Interview with Jørgen Christensen | General Manager Finalist

Having lived through SARS in Hong Kong in 2003, Jørgen Christensen used his experience and knowledge to successfully lead his team through the latest pandemic. He believes that leading is not a sprint but a marathon, where every detail matters. Take a look at Jørgen’s journey thus far…

1.       Please give us a short introduction about you and your career background

Like most Scandinavians, I was introduced to the hospitality industry through the big tour-operator networks and spent 6 years in France, Turkey, United States, Greece, Thailand and Cyprus. I then went on to study for my Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality, from IHTTI, Switzerland and Bournemouth University in the UK. Interesting opportunities began to open up in Asia and Hong Kong, and I soon had a role supporting hotel investments and performance evaluations with what eventually became Langham Hospitality.

I quickly became well versed in opening and repositioning hotels, launching some very successful openings including Sofitel Royal Angkor, Cambodia; Langham Place Mongkok, Hong Kong; Shangri-La Guangzhou, The Langham Xintiandi Shanghai and ultimately Niccolo Changsha.

In addition to opening hotels, I became equally well versed in repositioning assets and increasing revenue generation in hotels where their respective openings had not been as successful as originally envisioned.

My central focus has always been to develop my team to drive operational excellence, resulting in premium guest experiences, revenue and profit growth. Doing so generates value and make guests happy, which was central to the successful repositioning and improvement of 5 other hotels in Hong Kong, China and the USA. Over the years, I have found that my tenacity and self-motivation were traits that greatly helped me to progress and grow in my career.

2.       Can you share how you have decided to lead your team and your property through this recent turbulent period?

When the pandemic started, we knew it would be the challenge of a lifetime. We focused our efforts on studying and learning as much as possible from the experiences of people who lived through past pandemics. We prioritised: a) How to optimally protect our colleagues and guests, and b) How to protect our business interests by servicing customers.

I have adapted many of my successful strategies from those implemented in sport, both during and after the pandemic. This was a situation where pro-actively attacking the issue clearly was the best way to defend ourselves. We immediately engaged with our staff, and maintained communication with them to ensure they knew what was happening, and what that meant for both them personally and for us as a business. We also focused on hygiene for colleagues and guests, and provided training to ensure everyone understood their unique roles and responsibilities.

We knew that business would eventually return, but we had no idea of the timeframe under which this would happen. Therefore, we kept all communication lines open with our staff, customers and the key government representatives that we work with every day to facilitate the optimal solutions. The continuous focus on communication, communication, communication allowed us to have all the information to make the right decisions. My focus was that of a coach, to guide my team through the challenges ahead of us and focus foremost on my staff. The logic behind this was that if we could look after our staff, the customers and the business would in turn be taken care of. As a result, we ended up exceeding our 2020 budget and we are 25% ahead for 2021 as of mid-year.

3.       What is it you are most proud of in your career to date?

There are many small individual victories along the way that put a smile on my face, of which I am very proud. These include many successful hotel openings, as well as the effective repositioning of hotels that I have worked with. They also include individual situations where I have contributed to positive guest experiences or fixed a holiday or event that appeared to be beyond repair on multiple occasions. I think that they can easily be summarised as being an effective communicator and problem solver taking on the challenges that has been presented to me and eliminating them one by one. Within this category most definitely includes the very successful opening of Niccolo Changsha and the subsequent business ramp up we have achieved. Over three years, we elevated total revenue generation and guest satisfaction to the same levels that a competitor hotel took six years to achieve. It is, however, not easy to compare individual markets as they all have unique challenges that govern the decision making that is required to become successful.

Ultimately, I believe that our success is a result of the people I have brought into the team, and the manner in which we successfully trained them and kept our objectives results focused. I increasingly realise that what I am most proud of is the acumen of the colleagues that I have had the opportunity to work with and train. Many are exceptionally unique and strong in their own right, yet often reach out to me for advice, assistance, a recommendation, or just a chat. That is what I am most proud of, as it shows more than anything that I have made a positive difference in the lives of these people.

4.       Can you share what you believe is key in leading a successful hotel today?

It’s hard to summarise in just a few snippets, but I believe the essential fuel to drive a successful hotel today remains generating revenue and positive guest reviews. In order to achieve that, it is critical to have a guest focused organisation that seeks to identify and exceed guest’s needs, however different or unique those individual needs may be.

The establishment of a guest centric organisation lies at the heart of our success, and we focus hard on what our customers are telling us through one-on-one interaction, ReviewPro, company specific review systems, Ctrip, TripAdvisor, Dianping, etc.

As we are seeing the explosive growth of hotels in most destinations, our first priority is to recruit, train and retain our human resources and take exceptionally good care of our staff. Once we are surrounded with the best possible people, with the right mind-set and attitude, it is essential to coach, train, challenge and take good care of them at every level. A key component of this is providing quality canteen services to our staff and housing them in excellent dormitory accommodation. Once these basics are taken care of, the team management is dependent on departmental specific skills and experience, with the opportunity for staff to grow and develop throughout the organisation across individual divisions.

In order to efficiently lead, guide and coach team members, good communication is essential. Being a knowledgeable, empathetic, and understanding leader also goes a long way. To lead is to coach, teach, and educate team members on learning from their individual mistakes while setting high standards that everyone aims to achieve consistently. Leading is not a sprint but a marathon (or a round the world yacht race), where every detail matters.

5.       What do you think the next few years hold for the hospitality sector and its recovery

I believe opportunities will be plentiful throughout the hospitality industry, but I have always been a glass half full type of person J. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it would be that people crave human interaction and engagement with others through travel, meetings or wining & dining. In order to prosper we need human relationships, and the hospitality industry is ready to start growing more than ever.

 I lived in Hong Kong in 2003 when SARS hit, and I had a personal connection to one of the hardest hit areas. That taught me, as we entered this pandemic, that there is an end game, and the light will eventually emerge at the end of the tunnel. Our light in Changsha happened to emerge sooner and faster than most other destinations, because we proactively took on the challenge. Subsequent positive changes occurred quickly for us as a result of concerted marketing and sales efforts and by July 2020 we far exceeded all expectations.

The pandemic has shown us that we as managers need to always be ready for potential crises. In order for the industry to remain successful we need to come together with government and educational institutions to educate our industry’s human resources and set them up for future success.

Our industry needs to be a leader in implementing preventive measures to handle outbreaks big or small. We also need to lead in minimising the environmental impact we have, and contribute to saving the planet. Most importantly, we need to lead in educating the work force of the future. The recovery may very well be faster than what we currently foresee, as I believe that we humans are extremely resilient. The more adversity we experience, the stronger we all become, as showcased in the recent growth rates across various markets.

6.       Aside from being a hotelier, what is your passion?

Being a father to our daughter and son. I have two exceptional children, who I sometimes feel I am not able to give 100% of my time because of my work. They say that if you find something that you love to do, we don’t need to work a single day for the rest of your life. I love being a husband, father and hotelier which gives me so much back in terms of human interaction and personal growth. I love everything about being a father and co-educator, along with my wife Anita, of Sophia (12) and Alexander (9). So much so that I rarely have the chance to practice my previous number one passion of sailing, that I had done around the world since the age of 12.

7.       What is the motto that you live by?

(1) Communication, communication, communication!

(2) Do your job well!

(3) Offense is the best defence!