HOTELIER Magazine 2nd issue - English | Page 9

serving people. But you don’t have to be embarrassed because you are serving someone, you need to understand that you are providing service, which is a different approach and different mentality. I can see some differences comparing Armenia and Italy in that sense. Waiter understands that he or she is not just serving, but they are providing professional service. Speaking about professionalism and different approaches, what do you think about professional education in this industry in our country. aking to account the problems mentioned above I think It should be very interesting to have a hospitality school in Armenia. For example, if we discuss the case of Switzerland (the country where I was born) they have mountains, beautiful nature, agriculture, banks but very little tourism (compared to other industries). But they have the best tourism and hospitality education in the world, they have the best private schools for our industry. In those schools they provide education for general managers, financial managers, revenue managers, restaurant managers, housekeeping managers, chefs. They are to pay for that, and when they finish school, they already have work. Young Armenians should understand and give importance to professional education. They have a lot of opportunities and chances to build their career in your country. What do you think about new opening hotels in the country and their management and pricing strategies? erevan is a very beautiful and welcoming city, and I am very happy with the new opening hotels, but in the same time, I am worried that new hotels are making damping, not all I mean. Damping is very dangerous and could be damage the market, it needs a long time and it will be very hard to recover that. I am not scared about the opening of new 5-star hotels, I am glad about it. T Y Normally, they should sell higher than me 4-star hotel (smiling). My position in the market could be a little bit less comparing 5-star hotel. I took many challenges in my life. I had some losses and wins of course. Here I have a very beautiful 4-star hotel and very motivated, professional staff. I feel very confident that we will make a difference not with our walls but with our staff and service that we can offer. Tell us a little bit more about one day at work as a general manager. s a general manager, I can come even at 10:00 am. But I am I usually arrive around 08:30, I am not here just to sit at my office and check numbers from the previous day. I go up to the breakfast room. I am checking if everything is fine and I am having a walk in the hotel to ensure that everyone is doing their job at the right time. It doesn’t mean that I am some kind of policeman or I am checking on someone. The message is that I am here and I give example to everyone by doing that. Can you share your work experience? y previous work was a big hotel with 140 rooms and spacious meeting rooms, we had 1500 sqm ballroom, it was situated close to Bologna. It was old, like many Italian hotels. I understood that this 1500 sqm ballroom, can and must be our advantage. In the case of that hotel, if meeting rooms work, all the services will work as well. Also, I worked in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in Florence for 3 years and Toscana as well. And I had a different kind of experience. I managed a business hotel, a thermal hotel with a big spa that operates mainly for the leisure segment. I have started my career in this field in 1993 with a very important chain: Accor. I worked for many years in this chain and it is a very important background. I grew up as a professional with Novotel. I worked for Novotel Bologna for several years starting from the reception. I had a very good General Manager Mr. Paolo Rier, He was the General Manager A M of Novotel Hotels in Italy at that time. He gave me the opportunity to grow up until Front Office Manager. I decided to leave the Accor chain and continue my experience by myself.