HotelsMag November 2016 | Page 21

PERSONALITIES

Unimposing ,

NTYPICAL

By JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF

Samy Ghachem is the first to agree that he is not cut from typical hotelier cloth . In fact , his limited hotel experience , three years at Le Sereno in St . Barts , is part of what motivates him – along with the new

challenge of actually opening his first hotel for Sereno Hotels owner Luis Contreras , the ultra-luxury , 30-suite Il Sereno Lago di Como on Lake Como in Italy .
The Lake Como hotel opened in
August , and Ghachem says Contreras again has given him a lot of room to operate – not necessarily to reinvent the wheel but to follow his instincts and to capitalize on everything he has learned over his years inside
and alongside the industry . “ Sometimes I just do it another way , so to speak ,” says the GM , who spent the past three years getting indoctrinated as an operator in St . Barts after spending the majority of his career in luxury
In August , Samy Ghachem opened Il Sereno Lago di Como ( above ) on Italy ’ s Lake Como .
travel sales .
“ I ’ m not your typical GM in any environment , be it in Lake Como or in St . Barts ,”
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