I
started working in restaurants when I was 16. I wanted a motorcycle, so I started working to save up money. I ended up really liking the restaurant industry and the owner of one of the restaurants encouraged me to go to Hotelschool The Hague. In 1966, when I was at Hotelschool The Hague, the campus at the Brusselselaan had just been opened. The Hotelschool gives you a certain train of thought, it teaches you to think ahead and to think in a different way. At the time I couldn’t see the value of some of the courses, like a course called ‘Interieurkunde’ or ‘Interior design’, where we had to learn to read architectural drawings. But that course certainly proved its worth: I once made a calculation, and I think that in my career I have signed contracts with a total value of over two billion dollars for hotel renovation or new hotel purchases. At my final year at the Hotelschool, I worked with 12 students on a project, ‘Hotel Development in Amsterdam’. For this project we interviewed the GM of Okura as well as people at Hilton, the Tourist Board and KLM amongst others. Afterwards, Hilton made me an offer to go to the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal for their Executive Training Programme, and Okura offered me a position in Tokyo. It was back in 1970, I had never flown before. That is why I chose Okura, simply because Japan was the furthest destination. Now I am the President of Nikko hotels (JAL Hotels) and, since 2010, Executive Vice Chairman of the Okura Group: some 80 hotels with 26,000 staff members, 48 delicacy shops, one museum, and two factories. 26,000 people is a lot, but still my Executive Committee only consists of eight Directors. Some people think that when they graduate from Hotelschool The Hague, they will almost immediately become General Manager, but, of course, that takes time. At Okura I started as Assistant Director of Sales. Afterwards, I became the Director of Sales at the InterContinental in Frankfurt, Germany, then became General Manager in Copenhagen. A year later, I moved to San Francisco to start at Mark Hopkins Hotel InterContinental. I came back to Amsterdam in 1994 for a number of reasons. I was appointed Vice-President and General Manager of Hotel Okura Amsterdam and was responsible for our international properties. In 2009, the President Mr Ogita and I decided to take over the management contracts of more than 50 Japan Airline Hotels. In September, we celebrated the 44th Anniversary of the Okura Amsterdam and at that event I announced stepping down as President of Hotel Okura Amsterdam. I will continue as Executive Vice Chairman, officially I have the job until I
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turn 72, but I’d like to slow down. I’ve always worked very hard, so I can’t just stop from one day to the other, but I have to slow down. Looking back, would I have done things differently? Well, I wish I had visited my son’s baseball games on Saturdays more. Too many times I was caught up in work, attending cocktail parties because I felt I had to be there. But looking back, if I hadn’t been there, would I have missed anything? Would they have missed me? In hindsight, I think I could have done less with the same result. But I enjoyed it, and maybe I also did it because the Japanese do the same. The Japanese way of working is also my way of working, to some extent. Reliability is very important to me. The biggest issue for the Japanese is losing face, so they always aim for perfection. The Japanese take very little vacation, they feel embarrassed if they take a week off. I’m not that bad, but this year I’ll take a three week break for the first time since 1993. I am extremely proud of the focus on F&B as the ‘Image Maker’ of our property. Two Michelin stars for Ciel Blue, one star for Sazanka, one for Yamazato and a Bib Gourmand for Serre Restaurant. I am also proud of the changes we achieved with the JAL hotels, taking them over at a loss, now making a good profit. But what I am really proud of is having trained seven General Managers for the Okura Group, three of them Dutch. I trained them and now they are all in leading positions. The secret to success? Timing and good luck! It’s always a combination of things. It’s about being yourself, knowing what you want and always going for quality. Be open. Give your staff the opportunity to shine. I am low-key and approachable, my door is open. I only ask of people to do a good job, in whatever they are doing. My advice to students seeking a career in hospitality? Take the opportunity to go abroad and learn from different companies and cultures. Don’t go for the jobs that just look good on your business card, Manager this or that. Do it now, don’t wait until it’s too late. We are lucky that we work in an industry which, besides having different cultures, is the same all over the world. If you can get used to a different culture, you can work wherever you want.
“I think that in my career I have signed contracts with a total value of over two billion dollars for hotel renovation or new hotel purchases.”