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By Marie Moon
Adrian K. Mueller, General Manager of the Shangri-La Bangkok, began
his career as a waiter in the Swiss Alps in a small 50-room boutique
hotel. After graduating from the Swiss Hotel Management School,
Lucerne in 1991, he moved to Thailand to take up his first overseas
assignment as Resident Manager of the Amari Coral Beach Resort.
Mr. Mueller joined the Shangri-La team at the Makati Shangri-La
in Manila as Director of Rooms for two years then accepted the post
of Director of Food and Beverage for a further year. Shangri-La
hotels then took Mr. Mueller to the wintry northeast of China to
manage its Shangri-La Changchun, where he spent an eventful three
years. At the tender age of 37, Mr. Mueller now holds the top job
at one of Bangkok’s most prestigious hotels. In a recent interview
he spoke candidly about his managerial beliefs, the hotel and what
it takes to govern the Shangri-La.
1. Your experience has taken you from a boutique
hotel to an enormous 800-room hotel. What are the main differences
between the two?
Well to answer in a funny way, it’s just a few more zeros behind
every number! In reality when I look back at where I started my
career in a very small 50 room hotel, a lot of it comes down to
the basics and the basics never change. I guess the most challenging
aspect of the job is the number of people. In our business it is
not only the number of guests but even more so the employees. The
luxurious hardware is a vehicle to get the attention, but really,
it is the staff, your personal approach to service and what you
are personally willing to commit. Whether it is a 50-room hotel
or an 800-room one, the principles are exactly the same.
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2. What is your personal approach to service?
Me? I’m a hands-on kind of manager. I talk to anybody I need
to, regardless of hierarchies because firstly it removes the barriers
for some of my more junior managers to feel at ease approaching
me. At the same time it is more efficient, because during daily
operations things have to move quickly and efficiently so I go straight
to the source. To some extent this is probably, to the delight of
my colleagues and to some extent they would probably rather have
me stay in the office a bit more. With a property of this size you
need to walk, you need to be present because guest expectations
in such a big hotel are that you would probably never see the General
Manager. I could easily bury myself behind all these excuses of
running a very big hotel but I counteract that on purpose by being
at the front of the house as much as I can. Also, it’s a lot
more fun than sitting in the office all the time!
But in Thai culture, hierarchy is so important! Does this management
style cause any misunderstanding among the Thai staff?
Well you would not put someone in a difficult situation, above their
ability or position but if you can communicate something quickly
to the Director of Housekeeping or some other area of daily operations,
why should you go through the Duty Manager then the Director of
Rooms and so on? On the contrary when you get closer to the staff
and you get to know the people better they start to gain confidence
in the GM and we start to work as a team. We work very hard, all
of us. This is a hotel which literally never sleeps with all the
conferences and conventions going on, so it’s important that
we work as a team.
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3. You mentioned the confidence that the staff
have in you, how did you foster these feelings?
The position of GM helps you a little bit naturally, but you have
to work for it the same way a waiter has to prove that he is the
best waiter in order to earn a promotion. You earn the respect through
hard work, not just by holding the office. I hold monthly luncheons
with my junior-middle management staff. It’s just a relaxed
lunch without any agendas. We talk about cinema or whatever comes
up, to give us an opportunity to get to know each other better.
With more junior staff like waitresses, front desk staff, laundry
etc I have a monthly dialogue session, like a round table discussion,
where we randomly select between 25-30 staff members and have a
two-hour open discussion. I am alone in the room with just my secretary
translating, no other managers or senior people are present. This
has proved quite effective because I get good feedback from people
about elements of the hotel and the staff has an opportunity to
express their feelings and concerns.
4. Currently at the hotel, you have the enormous
Shangri-La Ballroom, 30 meeting rooms and another ballroom on the
plans. Can we conclude that the MICE sector continues to grow?
MICE is one of the most important client groups for us. Through
MICE we get rooms and function business. It is big volume and interesting
business not only financially, but by having these guests in the
hotel we get a lot of exposure. If you are able to impress members
of an international convention for a few days, there is a good chance
that they will come back with their families for holidays.
