very supportive when he saw my interest and my results.” He
needed that support too, as the apprenticeship was two and a half years
and then he entered the ‘Ecole d’Hotelier Lausanne’ for another
three years of tuition, emerging with the equivalent of a bachelor’s
degree in hospitality.
He admitted that he did not initially know the course
would eventually take so long (six years), but he has no regrets. He
looked over to the busy service staff in the Dusit, saying, I am close to
these guys, because I did it.” He also referred to one of his guiding
tenets, “A principle in my life is to have a good foundation if you want
to achieve (something) later.”
He emerged from the hotel school as the talents scouts
were in Europe looking for the new wave of bright young men. He turned
down a position in New York to accept a position as part of the
pre-opening team for a new hotel in Beijing. “This was an excellent
opportunity. I liked what I heard as a career challenge. Sometimes you
just do something - you don’t know why, but it turns out to be right.
Ten days after my graduation, I was watching bicycles out of my hotel
window in China!” This job position also marked another important
milestone in Stefan’s life. “The (financial) line was cut. I was on my
own.”
After the Beijing experience he continued to look for
jobs in Asia. “I found I liked the Asian mentality.” He was offered a
posting to Taiwan becoming involved with private clubs who ran golf
courses in Asia. “I must have done something right,” said Stefan,
“because after 11 months I was transferred to head office in Hong
Kong.”
He enjoyed the private club scene, “You are close to
some very influential people,” but was still being pulled by the hotel
industry, so after 18 months joined the Peninsula group in Hong Kong. He
was certainly back in the mainstream of top class hotels with the
Peninsula, but his job was to manage their private members club!
Eventually it was time to fully return to the industry
in which he had all his foundations. He was offered a job with the Dusit
group in Bangkok, as Resident Manager at the Pathumwan Princess and he
jumped at it. Still in Asia and in one of Asia’s most amazing capital
cities.
He was there for only 18 months when the post at the
Dusit Resort in Pattaya came up. “When I walked into the hotel I agreed
immediately,” said Stefan, also saying that he was looking forward to
the, “Sparkling, nice, dynamic, promising environment of Pattaya.”
While this was said somewhat tongue in cheek, he went on to enumerate the
investment capital that will be invested in Thailand by the major hotel
chains over the next few years, including that which is earmarked for
Pattaya.
One aspect of life as a resident manager became very
obvious during the interview - that is the ability to do more than one
task at a time. Now while my computer is reputedly multi-tasking, it seems
that hotel professionals need to be this way too. Telephone calls were
answered after begging my pardon, but then he would immediately revert to
our previous conversation. At one stage he even had to excuse himself for
five minutes while he dealt with an urgent problem, yet returned to take
up where he had left off. I asked whether he was born that way, or was it
part of the training? “A bit of both,” was the reply. “You have the
basic foundation, so you know what to do,” he said simply. He went on,
“You learn how to handle the small things, but you have to keep the
focus on the big picture.”
So what does our young hotelier do on his time off?
“I experience other hotels,” he said. I asked whether this was
incognito and he smiled and said, “I love that!” However, now that his
picture has been published it may not be so easy for him to eat
‘undercover’ as before.
He has little time for hobbies, with the six day
working week, but when away from the hotel he likes to have time for quiet
relaxation. This is often just having a good meal, or looking for new
ideas to use in the hotel environment. He stays fit by playing tennis or
working out in the Dusit’s gymnasium, and would like to try golf at some
stage, Thailand being one of the world’s golf paradises. Welcome to
Pattaya Stefan Heintze.
