Exclusive Interview | Thomas Guss, General Manager, The Chedi Muscat
/“Passion, Perseverance, Patient. But most important the right behaviour and love to serve. Emotional intelligence plays a big role as well that you succeed.”
Editor: Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
My Journey started in the Kitchen at the age of 15. I graduated from the Culinary School in France. My personal ambition was always to become General Manager and my mentor told me the best General Manager in the world comes from Food and Beverage. At this age, I did not yet understand why I should start in the Kitchen as I was a very good student and could have continued studying until I got a Master's Degree. I trusted my Two mentors, after a few years in the Kitchen I started to understand the reason why it was important for me to start my career in the Kitchen. The kitchen is not about cooking, I strongly believe that every one of us is in a way or other a Chef. It’s about Teamwork, Time management, discipline, and more important serving and carrying for others.
Editor: What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry
Passion, Perseverance, Patient. But most important the right behavior and love to serve. Emotional intelligence plays a big role as well that you succeed.
Editor: What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring? If someone wants to work with you, what should they do?
I like to see the sparkling in their eyes and the right behavior. Technical Skills will be learning on the ground by providing tools, training, coaching, and support, but positive behavior is a set skill that you have or not.
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?
Training most follow by an assessment and test to see and measure if the learning has been understanding. It’s important that trainees share their opinion about their learning, make training more fun, interactive with role-play instead of doing hours of presentation on a slide show. I always say that Trainees and new colleagues are of great value to any organization because they bring to the organization the same ideas that we might never consider before. It’s important to meet them after 1 or 2 months and ask them for their feedback about our organization and what we can improve.
Editor: What are some of the trends you see impacting the hospitality industry?
Hotels are opening without clear positioning, vision, mission, and culture and damage the overall reputation of the Hotel industry. With no surprise, many guests decided to go on Rental Vacation instead of staying in the Hotels.
Editor: Tech is now an enabler for great hospitality. Can you share with us some of the techs that go into creating your guest experience?
Tech must have a purpose to serve your guest's needs. No need for you to invest in digital shower/rain shower bottom if your target guest segment is above 50 years old. Nobody takes a shower with glasses. For me, Tech is a tool to improve efficiency and productivity. Luxury guests look for authentic service from the heart. They like to feel special and understand. They like to share their experience with their friends and family. It’s not about money but Experience and touchpoints.
Editor: Two things you would like to change in the industry.
1 )To reward the entire team for the financial results, not just the Executive Team.
2) Banks, insurance and retails are our biggest threat in the previous years. They have realized that year on year they are losing their customer Online because they never spend time to train their associates on Emotional engagement and intelligence and those are stealing or well train colleagues from our industry. Why will you park your money in any bank if this bank has no relationship with you?
Editor: What can we expect in the coming year?
I strongly believe that our Industry will recover faster than all indicators. We will not stop people to travel, discover, explore, meet friends and family. Go on vacation to relax and experience different cultures. Business to business will reconnect and organize meetings and events and in my opinion, the Weeding business will be booming when travel restriction will be lifted. At The Chedi, we are enjoying a very healthy repeat ratio of our guests and we look forward to welcoming them again soon.
