“Life has its twists and turns, and I gave myself six months to sort my life out,” says William Mackay, now invigorated in his entrepreneurial role as executive vice president, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Hong Kong.
Like many globetrotting hoteliers he had, after 34 years with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, a collection of stuff and belongings stored all over the place, pension plans in multiple countries, and vital papers and boxes all over the world. “It was finally time to apply the same kind of rigor to my own life that for years I had applied to running hotels, latterly for a two-year stint as Four Seasons’ president of operations for Asia-Pacific,” he recalled. Friends had warned him against becoming a consultant, which he would have hated.
“I like to be in the arena and out of the blue, at the beginning of this year, just as I was starting to think seriously about my next step, the new chairman of Shangri-La, Hui Kuok, youngest daughter of Chairman Robert Kuok, called me. We met for lunch, hit it off and I joined the company in March in a newly created role. I have direct responsibility for the magnificent Shangri-La hotels in London and Paris, and among my corporate roles is directly overseeing wellness (our best-in-class spa operator, Todd Hewitt, is another Four Seasons alumnus)”, he continued.
In addition, Mackay is working with Shangri-La’s newly arrived president and COO, Oliver Bonke, on future development of the company’s four brands, namely Shangri-La, plus Jen, Kerry and Traders.
“In a more transparent world, there needs to be absolute clarity in guests’ minds what they can expect from each brand, and we need to be building hotels and organizing ourselves internally to deliver on the promise,” he explained.
For the last 15 years with his previous company he had been a regional vice president, which had taken him out of the day-to-day operations that he enjoyed so much. Instead, he learned to see business through owners’ eyes as well as those of guests and employees.
“Owner relations is a learned skill that needs to be cultivated in all GMs to build a constructive win-win partnership. Shangri-La, with a deeply ingrained family-oriented culture, implanted over decades by the Kuok family, has historically owned most of the operating portfolio, but much of future growth is likely to come from managed properties,” he continued.
Family spirit is typified throughout the company. At the 688-room Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong, “of the 771 team members, 21 are related to others, not necessarily in the same department.” That particular hotel had opened as a Westin in 1981 before being reflagged to Shangri-La 10 years later, and its legendary doorman, Edward Wa, has been on the job since its opening 36 years ago.
With his boyish enthusiasm, Mackay declares that his five-year goal is to take Shangri-La’s higher-rated properties right up there with the best – Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula and Ritz-Carlton.
He also, like his owners, understands the dynamics of family life. The eldest of four children of an English academic, he was led into the hotel world by his aunt, who part-owned Dormy House in the Cotswolds. After studying hotel management at the University of Surrey in the U.K., he did four years at The Connaught, London, where he acquired more than a taste for luxury.
Today, what keeps him awake at night is thinking how to use technology to greatest effect. “But nothing replaces face-to-face contact, which includes cementing professional relationships. When I mentor younger hoteliers, I remind them that those at the top invariably know how to network, internally and externally.”