PERSONALITIES
DON ’ T COME WITH A COOKIE CUTTER MENTALITY … COME WITH AN OPEN MIND . COME WITH RESPECT FOR THE CULTURE AND THE OPPORTUNITIES IN VIETNAM ARE ENDLESS .
– MICHAEL PIRO
“ We ’ re going to provide a better product at that price point . I don ’ t care what Holiday Inn Express or what Accor does with Ibis . They can do whatever they want . I ’ m very specifically going after this very local market ,” said the confident 36-year-old . “ We can move quick and reallyconsolidate demand .”
STARTING WITH A BURGER Piro attributes his current level of success to a cheeseburger . On a trip to McDonald ’ s during high school with no money in his pocket , the only friend who would share their meal was Vietnamese . “ He broke his hamburger in half and we ate it together ,” Piro says . “ We understood each other and we looked out for each other after that .”
Then his first love was the only Vietnamese girl in the school , which helped him fall in love with the culture . “ They ’ re all really strong-minded , and I really like them because we looked out for each other ,” he says .
After some initial successes in local commercial real estate put some money in his pocket , one of his friends told him he was going to Vietnam , and Piro decided to join the trip . It was 2006 , and as a young real estate pro , he looked at Vietnam and saw nothing but potential . On his way back to the airport he saw a CBRE sign and as soon as he got home he wrote them a letter asking for an opportunity . The one-line response from CBRE : “ The only way to get a job with CBRE Vietnam is to get on a plane .”
A year later , at age 21 , he bought the plane ticket and landed the job — but he had to start the next day without going back to close his affairs in Vancouver .
Initially , he was sent to Danang to sell residential real estate at a somewhat troubled development . “ I ’ m 20 years old at the time , wearing my US $ 12 Vietnamese tailored shirt and tie , walking into this office where I meet Peter Ryder , who ’ s the CEO of Indochina Capital … I ’ m sitting in this sleepy beach town trying to sell highend condos and I just worked , worked , worked . And I sold them .”
After becoming the sales hero of the project by age 23 , Indochina Capital recruited him away from CBRE . “ I joined them as the lowest-level guy in the company full of all these Ivy League graduates ,” Piro recalls . “ I ’ m just the sales guy , but I was thinking I ’ m going to run this company one day . I just worked my way up from the sales floor through the construction and development side and then onto the investment team . Now I ’ m the COO , the second in command in the company , and a shareholder .”
Piro went on to manage three privately held real estate funds with about US $ 500 million in equity . He helped build the Hyatt Regency Danang , the Four Seasons Nam Hai and Six Senses Con Dao , all
Rendering of public space at the 237-room Wink Hotel Saigon Centre in Ho Chi Minh City the while learning about luxury hotels without ever having stayed in one . But he developed a love for the hotel business and creating experiences for guests .
When those funds were concluded , and Piro asked what was next , the idea was hatched to create a hotel concept in a more affordable sector . “ We said , ‘ Why don ’ t we bring our same level of love and attention to detail that we ’ ve done in the luxury space for the 3- to 4-star market that everyone could access ?”
Now five years on , Wink is ready to roll , even in the middle of a pandemic .
When asked to forecast for the first hotel opening in March , Piro said it would be a major victory if the hotel is half full . “ I think we ’ re all kind of hopeful that by the second half of next year that at least the visa or the quarantine procedures to get into Vietnam will be somewhat simplified to allow more streamlined entry ,” he adds .
Big picture , Piro says there ’ s lots of opportunity in Vietnam , “ but don ’ t come with a cookie cutter mentality … Come with an open mind . Come with respect for the culture and the opportunities in Vietnam are endless . And I ’ m living proof of that .”
16 hotelsmag . com January / February 2021