Industry Insight - Innovation

I was always interested in what was going on in Switzerland, kept good contacts with my industry friends and led the Swiss Society Bangkok as their president for several years. I always wanted to stay connected to my home, even when I was away for a long time. I am also very thankful to the former Executive Chef, who introduced me to EHL Passugg. It took two phone calls before I decided with my family to come back home and start my new journey here at EHL Campus Passugg.

How does working as a Director of Hospitality Service at EHL Campus Passugg differ from your previous job as a General Manager? And what has been more challenging? Once a hotelier – always a hotelier. And this is how I continuously live and practice it in Passugg. As a former Hotel GM, I used to have guests from all over the world and now I have guests too. Our students. This is not always easy, as I can only achieve this service quality with the help and support of the entire team and our guests, who not only stay with us for leisure, but enjoying to learn and study very hard to achieve their goals to become the talents our hospitality industry needs.

What is your favorite room or part of the historical school building?

The Market Jardin, which used to be the “Computer Room”. We have exciting plans for the future of our Campus and its extensions, and this place is going to be the new heart of this place. I am unfortunately not able to reveal too much, but we are aiming to double the amount of the currently 350 students on site.

Every company provides a vision for what they want to become. A mission of what they stand for along with the corresponding values they rest their fundamental self-conception on. In research, we call this an organization’s identity. Identity provides a filter of appropriateness in what actions to pursue, how a company behaves and the answer to the fundamental question of “who are we as a company”?

What would you change about the campus in your vision if you could make a dream come true?

Open up all our restaurants to the public, so that we would be able to welcome all our guests from near and far. They should be able to enjoy all the delicious specialties and the excellent service delivered by our student

What makes living in the historical school hotel so unique for students?

Innovation is a fundamental building block to EHL’s identity. But what does it mean, when an institution rests its self-conception on a value that requires rethinking itself on a regular basis and relentlessly questioning what it does, and who it is? It provides great opportunities, but also great responsibility. At EHL this means not only rethinking our pedagogical developments through digitalization, providing opportunities that push the boundaries of our knowledge with corporate partners through institutes, giving a home to entrepreneurs to start their ventures from our innovation village…What it also means, is integrating you into the process of designing who EHL will become going forward.

The historical building has a special boutique atmosphere. Not many people have the chance to study and live in such a unique place. It is therefore a “once in a lifetime chance” and sure it will be an unforgettable one too.

Values do not end with an institution’s boundaries. As a graduate from EHL you have become part the ecosystem of internal and external constituencies that enable EHL to live up to its promise for innovation. As graduates from this institution, but also as an active member of the EHL family, I am asking you today, how can we jointly drive, sustain, redefine and further the innovative drive within EHL? We truly believe that jointly the EHL community holds an enormous capacity to innovate and as we are moving out of the paralysis of the past two years, we are more eager than ever to push the potential for innovation together with you!

What is your favorite story you like to tell people about the campus?

There are two donkeys, living a happy life close to our campus. One day, they escaped for a walk and passed by my office window on the main street. It was (kind of) my responsibility to help them find the way back home and make sure they would not get hit by a car. But I guess it looked very funny to see a guy in a suit and tie “playing” the farmer.

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