FEATURE
a ‘ women in hospitality ’ group … Women tend to have more empathy and take better care of people , so I do think women come from a position of strength into this industry . I want the industry to empower more women and it will make me feel like I ' m in a good platform . H : Tristan , as the man on the panel , what ' s your perspective when you think about women being given fair and equal treatment , and fair and equal pay in the hospitality industry ? TJ : I definitely believe in equality and feel as if someone should be judged specifically on performance , and nothing else . Moving forward , something that should be at the forefront of everyone ' s minds is accountability as well as discipline because I feel as if accountability builds trust and discipline sort of sets the tone ... A lack of discipline creates an environment that is subject to misconduct . H : Who else wants to comment on the # MeToo issue ? HL : A very key element in the # MeToo movement is that it brings up sexual differences and sexual discrimination issues more clearly than ever . The focus of our generation is to acknowledge the differences , and the discrimination against people from different backgrounds , from different genders . We have to acknowledge the problem and then we ' ll need to set our minds to change that .
I know that in New York City we have so many women GMs . I was so surprised and I ' m so excited to see that because as a young female professional it ' s such great news for me to further my career . Socially , generally speaking , Asian society expects women to stay at home . But as a young female professional , when I see women GMs that ' s such a motivation . ESE : We ' re not just sweeping it under the carpet and that ' s very often the case in a lot of Asian countries and even in the U . S . where it ' s not maybe as open and liberal as New York City . I ' ve also thought about it in terms of where in hospitality I can
“ WHAT ' S ATTRACTIVE FOR ME ABOUT COMPANIES LIKE AIRBNB OR DISRUPTORS IS THAT THEY HAVE THAT STARTUP CULTURE .”
– ENG SOU EA
see myself going in the future because as a woman I do want to start a family . And if you ' re looking into operations , for example , it ' s a demanding sector … If you ' re on property , and maybe it is unspoken , but it ' s also demanded of you to be available at events – whether it ' s on nights or weekends . It eats into your family time and your personal life . That ' s something that also should be dealt with in hospitality . AM : Europe is much more advanced in terms of allowing women to have much more of a balance when it comes to raising family , and the hospitality industry has very long way to go … One of the reasons it ' s hard to get women into senior positions is because so many are lost in this mid-life junction … Hospitality is one where to create opportunities for women their needs to be more balance personal lives and career aspirations . H : Why do so many graduates today want to stay away from a career in operations ? TJ : I ' m going to say what ' s on everyone ' s mind : the money . To be honest , that plays a huge part in it . I ' ve worked in operations before and I do think that it ' s very important to gain that perspective . If you ' re consulting , on the ownership side or brand development side , and you ' ve never worked in a hotel , that ' s going to set you apart . It ' s not going to allow you to see that perspective of someone who has to deal with everything that goes on in a hotel on a daily basis . H : The joy of serving is not enough of a motivator ? ESE : It ' s not that it ' s not a motivator , but it ' s almost like you ' re limiting yourself to only what can be done in one property .
For me , at least , when I think about going into hotel development , I want to be able to deliver different types of services in different properties . That ' s why I would rather work in a corporate level instead of on property where the demands of operations can be very harsh . H : Would you consider a career path with one of the industry ’ s disruptors ? HY : I would be open to work for a disruptor just to figure out what part is missing in traditional hospitality that customers are asking for . I do see hotels creating communities and experiences since Airbnb brought up the concept of ‘ belonging ’… Everyone has been looking at their phones for so long that we really do need the sense of belonging , and I do see that is where the future of hospitality rests . HL : Larger hotel companies like Marriott , they also think about disruption like the shared economy . So perhaps the future is combining these two together and it ' ll definitely be worth it to work in a company like Airbnb to better
30 hotelsmag . com October 2019