Victoria Gasparyan – Personnel Manager | Corinthia Hotel
St Petersburg

First and foremost, let me thank you for this interview and congratulate you on your interesting and important project.
I will celebrate my 10th anniversary in the field of human resource management in a month. It’s been an honor for me to work in such leading organizations in various spheres as Gold’s Gym, Public Television Company of Armenia, Radisson Blu companies.
At the beginning of 2018, I had the great opportunity to join the Corinthia Hotel Chain located in the heart of St. Petersburg as an HR manager. I should note that the hotel that has 388 rooms and 17 conference halls for business meetings was recognized as Russia’s leading conference hotel by the World Travel Awards in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 and I am sure this year too. Of course, this experience can’t be compared to any other experience considering the business volume of the hotel. We were also one of the few hotels that had the opportunity to host teams from different countries during the FIFA World Cup. It was a very busy, responsible and at the same time fun period.
Every market has its own peculiarities, but the thing that is repeated almost everywhere is the lack of professionals in the market. Despite the multimillion workforces, hotels are “struggling” for every professional. As an advantage of the Russian market, I will mention the abundance of work (if there is a wish to work you can’t stay without work even for one day) and the employee protection by the law, which unfortunately is still not in a satisfactory condition in Armenia.
The advantage of the Armenian market is the natural hospitality and tremendous potential – the cuisine, nature, the history that surely will soon make us one of the most popular travel destinations. The working day passes in one moment. In addition that I am responsible for the staff recruitment (running the process of recruitment for at least 20 vacancies), we also deal with a variety of tasks/requests/ inquiries related to the employees, state institutions and so on with our HR team during the day. We also organize various events to make daily life of our employees more enjoyable, for example, an evening with the theme of the Venice carnival night, with the participation of professional actors and TV hosts, summer bbq-party, New Year performance for children with the participation of Santa Claus and Snow Maiden and many other events that require enough time and effort. However, being in a company that carries the best values and is surrounded by devotees of their work, it only remains to enjoy every moment, which I have been doing for already 10 years.
As I mentioned, the lack of staff is typical both for the Armenian and Russian hotel industry, but this fact should remain unnoticed for the guests. On the one hand, it is certainly very convenient to take advantage of such an opportunity when there is a weak spot in the service field, but don’t forget that such employee does not carry the hotel’s value system and history. The employee can work here today, tomorrow at another restaurant, and in this case, a great responsibility lies on the shoulders of the managers, who must prepare the worker in advance, before releasing into the “field”. On the other hand, taking into consideration, for example, the seasonality of the Armenian market, outstaffing is a good tool in terms of effectively managing the salary fund. The problem is that such companies also have a lack of staff, and during the high season they can’t provide the continuity of services as well.
I think that from the perspective of profitability outstaffing is one of the spheres that have a future in Armenia.

