Hotelier of the Week: Yehia Rashed

Yehia Rashed, general manager of the Renaissance Hotel, Amsterdam, has a passion for the hospitality business. He tells ABTN how hotels should create an experience for every guest who stays at them.

The Renaissance Hotel, Amsterdam has changed considerably since Yehia Rashed took over as its general manager three years ago.  He had already served for two years as the general manager of all three Marriott International hotels in the Dutch capital and at nearby Schiphol Airport. But at the Renaissance, built in 1975 and taken over by Marriott in 1997, he had a special task:  to oversee a major, €45m renovation which saw the room count rise to 402, including new suites, what he calls the best meeting facilities in the city, and a new bar, restaurants, a fitness centre and a business centre. It began in 2007 and only finished six months ago

The hotel, a short walk from the city's Central railway station, is tucked down a street near the Singel Canal right in the heart of an historic part of Amsterdam. Before the renovation, it was already one of the city's leading hotels for the business traveller. Now with its 16 meeting rooms in the hotel itself and, across the street, the unique and stunning 1668 Koepelkerk which has been converted into one of the most arresting meeting venues in the Netherlands,  it is aiming, no less, to be the best convention hotel in Europe.

And it is here that Mr Rashed's philosophy, polished through more than 30 years in the business, shines through. It is more than offering comfortable beds, spacious rooms, WiFi, state of the art technology in the meeting rooms and a well equipped business centre. "We are in a job where we create an experience, an experience for the client so that they enjoy their stay and feel that the price they have paid is worth their stay. Hotels are run on the ability of the general manager to make their stay worthwhile. And when you do that, you do it with the help of the hotel employees," he said.

In Mr Rashed's eyes it is difficult to overestimate the value of good staff who have been trained properly. In training them properly, he says, you are building up the next generation of the industry's leaders. "When you work the hours that we work, you become friends with the guests. I spend more time here with our associates and our guests than I spend with my own family. You find yourself asking ‘Did the guest eat well? Sleep well? Enjoy their stay?' and you only do that with your family.

"You even do that with your associates and it is the welfare of the people around you that makes you more and more committed to the whole experience. You begin to know more about the personal stuff of your associates than you do about your own family because you work with them every day while I don't see my son because he is at university," he said.    

In return for the best efforts of the staff, the hotel must train them properly so their skills improve. "This is not just knowing about a good wine, or the comfort of the rooms or a how a good meal is prepared. It is also about being business savvy", said Mr Rashed, who took a course in finance while at hotel school, said. "We need to create business bones in their bodies because they are going to be leaders of this industry.

"Hotel owners must make enough investment in their hotels and it is our role to teach the next generation how they can build the future and know they have the ability to manage the business in a crisis, like the current world financial crisis. Knowing more is delivering more."

This current crisis has hit the Renaissance in the same way as it has affected hotels around the world which have a high proportion of business travellers. About 60% of Mr Rashed's guests are on business, with about 30% of that figure attending a conference. The majority are from the US and the UK. "For these countries, we are very much the home for the business travellers," he said. "But in the last months we have seen a decline in occupancy and a decline in rates.

"But we are now seeing positive growth in terms of both occupancy and rate. This is a very new product and we have positioned it the right way in the market place. The reaction to it has been extremely overwhelming," he said. The meetings business which is not reliant on any one particular industry, is also going "extremely well" with "very positive bookings coming in for 2101". The hotel not only benefits from its own meeting facilities but also regularly takes guests who are attending the RAI Congress Centre, Amsterdam's major convention centre.

Mr Rashed, born in Cairo, has spent all of his years in the industry away from his home country since graduating from the hotel school. He has worked for Marriott for 33 years in the US, Europe and Africa. Only Asia he says, has escaped him. His first job as a general manager was opening Paris Marriott in the Champs-Élysées in 1997. He stayed in the French city for seven and a half years, becoming in the process Marriott's area manager for Paris. He moved to Amsterdam in 2004.  "I don't know any industry that is 9-5 and worth working in. We are a 24 hour industry and you have to be there when anybody is looking for you," he said. It often means just four hours sleep a night.  

"Why go into such an industry? It's people. I love the people who come here and the people I work with. I feel part of this integral family when you go out with these associates to do the best for the clients. There is also the legacy that you leave behind. You want to be successful, work in the best hotels around the world with the best people. You want to be remembered," he said.

It is highly likely that he has reached this status with a number of his young colleagues who have moved on to senior posts in the industry, including some who have made the grade to general manager. "We have seen such young trainees who are now general managers in Paris, Dubai, all over the place and that is one of the great things for me, to see these young ladies and gentlemen in these positions. The future is in their hands.

"If you feel you are participating in building the future, it is worth every moment you spend."

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