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Wolfgang Meusburger
Regional General Manager of Holiday Inn Resort Phuket
by
Rungtip Hongjakpet Izmen
Wolfgang Meusburger
Regional General Manager of Holiday Inn Resort Phuket
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Hotels in the blood
The hotel business is in Wolfgang Meusburger's blood; his family owned a hotel business in Austria. By the time he was in his teens, he had already gained experience in the industry by working in a variety of places, including several ski resorts in Austria. He then went to college to study the theoretical side of the hotel business. Before moving to work in Thailand, he was No 2 at a luxury resort with 100 rooms; his direct boss was the hotel owner. But in 1989 he decided to head for Asia. Why did he drop what looked like a plum job to move halfway round the world? It all happened when I joined a hotel seminar in Lausanne. There were a lot of Asians in the class - in fact more than half the class. My interest in Asia grew from talking to them, Mr Meusburger explains. He landed a job in Thailand and has been in the country ever since. Culture shock
This Austrian who had never set foot in this part of the world
started working in a hotel in Bangkok. The first six or seven months
in the city were hard, he says. What he found difficult was the
culture shock and the bad traffic. But I told myself that
I would give it a year. If I still didnt like it, then I would
just move back home, he says. Time flew by. Two years later he was appointed hotel executive
assistant manager in charge of F&B at the Holiday Inn Phuket.
Sixteen years on, he is still at the hotel. Good combinations
Mr Meusburger says he is lucky to work with a hotel owner that is willing to invest. Also, because he has worked with the same hotel management company for so long, the company understands his working style. Both parties give him freedom to run the business, which he believes is very important for any hotel GM. Both the owner and my company trust me. In this line of work, [the bosses] can't check every detail. If you are not given an opportunity to grow and a chance to do the work your way, then how can the business move forward? If, over the past 16 years, nothing had changed in this hotel, I would not have stayed this long, he smiles. One other asset he brought with him from his days of study in Lausanne was a close friendship with a fellow-classmate, Tasnee Yangseenat from Thailand. When I first moved to Bangkok, I would asked Tasnee (who at that time was working in the same line of business both in Bangkok and later on in Phuket) for her opinions about things. There was no romantic feeling at that time - that came later, he grins. When that did happen, they married. Khun Tasnee is no stranger to Phuket.com magazine; she is the Chief Operations Officer of Asia Web Direct Co Ltd, which owns the magazine. A man with three hats
Mr Meusburger is the Regional General Manager of IHGs hotels in southern Thailand, in charge of three hotels at once. The Holiday Inn Phuket is his base, but he is also boss of the Holiday Inn Resort Regent Beach Cha-Am and the Holiday Inn Resort & Hotel Phi Phi Island. The other two hotels each have a GM. I visit them every two months. Job-hoppers
As a team leader, Mr Meusburger believes that it is important to
explain to team members why you are doing this and that in order
to get them involved and motivated. It is also most important to
celebrate successes with the team. Money is, of course, a central factor in young peoples impatience and job-hopping. Five-star hotels in Phuket pay as much as 2½ times the salaries paid by hotels with fewer stars. So he understands why people get itchy feet. If staff in his hotel want to make a move and then later on want to come back, he says they are welcome because the experience has usually improved their working or management skills and they can bring back fresh ideas. We dont have a black list for people who leave us - except in cases involving issues such as dishonesty. I believe people deserve to get better opportunities. If they feel a need to move on with their career, we respect that, says Mr Meusburger. Getting feedback
Over the past 16 years, Mr Meusburger has seen a great deal of
change in Patong. The place is now a small city. When the new Patong
one-way traffic system was introduced early this year, public opinion
was divided over it, Mr Meusburger, too, is not entirely in favor
- or against. Overall, it has helped to reduce traffic, but
it is not good to have such heavy traffic along the beach road,
he says. What Patong needs
They also comment about the increasing tuk-tuk fares. I think Patong should have a better public transport system and much fairer pricing, says Mr Meusburger. It should also have better parking facilities. In fact, there should be one parking space at each end of Patong Beach. Then they should do something about the beach road. For example, they could leave one lane clear for pedestrians and another lane could be reserved for tuk-tuks to serve people. He has a very high regard for what the Kata-Karon Hotels Association have done for their area, and believes that Patong business people should have done a better job. The Kata-Karon Hotels Association have done a fine job, perhaps because most of them are business owners from the area, unlike in Patong, where the business owners are from everywhere and are not united. He thinks that Patong Municipality should not bear all the responsibility for organizing Patong better. The municipality cannot do much because of the limited budget they get from Bangkok, which is based on the number of people registered as living in the town. Most people know that household registration numbers bear no resemblance to reality, he says. |
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About the HotelRead the Review of the Holiday Inn Phuket Resort Hotel Information and Room RatesClick here if you wish to know more about the Holiday Inn Phuket Resort |
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