Karine Nazaryan – Hospitality Professional / Director at Vostan Restaurant

You have already a wonderful background and big experience in the hospitality industry, especially managing hotels’ restaurants. Could you please tell us several points about the nuances of hotel’s restaurant manager should strictly follow?
I have a lot of acquaintances asking me what motivated me to pursue a career in the hotel and tourism industry. They would be better off asking me to define the purpose of life or explain astrophysics because there is no clear and certain answer to that question. It all depends on what a person seeks from choosing to work in hotels.
The reasons are just about as vast as the industry and as deep as its roots in history. Historically, people traveled around and just as today the basic needs such as a warm bed and healthy meals had to be met. However, unlike ancient times, the industry has continuously evolved to its highest extents – and with future technologies and resources, promises to innovate more and more with every single client. Whether your corporation needs a 100 person conference room, you decide to go on an exotic honeymoon, or finally take time off with your family at a summer resort, working in hotels requires you – professionally – to ensure that your clients’ wants and needs are met and even exceeded; and unlike past times, they are not limited to just a warm bed or healthy meals. Whoever is involved with this industry needs to understand that keeping up with its current trends is a key success factor.
Another reason is that hospitality requires you to work in a multi-cultural environment. Working in a hotel does not mean that internationalism within the establishment stops at your clients; for the people behind the reception, in the kitchen and at the offices come from all corners of the world and they bring along with them their own language, cultural background, and ideas on how to efficiently work within the industry.
In my 10 years of experience, I had the honor to work with colleagues from Italy, Russia, Africa, France, England, America, Argentina, Brazil. All these people had taught me how to maximize my working capabilities based on their own personal experience within their home-countries; which at the end of the day not only enriched my practical skills – but my knowledge on other countries as well. A key factor in this “job description” is to be able to communicate and work with different people from different backgrounds – as one big team.
The hospitality industry allows you to develop yourself – professionally and as a person. Not only do you improve on the professional skills you already possess, but with time and commitment, you learn others due to the variety of colleagues, clients, and situations that will put you to the test. Various characteristics are required for working in a hotel. These range from soft-skills such as organization, communicating or working in a team; to more technical competencies such as serving, revenue management, accounting and facilities management.
Also, probably the most important matter is that you – literally – take care of people. This is debatable, but my experience tells me it takes empathy and commitment to put another person’s needs and desires ahead of your own – while keeping a smile on your face.
Customers come to hotels for various reasons, but in short, they want an experience. They want hotel employees and representatives to accord their time, care and attention. And just as people differ greatly, so does the care and commitment each hotelier exhibits to his/her clients. Some may settle for meeting the basics, such as checking-in a family or serving beverages at the hotel’s bar, but others will take an extra step and not just meet their client’s demands, but also exceed them.
With today’s fast-growing businesses, more and more focus is channeled towards making a profit, which is the main purpose of business in the first place; however, in hotels the products are not limited to events, meals, rooms or drinks – they extend to service and there is always a way to improve services and our service-industry skills.
Finally, the reason why I love hospitality so much is simple: it’s fun – as in enjoyable. All the dynamics, all the shifting with different responsibilities and the feeling you have when you start training and end up in a managing position, it’s more than satisfactory at the end of the day. And it does not stop with the customer-facing part of the hotel, you have the opportunity to meet and socialize with people representing a wide range of nationalities, in an even wider range of places all around the world.
In conclusion, the hotel industry is a pretty interesting and pleasant domain to get involved in. Like any other job, it has its ups and downs, and that’s the great part of it: there is always a place for innovation and there will always be innovators.

At this moment you are the director of Vostan Restaurant. What difference can you mention between managing the hotel’s restaurant and an individual restaurant in general?
The economy of hotels and restaurants is intimately tied to the tourism industry, to business travel, and to conventions. In many countries, the tourism industry is a major part of the overall economy. The primary function of a restaurant is to provide food and drink to people outside the home. Types of restaurants include restaurants (which are often costly) with dining rooms and extensive serving staffs; smaller, “family-style” restaurants and cafes which often service the local community; “diners”, or restaurants where serving short-order meals at counters is the major feature; fast food restaurants, where people line up at counters to place their orders and where meals are available in a few minutes, often for taking out to eat elsewhere; and cafeterias, where people go through serving lines and make their selections from a variety of already prepared foods, which are usually displayed in cases. Many restaurants have a separate bar or lounge areas, where alcoholic beverages are served, and many larger restaurants have special banquet rooms for groups of people. Street vendors serving food from carts and stalls are common in most countries, often as part of the informal sector of the economy.
The primary function of a hotel is to provide lodging for guests. Types of hotels range from basic overnight facilities, such as inns and motels that cater to business travelers and tourists, to elaborate luxury complexes, such as resorts, spas, and convention hotels. Many hotels offer auxiliary services such as restaurants, bars, laundries, health and fitness clubs, beauty salons, barber shops, business centers, and gift shops.
Restaurants and hotels can be individually or family-owned and operated, owned by partnerships or owned by large corporate entities. Many corporations do not actually own individual restaurants or hotels in the chain but rather grant a franchise of a name and style to local owners.
The restaurant workforce can include chefs and other kitchen staff, waiters and head waiters, table busing staff, bartenders, a cashier, and coatroom personnel. Larger restaurants have staffs which can be highly specialized in their job functions.
The workforce in large hotel restaurants typically will include less workforce than a restaurant can have. Most hotel jobs are “blue collar” and require minimal language and literacy skills. Women and immigrant workers comprise the bulk of the workforce in most hotels in developed countries today. In developing countries, hotels tend to be staffed by local residents. Because hotel occupancy levels tend to be seasonal, there is usually a small group of full-time employees with a sizeable number of part-time and seasonal workers. Salaries tend to be in the middle to low-income range. As a result of these factors, employee turnover is relatively high.

