meet

meet

the

MD

This week: Richard Lewis, WorldRes UK

Age: 46

IT WAS an industrial psychologist that recommended that I go into the hotel business. He suggested that I was suited to three careers – journalism, public relations and the hotel business. Because I’d already given some thought to the first two and decided against them, I stepped into the unknown and headed down the hotel route.

Once I began my new career, I quickly learned that to be successful, training was everything. In my first job as an assistant manager of a hotel in London, it soon became clear that the porter knew more about the business than I did! This was a real eye-opener, so I decided to apply to the Savoy Hotel training programme – the most influential four years of my career.

During those years, I worked in every hospitality job possible, including being a chef, a waiter, a cocktail barman and a butcher. After I graduated, I worked in some really varied roles.

These included running an oil camp for 1,000 men in Libya, operating a paddle steamer down the River Thames, managing a catering company in the south of England and opening hotels and restaurants in Cairo.

After spending 20 years in traditional bricks and mortar hotel jobs, like international marketing operations director with the Forte Group and vice-president of hotel distribution at Turner Broadcasting, I decided to take the challenging move into the dot.com arena and joined WorldRes.com as the UK president.

I saw this move as an opportunity to really make a difference in the on-line travel business. I’ve seen how the Internet can radically change the revenue and profitability of the hotel industry for the better.

Since joining the company life has been very exciting and the growth in my profession has been very fast paced. Within my first year, I was promoted to chief operating officer. This is just one illustration of how quickly things move. I’m now settled in this role and would like to spend more time evaluating where the business is going and watch my staff grow within their roles and within the company.

I have a dedicated team who are committed to providing our partners with the highest level of service. We think the most important element in this business is the ability to respond quickly to customers’ needs. For us these customers include hotel and Web partners.

This is especially critical in the Internet business. As technology grows, customers have more choices in the way they promote their business, therefore we have to be flexible and keep up with these changes.

We want to be able to develop and maintain a customer base that is able to utilise the Internet to access and receive the kind of information that, without this technology, they would be missing out on.

When I look back on my career, I consider every role that I’ve taken a challenge. Any regrets? No – I believe in fate. All decisions are either made for you or by you and every job that I’ve worked in has been enriching. It’s all about seizing opportunities.

I will always remember a story that happened while working in the kitchen at Claridges.

Frank Sinatra came into the restaurant and ordered a simple loose omelette with a salad. The head waiter barked at the sous chef – ‘one omelette for Frank Sinatra, and fast, we want to impress’. The sous chef passed the order to the chef who in turn yelled it to a little guy in the back of the kitchen, who gave a grunt in acknowledgement.

Some time later the waiter realised that Frank Sinatra was still sitting at an empty table – no omelette in sight. The waiter stormed into the kitchen and indignantly shouted to the sous chef: “Where in the hell is Frank Sinatra’s omelette?” The sous chef yelled to the chef: “Where’s Frank’s omelette?” The chef in turn shouted to the little guy in the back of the kitchen: “Where’s that damn omelette?” and he shouted back: “Hey, leave me alone – I’m doing it my way!”

CURRICULUM VITAE

1999: took present role as president of the UK office of WorldRes UK, in charge of supply side sales functions.

1997: Vice-president hotel distribution, Turner Broadcasting.

1996: Product and sales development director, Forte Hotels.

1995: Sales and marketing operations, Forte.

1995: International marketing operations director, Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts.

1994: Resident manager, Westbury Hotel, London, Forte.

1994: Director of sales and marketing, Forte Grand Amman, Jordan, Forte.

1992: Director of sales and marketing, Forte Grand Abu Dhabi, Forte.

MY TOP TIPS

&#8226 Be positive about all aspects in your professional and personal life.

&#8226 Enjoy yourself. Life is too short not to.

&#8226 Be passionate and care about what you are doing.

&#8226 Act now, get it done and do the big things first.

&#8226 Manage by motivation, not by hope or fear.

&#8226 Treat everyone as equals.