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5. Why is this hotel so successful in conference
and convention business?
If you compare the Shangri-La with the other hotels in town and
regionally, we have a very nice product; the hardware is very nice;
our rooms are up to speed, but also, you walk into this lobby with
the view it offers and you immediately know this is South East Asia.
The longtail boats in the river are very Asian. We have a relatively
large garden area compared at least to other riverside hotels and
we have the capabilities to host very big events. We can take up
to 500 rooms for an event in the summer season and really no-one
else in Bangkok can do it on this level.
6. Tourism in Thailand has been affected by
fears of terrorism and the war in Iraq, how has the Shangri-La been
affected and how do you plan to compensate?
I have made a few calls to my colleagues at other hotels and everyone
has received some number of cancellations on the leisure and convention
sides of business. Business people are still travelling, naturally
they are used to travel and less likely to be worried about travel
in this region which is almost unaffected by current events. To
compensate for this loss in revenue it demands you ,as a manager,
to be more flexible. You need to be smarter and more aggressive
in the regional market, in Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore. Also
Thailand is lucky to be holding the APEC Summit later this year,
which will draw the attention of hundreds of media personnel and
it will reflect positively on the country. If Thailand can host
an event of this size, under these circumstances, market confidence
will be greatly improved. The Shangri-La has been appointed as the
main hotel for the APEC CEO summit. We are very happy to have been
awarded this opportunity and honoured by the trust the Government
shows in us. It is going to be the highlight of the year and of
my professional career.
7. What do people expect of a five-star city
hotel?
We market ourselves as a semi-resort semi-city hotel but I would
have to say that people expect efficiency. If you are a business
guest, you want things to work and procedures have to be efficient.
We try to make the check-in procedure very simple and fast; these
are things that business men and women really appreciate. The same
goes for the guestrooms. The older style hotels have these elaborate
bedside panels with 24 different buttons when all the guests really
want is to push just one button and turn off the light. There is
no need to any highly confusing systems in your room where you need
a manual to operate it, rather people want simple amenities that
are easy to use and that work every time.
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8. Whether you are business or leisure guest,
what may you be assured of receiving from a stay at the Shangri-La
Bangkok?
I think the quality stands for both and this is the challenge for
all our employees because a business guest usually doesn’t
want all the schmoozing on arrival that a leisure guest does. When
it comes to service the tourist is probably a little bit more relaxed
and flexible. In that sense, I think our leisure guest gets a very
good service because our staff is used to dealing with business
guests, they have a certain level of efficiency and the crispness
of service you would expect in a hotel like this. It’s a constant
programme of follow-up and training to maintain and further increase
that level of service.
9. How do you increase the level of service?
Never give up. If you are in the business and you know what to do,
it is easy to reach a high level of service, to win awards and to
be regarded as a prestigious hotel. However, it is very difficult
to stay there. To maintain service on that level, to fine-tune it,
this is where the art comes into it. That is the true challenge
of our jobs. Unless you are committed, unless you constantly ask
questions, “Is this the best possible fabric for a napkin?
Are we washing it and treating it properly so it is crisp and has
a good feel when you touch it?” This may sound silly but really,
this is serious business! We dust the flowers, shine the leaves,
make sure there is enough notepaper. If somebody would ask me what
business I am in, I would probably say I’m in the business
of details. Deluxe hotel operation is in the business of details
and I am sure that almost any deluxe hotelier will tell you the
same.
10. Do you have any advice for young Thai people
aspiring in the hotel industry?
Join the business if you like the job, like what it takes and are
prepared to be committed. It is not a question of early morning,
late evening or weekend shifts if you are generally passionate about
the details and in doing it right. If you choose the hospitality
business as a career you have to accept certain elements of it and
one is the long hours and irregular working times and it doesn’t
change whether you are a GM, a waiter or a bellman. You should really
enjoy your job because if you don’t, it then it’s very
tough to be in this business. You are on stage constantly, especially
if you are in front of house, so there is no such thing as a bad
day! In general, if you feel passionate about hospitality, this
is a business where you can make a fantastic career for yourself.
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