Catalina Susan – General Manager of Armenia Marriott Hotel, Yerevan

What, in your opinion, are the main skills needed to run a successful hotel?
First of all, you need to be knowledgeable of all the hotel activities, and this you can get with experience. So, I strongly believe that a general manager should have experience working in different departments of a hotel. So, in my case, I worked most of my career, about 16 years in the hotel finance department, but the last two years I was involved with the work of other departments as well, in order to get more experience and more exposure.
Concerning the skills, I’d say you need to be strong, as there are always various challenges, life in a hotel is not easy, and something inevitably pops up and it needs to be solved.
You also need to be hardworking, as you need to dedicate all of yourself to the life in a hotel because when you try to split it in another direction as well, it gets extremely difficult.
And last but not least, you need to be very flexible to adapt quickly to new environments, people, culture, and if you’re not open to something new, you probably will fail as a manager.
What are the biggest challenges a hotel owner/general manager can expect to face?
To be honest, here in Armenia I face more challenges then I did in the previous hotels I worked in, for example in the European Union conditions, even the legislation is totally different from further east. This Marriott is not an easy property. The biggest challenge, I would say, right now is finding suppliers in the current market, as there aren’t that many options here, and surprisingly for me, some supplier does not want to work with Marriott.
It is also difficult to find outsource companies, which is one of the options for running the property with higher profit. And it’s much easier to work with outsourcing companies and hire them during the high season, and the other seasons you just base your work on your regular staff. Also, it is difficult to work in unfair conditions, for example, AirB&B is doing an unfair competition, I’d say, and a lot of customers prefer to go there instead of the hotels, despite the fact that they have different conditions. A lot of people do get disappointed, that whatever is shown in the picture isn’t a reality most of the time, but still, for the first experience they prefer something other than a hotel.
In Armenia it is difficult to find employees because bright minds and good professionals have chosen to leave Armenia, most of them work in Russia. So, whenever we have an opening, it gets really difficult. Turnover is not so big, but for some departments, like front office, it is indeed very high, and we face the issue of hiring people, training them, and consecutively they do not stay long with us, and instead move to another hotel with a higher position, or maybe another Marriott property. The majority of them say that it is a difficult job, but it really is not, and if you really want to grow in that company you need to start from the bottom.
Sure thing, as a General Manager you will most definitely be stressed out most of the time, but it is important not to show it because you will stress the others as well. And so, I try to keep calm all the time, and you will hardly see me upset.
Please describe a typical day of a general manager of a large chain hotel.
The typical day is very busy, usually, I plan my week at the weekend, but it never goes as planned, I only manage to get some 40% done.
I start my morning in the gym at 6.30, I go there 3-4 times a week, this refreshes me to have a long and busy day. Then I do a touring of the hotel, starting with the breakfast area, talking to the customers, I also come to the executive lounge, where we have our repetitive guests and VIPs, and sometimes I spend a lot of time here chatting with them. Next, I check the conference area to see what the events for the day are, whether everything is prepared, then I go through the lobby area and afterward I spend some time talking to the staff.
One or two times a week I pass by all the departments, I greet the employees, find out how they feel, whether they need something. Whenever we have a difficult or busy day I find it especially useful talking to the staff as they may feel overwhelmed, and while talking to them I try to encourage them and make them feel a little bit better.
During the day I do have a lot of meetings, internal meetings with my staff, like selling strategy meetings, I try to catch up with my emails, but I usually end up doing this after my working hours when I am at home, and twice a week I take Russian lessons, I want to learn Russian, I think it will help me in my future career.
What advice would you give to prospective hotel owners/general managers?
