Exclusive Interview | Fabio Petrone, Group Director Food & Beverage, Jaz Hotel Group Egypt
/“Hotels should be able to accept Bitcoins payments”
Editor: Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
Well, my journey started since I was around 8 years young, helping my mother to cook …I always love to assist & create some dishes … I was in love with homemade pasta & was very ritual every Sunday morning… Homemade cooking … I am originally from Puglia, and in the south of Italy, usually, the family get together for a Sunday Lunch …so great food & wine …and good people get together ….the rest is history.
Editor: What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?
After the hotel school diploma, I wanted to develop my English language and I move to the UK to work and studies and having a great dose of resilience, motivation and love for the job, I manage to move from a small restaurant to be one of the managers at the Italian restaurant located on Park Lane ( La Terrazza @ Le Meridien Park Lane ) …again for our job need stamina, love, passion and resilience!
Editor: What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring? If someone wants to work with you, what should they do?
When I recruit, I am using the Four-season way …based behaviour questions …in addition Honesty, integrity & attitude are the main keys factor, knowledge is seconds because the candidate can learn …but attitude is a natural factor …
Editor: What according to you can trainees do while they are training at hotels to make it a win-win for them & the hotel/unit?
I strongly believe in trainees, for example, Rosewood & Four-season, both have an excellent program for MT, in past when I was in Rosewood I was sometimes responsible for part of the Trainees schedule and is important to give them some project with smart goals and follow up and coach them sometimes one daily basis .. in this way the company get some benefit in term of analysis and project & the candidate will get back to the university with a nice experience and satisfaction with a good job done and last but not least could be a future candidate …having already some basic knowledge about the company, standards & guideline.
Editor: What are some of the trends you see impacting the hospitality industry?
Actually, the social media role play more & more important role and the trend in the hospitality will be more guest will be oriented versus the organic and natural aspect for the food & beverages, pushing on locals farm to produce and wellness hotels, this both trends will grow more and more Plus social media ore personalized and customized for any guest, more personal touch.
Editor: Tech is now an enabler for great hospitality. Can you share with us some of the tech that goes into creating your guest experience?
Yes, in some hotels we have one app, the rest need to be created, is a big and expensive project, therefore, will take some time …
Editor: Two things you would like to change in the industry.
Well moving forward definitely a strong sop/standard in place regarding the Hygiene and more training how to manage a pandemic situation, guideline, so this could be one idea and the other removes all the buffet and offer a service, very traditional and labour-intensive I personally love to order everything via an app , is fast easy and clear for me and the service supplier
Editor: What can we expect in the coming year?
We already see many hotel companies create a “ new “ manager role ..Hygiene manager, in addition, the hotels need to be more techno-oriented ready to satisfy the millennials traveller and ideally have a 5 Giga super-fast internet connection and last but list, to be able to accept Bitcoins payments
