TravelMole interview with Ernesto A’de Lima – former GM Park Hyatt Sydney

JAJ:   Ernesto, Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today as your time at the Park Hyatt Sydney draws to close.

You have made you mark as a leading Sydney hotelier, so, why leave now when the company is at its peak?

EA:    Hoteliers are like the diplomatic core – we move around the world to various roles and have to learn really quickly about the country, market and local conditions.

This has been the longest posting I have had, because they are normally for two or three years, but I have been here five years and actually in Australia seven years. 

After five years you are mature in the property and the market and for me it is time to seek and find new challenges. 

It is also great that my successor Marlene Poynder comes out of a Hyatt Corporate background as that ensures that the Park Hyatt Sydney will continue to deliver what Hyatt and in this case, in particular Park Hyatt around the world has become recognised.

Marlene is coming to Sydney from the Hyatt Regional Headquarters in Hong Kong, from the role of Regional Director of Sales for Asia Pacific.

It is important to me that I am a Hyatt corporate person and a Hyatt employee and this means I carry the Hyatt flag wherever I am and while Chicago happens to the world HQ, wherever I am I will move within the Hyatt family.

JAJ:   So where are you going?

EA:    I shall be moving in two weeks to be the GM of the new Park Hyatt Seoul. 

It is a fabulous hotel, 180 rooms, a little larger that the park Hyatt Sydney, state of the art and without doubt a Hyatt flagship hotel worldwide.

It has just opened and I am really looking forward to it. It is very exciting.

From my wife and two boys’ perspectives it is also very good, because my wife is Japanese and it will be is wonderful for her to be close to home and her family in Japan

JAJ:   Where did you start your amazing career in hospitality?

EA:    I was born in Mexico City, did my schooling there and then went to the Swiss Hotel School in Lausanne.  I had always worked in the hospitality business since school, in part time jobs and I suppose I was hooked!

My first career job was in the Hart in San Antonio Texas, which was after graduating and joining Hyatt and I have been with Hyatt ever since for 20 years.

I worked in the Hyatt Singapore, I worked at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne responsible for the food court and restaurant and then in F&B Manager opening the Hyatt at Sanctuary Cove.

I then went back to Grand Hyatt Singapore as Assistant F&B Manager and then went to Park Hyatt Buenos Aires and the Grand Hyatt Santiago Chile, returning to this region as Assistant to the VP F&B for Asia Pacific out of Hong Kong.

I then became Executive Assistant Manager of the Park Hyatt Tokyo, then Manager at the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok and GM of Park Hyatt Melbourne, GM Park Hyatt Sydney and now off the to the Park Hyatt Seoul.

JAJ:      You were born in the hustle and bustle of Mexico City and you have lived and worked in some amazing places, how did you become so passionate and committed to luxury hotels as that seems to be your style?

EA:    My parents encouraged me and they were all in the industry, so when I was young I was able to work part time in hotels and do a lot of casual work which I enjoyed it very much and that just planted the seed.  Once you join a company like Hyatt which is really unique, that is it, you live the passion.

JAJ:   What are your personal and business philosophies and are they connected?  Have you always been able to deliver those principles through the properties you have managed and how have you done so?

EA:    You have to be very healthy and good with yourself – you have to have the continuous motivation to love what you do from day to day – if you do not have the passion you will not excel and if you carry that passion across into your work like you will succeed.

JAJ:   Would you advise your boys to go into hospitality?

EA:    I might not encourage my children to go into this business, or perhaps not the way I did it.

If they wanted to go into hospitality, I would encourage them to enter from the business perspective and not F&B.

Hotels today are effectively real estate investments and driven by that so you need to know how to drive profitability and it is not always easy.

For example, it is harder to run a hotel here compared to Thailand where your labour cost are 8% whereas here they are 31/32% – we provide excellent service and you have to provide that level of service and have the best staff.

In Sydney the reality though is that in order to be competitive as a world wide destination for leisure, corporate and incentives, the biggest challenge will be to enhance the service delivery so that they can compete with their global competitors who have lower overheads.

So many hotels are profit driven and that is OK in the short term but in the long term it does not work.

It is the same for attracting top management and if Sydney is not up to the standards of Singapore or Hong Kong they will not work here.

The Asian countries’ lower costs provide incremental service by numbers of staff, but the drive for profitability will ultimately affect service delivery.

Hotels in Sydney are too cheap – it is simple – the quality 5* products here should be in the $350 – $400 mark and that compares with Singapore and Hong Kong although they have lower labours costs.

JAJ:   What elements of your life at The Park Hyatt Sydney have you have enjoyed most?

EA:    I have really enjoyed the people I have worked with – we have exceptional people working here at the Park Hyatt Sydney. 

The hotel attracts unique staff who are magicians and who deliver unique service.

We have many staff that have been here a long time and while in certain areas we have casual staff, I believe that we have to have a strong core staff that allows us to deliver the quality of service our clients expect at the Park Hyatt Sydney.

JAJ:   What are the things of your life at PHS have you enjoyed least?

EA:    Nothing I have enjoyed it all – it has been a fabulous place to live and work.

JAJ:   The hospitality sector is going through some turbulent times and we thought it would be valuable for our readers to get your thoughts about the future of the sector.

EA:    Labour costs are the key element that will drive profitability and control the delivery of great service.

I am a conductor of an orchestra, trying to orchestrate the balance between profit for the owners and service and quality for our guests.

JAJ:   Are there any plans for the Park Hyatt Sydney

EA:    We have just finished our full renovation so the hotel is in magnificent shape and ready to deal with continuing our position as one of the top hotels in the world.

JAJ:   So what challenges does your new role hold for you?

EA:    Korea is a new country for me, I have never worked there before, so it will present my family and me with new challenges.

I will immerse myself in my new country, but always remembering that it is vital as a Hyatt “diplomat” to ensure the delivery of the Hyatt service, that we try and deliver consistently wherever there is a Hyatt anywhere in the world.

JAJ:   You have developed and nurtured this highly successful, luxury Australian hotel in an amazing locations and bearing in mind in the current business environment, if you had a closing message for the readers of TravelMole and the industry community, what would that message be?

EA:    My message would be to have faith and tremendous trust in the new generation of Australian hoteliers and in the travel industry by giving them tremendous encouragement.

Hospitality and travel is something Australia does very well and you have matured so well in the last 15 years, so much so that you are now exporting these skills overseas and are recognised as a global leader in this great industry.

JAJ:   Thank you Ernesto for taking the time to speak with TravelMole, we wish you all the best in your new role at the Park Hyatt Seoul and we look forward with great interest to hearing all about it.