First, they need to pay attention to the staff they are hiring, because it is important to hire the right people, and not to be very “cheap”, because some people choose to go for young and inexperienced staff, of course, it is very important to hire young people to give them the chance to build their career, but it is very important to have experienced and skilled staff as well. Marriott is very good at it, because they bring people from other hotels for key positions, as these people know all the rules and procedures. Also, they need to be patient, in the beginning especially, as it might be difficult to teach all the procedures, rules and standards (if it is a branded hotel), if it is not, you set out your own procedures and rules. They need to pay attention to how they choose their suppliers and be very meticulous about everything, even the smallest detail because if you compromise quality and as a result, the customer isn’t satisfied and their impression of your hotel isn’t good, they are not going to come back. So, I can say that the suppliers directly impact the hotel’s guest satisfaction. And last but not least, be dedicated to your work and be aware of everything going on in each area/department of your hotel, you don’t have to show that you know everything, but it is good to be aware of it. And one bonus advice, try to always learn something new, I constantly learn, I also learn from other hotel’s experiences as well, because we meet occasionally with other general managers of hotels in Armenia and share experiences.
You have experience working in several countries. Could you tell us what is unique about working in Marriott in Armenia?
In Armenia the people are different than in other countries, I worked in. They are very warm, and they have hospitality in their blood, they like to talk to other people. The people made me feel home right away, despite the fact that my friends who learned I was coming to work in Armenia would exclaim, “Where are you going? It’s the end of the world’.
I actually knew a lot about Armenia before even coming here, because I am also orthodox and I knew Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as their official religion. So, I always wanted to come here for a vacation, but I never really had the time. So, I got very excited when I learned I am coming here to work.
Another unique thing is the Marriott property itself it is landmark itself, everybody knows it, it is in a very central position, all the diaspora knows about this property, and this keeps our customers loyal. When you think of a hotel in Yerevan, you think at Armenia Marriott Hotel.
Please tell us when and how your journey in hospitality began.
It started in June 2000, in JW Marriott in Bucharest, Romania (I am Romanian), I started as an assistant of the director of finance after other 6 years experience in other two companies, as I was graduating from university with a major in Finance, bookkeeping, so this is my main field. I worked for almost 16 years in finance. In 2006 I moved to Marriott Warsaw, and it is the biggest Marriott property in Europe with 523 rooms. I was Assistant Director of Finance for only one year, then I came back to Bucharest to take the position of Director of Finance, and for almost 9 years I stayed in that position. The latest 4 years of my career in Finance I was again in Warsaw Marriott, and that hotel is kind of a “ramp”, so who starts working there, they usually continue working as a General Manager, because you learn a lot working in that hotel. In 2016 February I started my first position as a General Manager in Courtyard by Marriott in Budapest, it’s an upscale Courtyard, not a standard one. I stayed only one year and four months there and was later asked to move to my current position in Armenia. And I’ve been here since July 2017.
Please tell us what it is like to be a female general manager in such a heavily male-dominated sphere.
It is actually very good being a female General Manager, and Marriott, in general, is trying to empower and promote women, as they are more attentive to details, they are watching differently than men, and they keep better relationships with guests/customer. But in general, it is a bit different, and especially in branded hotels, there are very few female general managers there.
I myself try to always support not only women, but also man, and wherever I work, I try to push my staff to get higher positions, to inspire them. And I think when the general manager is a woman it always inspires others in the company to raise their ambitions. Becoming a general manager was always my desire, I had the option of choosing to go work for the Marriott headquarters Finance department, but I decided to follow my dream of becoming a General Manager.

