General Management

After more than 35 years in hotel leadership, I've seen our industry evolve through major technological shifts. I began my career as one of the youngest leaders in the hotel, and today I'm often the person with the deepest institutional knowledge and operational experience.

My first honest lesson with AI was this: the technology was never the hard part. The people were. Our earliest AI applications were practical — sentiment analysis and review response support, demand forecasting tools, and pre-arrival personalization.

As a General Manager, my biggest learning has been that AI is not a replacement for hospitality—it is an enabler of better hospitality.Our first steps with AI focused on improving productivity rather than replacing people. We have used AI to support content creation, communication, brainstorming, data analysis, guest feedback summarisation and operational planning.

After more than 35 years in hospitality across Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard, Sheraton, and Hard Rock, I've witnessed a fundamental shift in what defines a successful General Manager.Earlier in my career, the GM's role centered on service excellence, team leadership, culture, and guest satisfaction.

The tension described in this question is not a future concern for luxury GMs. It is the daily reality of the role right now. I oversee two properties within a complex institutional ownership structure with exacting financial standards.

The expectations of a luxury hotel General Manager have changed significantly over the past decade. Today, owners are looking for more than operational excellence, they expect a trusted business partner who understands investment priorities, protects asset value, and can confidently navigate an increasingly complex ownership landscape.From my perspective, however, this evolution should not come at the expense of what defines our industry.

The Hard Rock Hotel New York is clearly adapting to Gen Z’s modern view of luxury, shifting away from traditional extravagance and toward immersive experiences, personalization, creativity, and visually compelling spaces. The hotel delivers this through music‑infused amenities, rooftop social environments, bold design, and cultural programming that make the stay feel expressive and memorable.

I think we mustn't confuse luxury with lifestyle. Gen Z's are currently in the 14-29 yr old range and there will be an extremely small percentage of them with the financial clout to enter into the luxury segment. Either way, hotels need to be tech-savvy, from their marketing approach to their services & facilities on offer.

Gen Z is reframing luxury. True luxury evolves to intention, cultural relevance, and emotional resonance, not by traditional symbols of status. They look for brands that know who they are, operate with purpose, and deliver experiences that feel crafted rather than standardized.The hotels that connect with this generation are those capable of offering high‑touch personalization with seamless, low‑friction operations, while staying authentic to their heritage.

In the Middle East, balancing cultural intelligence with strong local identity is not theoretical—it is an everyday operational reality. Our hotels welcome guests from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the region itself, often under the same roof and at the same moment.

Cultural intelligence and local identity are not competing ideals, they are two expressions of the same promise of hospitality. The balance lies in protecting the essence of place while refining how service is expressed. Cultural intelligence begins with listening.

One of the brand traits that sets Four Seasons apart is the adaptation and embracing of local culture. This will be particularly reflected here in Saudi Arabia where the Kingdom is rooted in deep traditions with incredible heritage while at the same time being the pace-setter in many aspects of modern life.

As we say goodbye to 2025, I am optimistic for the future of the hospitality industry in 2026 and beyond, it is truly a resilient business. Travelers continue to seek a memorable experience and the corporate sector is back doing events that fuel our economic growth!

Profitability is what every budget really comes down to. Still, building a budget is more than just organizing or plugging numbers into the excel file (If it´s your go-to tool, still). It's about understanding what is coming in, what's going out, and how your revenue plan ties everything together.

For our 2026 budget, my primary focus will be on sustaining brand awareness and strengthening the property’s positioning. Guests today are increasingly attentive to consistency; they expect the same level of quality and service regardless of market conditions or rate fluctuations.

The decisive skill I feel separates a great GM is "managing the balanced scorecard" - enlivening employee engagement, amplifying the guest experience, and ensuring financial stability. Too often, the General Manager confuses what is truly important and relevant to the hospitality business.

For me, the role of a luxury hotel GM is first and foremost that of a balancing act. Depending on the context, whether corporate or private ownership, the GM must be able to adapt and understand stakeholders' expectations. They must be able to deal with ambiguity and create added value.

Strategic foresight distinguishes outstanding luxury hotel general managers from their peers. Empathy empowers a general manager (GM) to understand and anticipate the diverse needs of guests, staff, owners, and partners. In luxury hospitality, emotional connections are crucial; guests often remember how they felt during their stay far more than the details of their accommodations.

In your organization, which sustainability goal(s) are you excited about? Remington along with our ownership groups have ongoing conversations about opportunities we have across our portfolio. Just the fact that we are having conversations and there is interest by owners is exciting.

Radisson Hotel Group has a long history of being a responsible business and has an ambitious and award-winning program. We believe in conducting business ethically in all we do, and aim to be a thriving, sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and our planet.

We have always believed that sustainability has to begin locally; you have to give your team in the hotel the power to act and to act in the best interests of its community. Only the people in that community know where you can source the best local products and find the best local suppliers.At Magnuson Hotels we have never focused our business on the long-haul market, but looked more locally, for that business which is sustainable in every sense of the word.

Purpose, Creativity & Inclusion - At Remington Hotels, our culture of innovation is rooted in 3 key principles: purpose, creativity, & inclusion. It all starts with defining the purpose, goal, and strategic plan of the organization.

It is true that innovation requires focus, resources and ultimately funding. At IDeaS we have a multi-pronged approach to innovation: 1) A constant dialog with our clients about their evolving needs and how IDeaS could provide more value to them 2) Continuous research and conversations about evolving end consumer expectations, technology transformation and their implications on hospitality at large and particularly the commercial function.

Transforming company culture is something that must be done genuinely and with respect for the values on which your company was founded. We used the pandemic as an opportunity to assess our current set-up, operations and teams, utilising the time to embark on a journey of innovation and transformation that better caters to the needs of our customers.

At Dream Hotel Group we believe in good talent. Our goal is to hire, train and retain the best in the business. We pride ourselves in supporting growth and opportunities for all gender identifications. We lead from the top: all of our verticals are led by women vice presidents, and one of our five in the c-suite is a woman.

While elevating women to leadership positions is important across the hospitality industry, it is of even greater significance to Sonesta, given our recent and future growth plans. We have an expanded platform and even more opportunity than ever before to include female leadership who can make a difference within our team during this period of rapid growth.

“There is a big difference between equality and equity, and that has been the biggest learning for me in the past years. Last year, as we relooked at our management team's structure, we knew we had to make changes and be more diverse.We started recruiting for the Chief Operations Commerce Officer position, and we knew this person had to be a woman.

Good hospitality is built on successful relationships, and Cycas's focus has always been to make our hotels the best places to work as well as stay. We have always maintained that we have three 'customers': our guests, our owners, and our Cycadettes.

Since the pandemic began, at Benchmark Global Hospitality we have repeated a motivational phrase many times – soon it will be our time to heal the world with hospitality. Well, that time is upon us! While we have no choice but to embrace a digital world, the human-centered enterprise of hospitality will always rely on the hands, hearts, minds and souls of human beings.

Culture, People and Process;If there has ever been an "intangible", possibly "providing service" is the best example.This is the very foundation of providing hospitality and making that true / real contact with our guests.Our industry is fragmented and diverse, covers the entire globe and having a universal measuring stick is impossible.The industry's answer for years has been scripting and measuring against that, resulting in strange and artificial feeling interactions."did you have a nice trip...", "it is so good to have you back...", "how was your stay..." We all know these heart crunching questions that mostly are asked without any true interest or backed up by the emotion they deserve.And then there was the third party online feedback and scoring.