From Nepal
to a peak performer in the hotel industry Rochak Karki – Images courtesy of InterContinental Sydney
By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter
As a young man, Rochak Karki was immersed in learning accounting and finance at a Nepalese university in the shadow of the mighty Himalayas. He never imagined the heights that pursuing his studies could take him – even if the trek to the top of the InterContinental Sydney as one of the few male Executive Housekeepers in Australia came about after a series of detours. Mr Karki presides over 509 rooms at one of Australia’s leading hotels, 30 storeys of grandeur perched above the magnificence of Sydney Harbour. He has not yet reached any great heights in the soaring mountains of his homeland, but he is at the top of his game in Australia.
He has not yet reached any great heights in the soaring mountains of his homeland, but he is at the top of his game in Australia.
restaurant functions. From there he became housekeeping supervisor and manager at Sydney’s Quest Apartments and then became an executive housekeeper at AHS Hospitality, Australia and New Zealand's leading outsourced housekeeping partner. He then had management roles at Global Hospitality Solutions and Sydney’s Hyatt
Regency before taking on the executive housekeeper role at the InterContinental in October 2019. It is a prestigious but demanding role, and he says housekeeping is the calling card for any hotel. For a luxury brand there must be a fastidious attention to detail. “The InterContinental provides exclusive service,” he says.
“We have a very high standard of guest satisfaction and very high care to the guest. “We like to know the needs of people before they even ask and that’s why I’m very proud to represent the Intercontinental brand. “I guess the most important parts of the role are team management, planning and training. “Housekeepers are at the front line for guest satisfaction. “It’s what is most important to people, so each room has to be of the highest standard – it’s the calling card for the hotel and the thing that people remember.” Mr Karki’s working day begins usually at around 7am, checking on housekeeping requirements and undertaking a property walk as a first check on maintenance. At the morning briefings he draws up a work schedule for the day, and addresses guest feedback.
Mr Karki came to Sydney nine years ago as a 22-year-old post-graduate student wanting to add a Master of Commerce degree to the Bachelor of Business Administration he had received from Nepal’s Pokhara University on the gateway to the greatest peaks in the world. While studying in Sydney for the degree – majoring in accounting and finance – from Ballarat’s Federation University, Mr Karki entered the hospitality trade as a food and beverage attendant for the Dockside Group, at Darling Harbour, working at various
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AccomNews - Summer 2021
HOUSEKEEPING
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