(GA 2011)
(Used by GA in his many speeches & presentations as CEO)
I. On Basics & Principles:
- Set priorities in life and practice balance on: Health, Family & Job.
- You just got one body, one mind and one soul. Take care of it well, invest in yourself.
- One Team – One Way approach throughout.
- Hospitality from caring people – we care.
- Embrace in full the company culture: If you don’t believe you don’t belong, don’t waste your time and don’t waste my time.
- Define your goals and keep adding new plans at different stages in your life.
- Do not try to do everything yourself, delegate the jobs, empower and believe in others, results will come.
- Be a leader not a manager: Managers tend to control while leaders look at the horizon.
- Determination and obsession to be the best in class.
- A successful formula yesterday will not guarantee success tomorrow.
- Remember that there is nothing free in this world.
- We must do everything possible to exercise our entrepreneurial skills.
- Maintain a continuous improvement process and be patient, achieving your financial goals and dreams will not happen overnight.
- All owners want their physical investment preserved and for capital values to appreciate through optimum profit performance.
- You are the representative of the company in the local community.
II. On Internal Customers:
- Full understanding of the fundamentals of our industry and of what we sell:“We sell the two most personal needs for the human body: Food and Sleep”.
- Hire for attitude, train for skills.
- People make the difference.
- Great hotels are made by employees not by the expensive crystal chandeliers or carpets.
- We are in peoples’ business.
- Lone rangers are out of place.
- Engage and motivate people with passion.
- A strong subordinate makes you look good.
- You will always find qualities that you don’t like in people around you, but the love of the work unites you both.
- Arrogance, ego and overconfidence are lethal, never let them control you.
- Invest in people development during difficult times.
- Compensation: within the top quartile in the industry.
- Though times do not last, people do.
III. On External Customers:
- Meeting customer’s expectation is not sufficient, must exceed.
- Offering a good product or a useful service is no longer enough.
- Today consumers are looking for something more that will enrich their lives.
- Creating strong-lasting tie with the customers.
- Customers are returning because of the special attention & experience.
- The hotel industry is constantly evolving, the customer needs are also evolving.
- Health, well-being and looking good continue to move up on peoples’ priority.
- Loyalty is fostered by service consistency and guest recognition.
- Solve the problem on the spot, don’t let it become bigger.
IV. On Directions:
- Safety takes priority at all times.
- Don’t manage by cost cutting but manage by revenue.
- Be a visible role model.
- To generalize, we tend to be cost obsessed, bureaucracy laden and over-controlled.
- Price is what you pay, value is what you get.
- Rules should serve the business, not vice versa.
- Challenge the status quo with objective to improve.
- We are in business to generate maximum profit, “not for fresh air”.
- As business people we are evaluated on results.
- No space for non compliance on standards & controls.
- Need of change and of continuous improvements or face the worse.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel.
- More cash than flash.
- Controversial: (Not recommend).
- You are as good as your last P&L.
- Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.
V. On Advices & General:
- There is no substitution to hard work.
- Is hotel business a commodity?
- The role of corporate office is to assist the hotels where the money is made.
- Constructive engagement is healthy for any organization.
- In our business, operating cost will always increase.
- Everyone knows (or think they know) the hotel business.
- Our business is not about product features.
- We are here for the long term.
- Individual owners are more emotionally attached to the hotel than institutional investors – “Public Face”.
- Hope for the best, plan for the worst
- Don’t swim up-stream at all times
- Have faith
- Luxury without pretension, the ideal hotel ambiance is a place where you feel comfortable either with your tuxedo or with your jeans.
- A person who is hungry will always do well
- Thinking out of the box.
- Investing: You can’t buy what is popular and do well. The time to get interested is when no one else is.