Armin Eberhard, General Manager of Renaissance Moscow Monarch Centre Hotel.

Please tell us about your journey to the hotel and hospitality industry.

I was born in the northwest of Germany and started my career in Berlin in one of the major international brands. I had a great opportunity to train in various disciplines as part of the vocational program including rooms division, food & beverage, housekeeping, accounting, sales and marketing, and others. My initial training gave me a great overview of how large operations are structured and together with the brand I could progress my career in diverse destinations such as London and New York. Later, outside the big brand, I had an opportunity to gain experience in the resort market in the Caribbean. Prior to coming to Moscow, I worked in Prague, the Czech Republic, and Budapest, Hungary for a European operator with large conference hotels.
What are the specifications and characteristics of a business hotel?
The needs and requirements of an individual business traveler or a corporate conference attendee are always the centers of our activities. Most important to this community is comfort and ease of access to facilities with timely and efficient customer service. Often tight schedules and meeting agendas do not allow these guests much time for discoveries on their own. That is why our Navigators lead the way, so our guests can make the most of their visit on and off work.

Could you please tell us about Renaissance Moscow Monarch Centre Hotel’s uniqueness?
Besides being one of Moscow latest additions to the conference travel hospitality sector, the hotel distinguishes itself with several unique selling points. Let me start with the accommodation; spacious rooms of a minimum of 35 square meters arranged for comfort, with Marriott standard bedding quality and modern bathrooms, including bathtubs and walk-in showers. With its inventory of 366 units, the Renaissance Monarch Moscow hotel offers different accommodation levels to suit all travel needs next to the deluxe king or twin bedrooms. We offer 45 suites from junior or 1-bedroom corner suites of 55sq. m. up to presidential suites of 160sq. m., all with separation between bedroom and living room.
For guests on project work, the Renaissance offers 40 apartments at 75sq. m, including kitchenettes and excellent full service, stay solutions with many services included. The second highlight is our Duplex Executive lounge offering private breakfast, sweeping views over the city and a relaxation space throughout the day with pre-dinner cocktail food and drinks in the evening. Another excellent attribute for the business traveler is our spacious and impressive Health Club. Located on almost 1,600 square meters, it has a workout and wellness space with a large, fully equipped gym, pool, jacuzzi, sauna, spa and a group training room hosting a wide variety of trainer-led activities. The core of the hotel is formed of our 2,500sq. m. of banqueting and catering floor with 12 modern and flexible meeting rooms surrounding 1,000sq. m. exhibition space and a welcoming lobby.

Do you agree with the opinion of “20% of the success of the hotel depends on location and the building with its interior and exterior and 80% depends on people who manage the hotel”?
Location is often a paramount decision for a frequent individual traveler. The sheer size of the city demands the planning ahead of travel requirements within the city during the stay. Residing on one side of the city and commuting to the other side during a short stay period puts enormous pressure on schedules and extends travel time. However, the frequent individual business traveler is an expert customer in service evaluation and possesses a great experience to compare hotel products and services worldwide. To stand out and gain the loyalty of these valuable customers means we must train and focus the associates to recognize, welcome and serve the community with utter professionalism and courtesy. Especially here in Moscow travelers have great choices and only the unique, friendly and efficient approach of all team members will make a stay memorable and convince the customers to return.

What values or characteristics should a person have to join your team?
When we hire associates, we look for that special talent with a genuine interest in meeting and engaging with international travelers from all over the globe. The desire to communicate with and host these guests without any prejudice is the most important skill to fit into our team. We can teach you many technical skills, but we cannot create desire and natural curiosity. You need to be a good Navigator for our Discoverers and our guests.

What are your plans going forward?
Currently, we are in the process of introducing new banqueting facilities, adding 400sq. m. to our existing space. Following Marriott standard updates, we are renewing facilities and technical amenities, including a new TV system and WIFI infrastructure, keeping up with the digital development. Additionally, as the hotel celebrates its first decade in 2020, we are preparing a year of surprises and want to share this milestone event with our associates, clients, partners, and guests.

The hospitality industry is an integral and indispensable part of the worldwide market. People are fascinated by the information and stories behind some of the hotels and their rooms. We present here a few astonishing facts about the hospitality industry.

1. Tallest hotels in a city

6 out of the top 10 tallest hotels in the world exists in one city. Yes, you guessed that right. Dubai has over half of the top 10 tallest hotels in the world.

2. Total number of hotel rooms in the world

Total number of rooms worldwide is expected to be around 15.5 million as per the Intercontinental hotel’s group report. The number has soared as on date. According to STR Global, the number of hotels rooms is over 18.5 million as on date and is expected to breach the 20 million mark soon.

3. The city with the Highest Average Room Rate

Many would believe that New York City; the city so nice, they named it twice, would take the trophy for this one. However, the city that has the highest average rate is in Geneva, Switzerland. A room can cost almost $308 on average per night.

Phew! Yerevan was out of calculation I see.

4. US Hotel Industry Revenue

The hotel industry in the US is bringing in a healthy revenue of over $162 billion in 2016. This is expected to rise even further in 2018 and beyond. Apparently, Americans are spending huge amounts of money on hotel and motel rooms on an annual basis. The story is pretty similar across the globe with the revenues of the hotel industry improving every year.

5. The Oldest Hotel in the world

Koshu Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Japan is named as the oldest hotel in the world. Another amazing hospitality fact is that it is recorded in the Guinness Book of world records. The hotel is over 1300 years old. The ownership is held by the same family for over 50 generations.

6. The World’s Largest Hotel

Malaysia takes the cake for hosting the largest hotel in the world. First world hotel Malaysia is said to have around 7,351 rooms. The rooms are priced between $12 to $83 on average.

As an update to this hospitality industry fact, the largest hotel tag would soon be taken away from this Malaysian hotel. Abraj Kudai Hotel in Saudi Arabia would be opening in 2018 that would have around 10,000 rooms and over 70 restaurants.