by Dr. Iain
Corness
Rony
Fineman is a classic example of someone who has ‘made it’ in life, not
because of family connections, but because they have been prepared to work
hard. He has certainly had some lucky breaks, but he is a man who has
never lost sight of the future, and has so many plans for it, that most of
us would be left gasping.
Rony was born in Israel in a town called Eilat beside
the Red Sea. His father was an Irish doctor and his mother a nurse, but
following the break-up of the marriage when Rony was young, he was sent to
boarding school for his education. He stuck it out for eight years only,
“I was a lousy student and I hated school,” said Rony.
He began work when he was 12 years old, washing dishes
in a hotel after school. However, Rony could speak English, courtesy of
his Irish father, and ended up as Maitre d’ as he was the only one in
the restaurant area who could take the orders. Not a bad start for the 12
year old dishwasher.
Having decided that his future was in the hospitality
business, he applied for, and received a grant to study at the Tadmor
Hotel School in Israel. He was only 15 years old and became the youngest
student ever accepted in the training institute. He also came out from
there one year later, having topped his class.
Rony was now ready for the ‘big time’ and entered
the employ of the Jerusalem Hilton. By the time he was seventeen and a
half years old he had become the night manager. “I was the youngest
night manager in Hilton world-wide,” said Rony with an obvious degree of
pride.
However, there was another group interested in Rony’s
services - the Israeli Army! Aged 18 he lined up for his compulsory
national service. Did they use the young hotelier’s skills in the mess
tents perhaps? No, they gave him a posting as a tank driver. “I hated
it. I’ve got claustrophobia, so it didn’t really work!”
Having escaped from the confines of his tank, Rony
decided to go to London, as far away from tanks and desert sands as he
could. He renewed his connections with his father, and polished up his
English while he worked as a chauffeur. This job was as the family driver
for Ali Butto, the President of Pakistan. He sat behind the wheel for two
years until he was dismissed in somewhat significant circumstances. “I
lost the job when they executed him,” said Rony, showing that wry Jewish
humour.
From there, he spent some time driving with the
‘underground’ mini-cabs, but returned eventually, to his first love -
the hotels, working as the Food and Beverage manager at the Sheraton
Heathrow, and then moving to become the GM of the Maxwell’s restaurant
chain. This position was to determine his next move, in a very off-beat
way. While attempting to break up a fight in the restaurant, one of the
combatants broke up a solid wooden table over Rony’s head.
After recovering from the initial onslaught, he was
left with recurrent headaches, and his doctor recommended he wear a warm
hat for the next twelve months. Realizing that wearing a turban was
probably not the ‘look’ he was looking for, Rony decided that warm sun
on his head would be better.
He tried Los Angeles and didn’t like it, so bought a
round the world ticket and headed off, falling in love with Asia, and the
warmth on his head. He arrived in Bangkok and didn’t think much of it
and asked where the nearest seaside resort could be found. Of course this
was Pattaya. “I was amazed by it, stayed three weeks and went back to
London, sold everything, and returned to Pattaya.”
It was 1986 and Thailand was to change the course of
his life in many ways. He married a Thai lady, Dang, and Rony became a
family man, (by 2003 having two children, Eli and Benny). He stuck with
hotels, managing properties in Pattaya, but eventually had to move to
Bangkok, chasing the best positions.
It was in Bangkok that he realized that very few people
were offering a service as a hotel broker, so Rony became one. He did not
sell many hotels - but one was enough. That sold for $20 million.
His next serious group of clients were looking at
leasing the Nipa Lodge in Pattaya, but they turned it down - but Rony
didn’t! “I could see the value in it and anyway, Pattaya was where I
wanted to be.” The name did not come with the lease, so it was changed
to Nova Lodge, a name that has been very successful for Rony Fineman,
hotelier and entrepreneur.
He had stayed in serviced apartments in Bangkok and
felt that it was now time for him to diversify, and so Nova Park serviced
apartments was built, along with the Alkemy restaurant. This has been
successful and Phase 2 of the Nova Park development has started which will
incorporate an Irish Pub and a high-end Spa, specializing in spa
treatments from the Dead Sea in Israel.
Ah yes, the Dead Sea - Rony still has his roots in
Israel. “My heart is in Israel, always has been,” says Rony. I asked
him if he would return to live there permanently (he has a vacation there
annually) and he gave another of those wry grins, saying, “My heart’s
in Israel, but I don’t want to be blown up!”
The future Rony says, revolves about his family, but is
really about business that Rony can do that will be good for his family.
And he has plenty of ideas beyond that of Phase 2 of Nova Park. Those
ideas include building a Five Star hotel in Pattaya and making a family
entertainment venue for Pattaya. “The opportunities are here,” says
Rony.
You leave with the distinct feeling that Rony knows
what he’s talking about!