Hotelier of the week: Oliver Staas

Oliver Staas, general manager of the Park Inn Heathrow, talks to ABTN about managing one of the largest hotels at the world's busiest international airport.

Staas first got interested in the hospitality trade as a small boy, when his parents owned two restaurants in Cologne. "I helped out with serving and earnt my first tip at the age of seven, which made me very proud."

But instead of taking on the family business, the international hotel scene was his chosen career path. In 1984, his first hotel job was at the Renaissance Hotel in Cologne.

He worked up through the ranks, doing everything from waiting tables and working as a chef to housekeeping. "I think it's important to really get the feeling of cleaning 17 rooms in one shift. I know how boring and difficult it is. Sometimes it's nice to know these things, as a GM, because then it's easier to speak to your staff."

True to its promise, his career in hotels has taken him to Latvia, where he was the GM of the Radisson SAS Dauvaga Hotel, Riga from 1997, and on to Russia, where he was GM of the Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya Hotel in Moscow.

Next, he next took on the role of regional director for Russia, the Baltics, Aazerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine, whilst also being GM of the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, St Petersburg from 2001.

In 2004, he took up the opportunity to manage the opening of the Radisson SAS Stansted. "The first thing I thought was, where is Stansted?" said Staas. "Then I took a plane, flew into the airport, saw the building under construction and fell in love. It's a fantastic hotel."

While in Stansted, he had the opportunity to try out the trapeze on the 12-metre high wine tower, but decided it was best left to professionals. "I'm not afraid of anything, but when I was up there I didn't feel that great... I certainly didn't do any somersaults!"

No stranger to airport hotels, he joined Park Inn Heathrow, one of the airport's largest hotels, located on the main Bath Road drag, in February 2009.

According to Staas, managing airport hotels is very different from city centre hotels: "In an airport hotel you have to adjust very quickly to different situations. You have business people staying with you at the same time as tourists, and they have very different needs.

"Also, it might be lucky or unlucky for the passengers. They could be here for an important business meeting or from a delayed flight."

Staas said the Park Inn Heathrow tries to always be ready to cater for its different clientele, despite the fact that you can never really foresee what will happen in any given day.

"For example," said Staas, "the snow we had here last month - I came to work in the morning and the occupancy was ok but not full, then we ended up with 100%.

"Organisation-wise, we have to do more than a city hotel."

Staas said the hotel is always ready for a plane-load of delayed travellers. "We are always in contact with the airlines, telling them our availability, and we do have the advantage of having 900 bedrooms.

"We like to make it as easy as possible for any delayed passengers. I tell my staff to put themselves in the travellers' shoes - you're supposed to be flying to Miami and suddenly you're stuck at Heathrow.

"First of all check-in should be as easy as possible. We always have keys cut and ready, and the rooms are always prepared.

"And if an airline calls we can make a separate check-in - we use one of our conference centres, which can also be set up quickly for dinner or breakfast. We are always ready for circumstances that an airline might have."

As well as delayed passengers, Park Inn Heathrow makes life easy for cabin crew, with a separate check-in area and exclusive facilities, such as larger fridges, blinds for the windows and crew lounges.

According to Staas, it's important for the hotel to be part of the Heathrow community, and part of this is about improving its green credentials. The Park Inn has recently been awarded gold accreditation by the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

"It was a lot of work!" said Staas. "When I joined the hotel we had the silver award, so my first thing was to say let's go for gold. What I didn't know was how difficult it is."

He is keen to encourage other hotels to achieve something similar. "I've had a lot of colleagues asking how to things, or for support. We are happy to share, because it's not just something for us.

"I know Heathrow as an airport is doing more in this respect. I think it's very important, especially with the competition between airports today - I think we should fight to be the greenest airport."