photo : Alfred Pisani standing in front of the Corinthia Hotel , London . relationship was gradually established with the person . It was only natural for Alfred to seek him out when the time came for the design of the hotel . The name of the Perit was Dominic Mintoff .
Alfred recalls how he had concerns in entrusting the total project to Mintoff , in that no local architect had experience specific to the hospitality industry . In addition , while technically competent he did not seem to be as details-oriented as Alfred himself . Having said this , largely out of a question of trust , Alfred came to pass on the architectural , structural engineering and services work to Mintoff . To mitigate his concerns , he also appointed a British architect to work on internal layouts and designs , but this in many ways led to the development of friction . With some rumbling , Mintoff eventually accepted to work with the British architect and in fact they eventually became close friends .
Corinthia was aiming for employing and holding on to the best at a time in which this was generally unheard of
Before opening , Alfred Pisani looked into recruiting top international talent for the running of the hotel . Having appointed a UK-based recruitment company , Corinthia went on to recruit a Spanish General Manager , a German Food and Beverage Manager , a French Executive Chef , four Japanese Sous Chefs , an English Restaurant Manager as also a Bar Manager from France and a Laundry Manager from Italy . However , house-keeping has always been a matter of pride to the Maltese , which responsibility was taken over by a very strong Maltese lady .
The team presented a high level of competence and expertise , who were already in and knowledgeable about the industry . Alfred recalls that he put in great effort in the recruitment and he was commuting extensively to London to interview candidates ; over fifty in all .
In many ways , the value ascribed to the human resources element from the outset of the operation represented a key differentiating factor which allowed the organisation to achieve its quality standards . Practitioners nowadays comment on the challenges in recruiting and retaining talent , but Corinthia was aiming for employing and holding on to the best at a time in which this was generally unheard of .
Issue 03
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