Exclusive Interview | Edward E. Snoeks, General Manager, Meliá Chiang Mai
/“You don’t need an academic background; anyone with passion, commitment, and the right attitude can have a terrific career in the hotel business if they want it. Our industry is one of the few industries offering such limitless opportunities. ”
Editor: Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
I started out helping my mother at her guesthouse when I was about six years of age. I would help recycle the bottles. She had a small hotel, with six rooms and a restaurant, in Holland and entrusted me with more responsibility over time; I upgraded to the dishwasher when I was about 10! Hospitality is in my blood and I don’t know anything else, I couldn’t do anything else.
I feel fortunate to be the general manager overseeing the opening of Meliá Chiang Mai, the first five-star hotel to open in Chiang Mai since the onset of the global pandemic. With so many incredible facilities including a 360-degree rooftop bar on the 22nd floor - featuring two bars connected by a glass bridge and offering spectacular views of the River Ping to the city’s east and famed Doi Suthep Temple on the mountaintop to the west - the team and I are looking incredibly forward to our hotel’s opening scheduled for November 1 this year. The hotel is creating much-needed hospitality jobs in Chiang Mai and also helps lift the morale of the hard-hit local tourism industry.
Before my appointment at the helm of Meliá Chiang Mai, I worked as both Thailand’s regional general manager and general manager of The Okura Prestige Bangkok. I have lived and worked in Thailand since June 2015. My work in Asia goes back to 1994 when I worked for Regent Hong Kong’s food and beverage department and I have worked in hotel management since 1995.
Editor: What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?
It may sound cliché but you must have a lot of passion and be really committed to succeeding in this industry. That means a lot of passion for serving people and ensuring they’re having an incredible stay at your hotel, as well as a lot of passion for working with others to deliver a seamless guest experience.
The hospitality industry requires so many hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a year; for years and years. When everyone else is holidaying or celebrating a big occasion, you’re always working.
If you don’t have the passion and commitment for this industry, it just doesn’t work. If there’s somewhere else you’d rather be, best to go elsewhere because it’s all or nothing with this industry.
Editor: What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring? If someone wants to work with you, what should they do?
We hire for attitude. You need to have a can-do attitude, it means everything in this business. When the right attitude is evident, it’s relatively easy to train the successful recruit so that he or she is equipped with the right skills and knowledge.
You also need to genuinely enjoy working with people. Our industry is a people industry and it’s wonderful to meet and work with so many people from different backgrounds.
You don’t need an academic background; anyone with passion, commitment, and the right attitude can have a terrific career in the hotel business if they want it. Our industry is one of the few industries offering such limitless opportunities.
Editor: What advice would you give to a young, aspiring hotelier for their internship?
Be open to any opportunity as you never know where it may ultimately lead you. There’s so much to learn and you always meet fantastic people along the way. There will be opportunities to work with people again down the track in an exciting capacity. Work on establishing your network and overtime opportunities start to come to you as people get to know you. They will be impressed by their time working with you and will vouch for you to work at a fantastic hotel with them in the future. It’s incredible who you meet today who will have a huge influence on taking your career in an unexpected new direction in the future. There is no other business quite like this in the sense that people embark on all sorts of trajectories worldwide and bring others along with them for the ride.
Editor: What are some of the trends you see impacting the hospitality industry?
I think some people are too eager to climb the career ladder too quickly without learning the basics and thus building a firm foundation for their career. When people are promoted prematurely and receive a title that is not supported with strong experience, that eventually results in service levels dropping and can be to the detriment of the entire team.
The old adage you must learn to crawl before you can walk definitely rings true in the hospitality industry. Often the best managers come from the rank and file because they have worked on the ground themselves and know exactly what is required of their staff. Achieving a solid basis for your hospitality career comes back to my earlier point about passion, commitment, and a can-do attitude.
I think it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the huge changes across our industry in response to the global pandemic. Good ol’ fashioned hospitality has always been the backbone of our industry and, with the implementation of a raft of health and safety measures including social distancing and contactless communication to combat the spread of the virus, I really hope our industry, and the guest experience itself, doesn’t lose its character.
Editor: Two things you would like to change in the industry.
Don’t just take pictures of your food for Instagram - eat your dish and thoroughly enjoy it before it goes cold! Many people seem obsessed with what others can see on their social media pages at the expense of their actual holiday experience. Do remember to switch off and treasure your holiday. Following lockdowns and so many restrictions, the opportunity to go on holiday takes on even more significance and is one that we should truly treasure. Less social media equals more reality.
Due to the global pandemic and the devastation it has wreaked upon the hospitality and tourism industries, there has unfortunately been a mass exodus of very dedicated, skilled, and talented people. When the travel industry inevitably bounces back, and our industry needs these people, a lot of this talent will never return as they have embarked on a more stable existence elsewhere. As hard as it is in the current climate, hoteliers and tourism service providers need to try their utmost best to hold on to their staff. It would be great to somehow reverse this mass exodus of talent.
