In the Lounge with Hugo Montanari at Rosewood Hong Kong
From Dubai to New York, Bangalore to Ibiza, and now Hong Kong – Hugo Montanari’s hospitality journey has spanned the globe. Today, as Managing Director of Rosewood Hong Kong, he draws on over two decades of international experience to lead with empathy, empower his teams, and deliver highly personalised guest experiences in one of Asia’s most sophisticated luxury destinations.
In this interview, Hugo reflects on the leadership lessons he's learned through cross-cultural experiences, the importance of adaptability, and the growing demand for purpose-driven travel, wellness, and sustainability.
Watch the full interview to hear his story.
My career journey started in Dubai, after graduating from a hotel school in Switzerland, where I started as a management trainee and spent time mainly in food & beverage. Over the course of 5 years in Dubai, I moved over to rooms division, followed by then travelling across the waters to New York City, where I had the chance to work at The Plaza.
Moving on from New York, I went to India which, for me, was somewhat “coming home” because I grew up in India as a kid. So, going back there, and being able to work and open a hotel in Bangalore, was something that was a real achievement to me. It was where my son was also born.
After India, I moved over to China, where I had the chance to go and work in Sanya. I had to go and look it up on a map, I didn’t know where Sanya was at the time. I had an incredible experience working there. Followed by Tianjin, which is just south of Beijing. So, I spent 5 years in China and then I decided to move across to Morocco, North Africa, as I had the chance to speak French. I was responsible there for opening two hotels. And following on from there, I moved over to Spain, to a small island called Ibiza. I had the chance there to open a health and wellness resort.
And now here, in beautiful Hong Kong, where I have been with my family for the last three years.
What’s something you’ve unlearned as a leader?
I believe in taking the time to be okay with not knowing everything. When I first became a leader, I thought I had to know it all and understand every step of the way. But I think, as I grew up as a leader, I realised that it’s OK not to know everything and to surround yourselves with experts in their respective roles and to, hopefully, over the course of time, ask the right questions and empower people to be able to make decisions. That brings and fosters a strong work environment of collaboration.
So, from the idea of being the “hero” in the moment to more playing a role and shifting towards being a guide is something that I have been working on and continue to think about every day. To allow people to be the true heroes behind the scenes.
What advice would you give aspiring hotel leaders?
A few things. One of those is I would strongly recommend to invest in building relationships. Building relationships with the people around you, the teams, your peers, your superiors who you report to. I’m a big believer in building relationships that build trust.
The other is I would build on empathy and the ability to read the emotions that are taking place in the room, which comes with being able to adapt to different situations. Empathy plays into your ability to then connect with people and adapting plays into your ability to go around and see how you need to then make change, based on the situations.
In our industry, every day is a unique day. There’s not one day that is the same. So, I think having the ability to adapt plays a big part.
Lastly, I think that the ability to control less and empower more as a leader, and to feel comfortable with that. We don’t need to know everything. We need to trust our teams, we need to trust those around us to be able to make those decisions and when we make a mistake, that’s OK! We just learn from those and we move on together as a team to get stronger.
What do you believe today’s guests value most?
So, I would say it’s a few things. I think purpose travel is something that’s coming up more, and more, and more. People are choosing their destinations, choosing their hotels, with a clear purpose in mind. It could be an element of discovery, and it could be the discovery of the location, of the culture, the art, or it could be a discovery of self. So, any one of these – and maybe more – I think are key to this. And based on that we go ahead and ensure that we can adapt to these needs.
Let’s use the example of wanting to experience the local experiences in Hong Kong. Even though you’re staying at a luxury hotel, you still want to be with the locals, feel like the locals, and eat like the locals. So, we will take you on an art tour, or a street food tour, or a graffiti art tour in the streets of Hong Kong. I think that gives people the sense of purpose when they’re booking and looking for these destinations.
Another is wellness and sustainability. Wellness can be in different ways: your mind, your body, your soul, and being able to curate unique experiences around those. It can be a journey that you decide to go on over several days, it could be a half day experience in our spa – where it starts off with a holistic experience such as yoga, followed by a treatment in the spa, and then an afternoon tea experience in The Butterfly Room.
Wellness followed by sustainability, where people are willing to invest where they see us doing a good cause. Whether it’s to do with the community, towards the environment, that’s an important factor that they keep in mind when deciding to choose their destination.
Lastly, I think the ability to curate unique, personalised experiences plays a huge role that is not one size fits all, but it needs to be curated to what I’m looking to do. Not just in terms of those experiences I referred to earlier, but the amenities that I receive in my room – that they are truly unique to who I am and what I’m looking to do – or my preferences in food.
So, in the ultra-luxury space, these are unspoken but they are expected when I am checking into my room or to my suite at my hotel.
How are you preparing the next generation of hoteliers to thrive in a rapidly changing world?
It’s never easy as it’s ever-changing, but I think one of the key factors I consider to be important is: how do we build on the soft skills – the soft skills being ones around leading with empathy, leading with the ability to adapt to situations, and leading with the ability to communicate.
I think at a university level, or graduation level, we speak a lot about the hard skills, but I think what I’d like to focus on more are these soft skills that are important for our teams to learn.
Another, I would say, is how are we moving forward with technology?
AI is on our fingertips, digitalisation is happening as we speak and we need to be able to incorporate that into our day-to-day language, verbiage, and also the actions that we take. Gen Z are one step ahead of us when it comes to these various new forms of technology and we need to adapt.
Lastly, I would say cultural immersion. I think that regardless of where we live in the world, we need to understand the cultural sensitivities in each of the destinations – and the do’s and don’ts. That can come across in the way we speak, the manners we have, the body behaviour we use, and the way we approach person A or person B is not the same. So, cultural immersion – I feel – is an important aspect that we need to continue to nourish our leaders as they continue to grow.
If your hotel had a theme song, what would it be?
It would be Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling”. I love the energy behind this song. I think it brings people together. It’s got a lot of energy in it, a lot of enthusiasm. On any given day, it’s always going to put me in a great mood and I’m pretty sure if you played that in the lobby everyone would just start doing the movements and having fun.
If you could have dinner with anyone – dead or alive – who would it be and why?
Barack Obama. He’s someone that inspires me a lot. He’s not just an incredible public speaker, but I genuinely feel that he’s authentic when he talks. I’ve read his book, I love his story of where he started to where he came to.
What’s a podcast you recently listened to that inspires you?
The Diary of a CEO by Stephen Bartlett is one of my favourites that I keep going back to week in, week out. I just appreciate the interviews – they’re authentic, again, with those that he takes on and it’s a real range of subjects that they cover, which I always find fascinating and learn more.
What motto do you live by?
I live by three words: Believe, Conceive, Achieve.
“Believe” in yourself, believe in those around you, and believe in what you’re into on a day basis.
“Conceive” means having the ability to adapt to different moments, whatever those might be that come your way throughout the day.
And the last word, “Achieve” is the ability to go and get it, keep striving for it, keep looking for it, never give up, and you’re going to get there one day.