Le Sereno Group in St. Barth’s has decided to break the GM mold by bringing in a new leader who has extensive experience in luxury travel sales, but has never been an hotelier. Samy Ghachem is the new GM at the toney island resort, and he will expand his duties to the owners’ new development on Lake Como in Italy in 2015.
What Ghachem brings to the table, along with a fresh perspective, is more than 19 years of experience in the travel industry with a strong focus in luxury marketing. Most recently he was managing director of travel management company, Frosch-NY, and spent 16 years with Air France, where he was responsible for the creation, launch and development of SkyTeam Alliance for both North and South America and then later responsible for managing the sales teams in the southern United States.
Now, for owner Luis Contreras, Ghachem is doing something he said he always wanted – running an intimate and stylish beachfront property with three 7,000 square foot villas, as well as 37 suites. He expects his exposure to both the supplier and agency side to pay dividends for the small luxury hotel group and talked to HOTELS Magazine recently about his initial plans and approach.
HOTELS: How did you get the job?
Samy Ghachem: I was introduced to the when I first came to island for a week last November. I met the owners and had an opportunity to exchange ideas. The thought of this job never entered my mind when we met, but because the owners reside in New York City, we met again in January for dinner, and a few weeks later we had another meeting and the opportunity presented itself. It was one of those situations where a light went off. We were on the same page with ideas, they liked my thinking and sales and marketing experience, and I served up the idea of what I could bring to the table. They liked it and the timing worked out.
HOTELS: What do you bring to the table?
SG: I bring experience from the travel management business, working with travel consultants, and understanding the importance of working with them. Also, I have my management experience with the Frosch office in New York City and my experience at Air France, where I managed sales and marketing and alliances.
Le Sereno has a lot of direct business, but the owner wants to develop agency business, where I have my greatest exposure. My understanding of the agency side as well as my exposure to Air France to the agency side brings a dual-sided perspective.
HOTELS: How will you approach the job differently?
SG: Having been on the agency side, I understand the importance of the role of the travel consultant and I have a very good understanding about how to best communicate and deliver a message effectively, and get the message out and how to market to that very important sector. Also, being on the receiving end having seen hotels market to us I know what is effective and what works. I have seen two things that play an important role: relationships and visibility within the travel consulting community. Having that exposure provides an added value.
I am not going to break the mold, but my style of management is a bit more engaging. I want to encourage the team to think for themselves, contribute, play an important role and enjoy the successes together. I want to be a bit more engaging. I think they are looking forward to that.
HOTELS: How will you manage operations with no hotel experience?
SG: It is a matter of having a great team who knows what they are doing, and I do. I have a great housekeeping, maintenance and rooms division team. Our managers know what they are doing and now it is just a matter of aligning their roles with management’s direction and target the bigger picture.
HOTELS: Do you have any hotel mentors?
SG: I have developed good relationships with a large number of GMs. I have their support if I need to pick their brains. I arrived in July, when a temporary GM got me up and running. It is a handful, but even in my days at Air France, I had exposure to operations. It is not the same as a hotel, but it is working under stressful conditions and making sure customers have a great experience.
HOTELS: Who are your hotel heroes and what have been some of your favorite hotel experiences?
SG: I admire Offer Nissenbaum at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, who is always very visible and present. I also have a great relationship with Phillip Wood at The Jefferson in Washington, D.C.
Among my favorite hotels is the Jefferson, the Cavas Wine Lodge in Mendoza, Argentina, and another is the Peninsula in Shanghai, which is run so perfectly.
HOTELS: What are your hotel pet peeves?
SG: I don’t have a lot of them, but when you check in and have to wait for your bags to arrive in your room as I am usually quick to get moving. Also, when a guest is being assisted and another guest comes up and the staff has to multi-task. I want them to stay with one guest until they are finished.
HOTELS: How is the luxury guest’s perspective and their needs changing?
SG: To some degree, they want consistency in service, and they are more intrigued by experiential travel. But, customers want reliable, dependable performance. They are more demanding with less tolerance for mistakes or problems.
HOTELS: What can you tell us about the Lake Como project?
SG: I will become the GM when the hotel opens in April 2015. When the time comes, I will have worked with the rooms division manager in St. Barth’s so he will be positioned to cover when I am not there. I can do a half year at each property.