Scale New Heights An Interview with David Katemopoulos, the General Manager in Le Méridien Xiamen 再攀高峰 ——访厦门艾美酒店总经理汤大伟

访厦门艾美酒店总经理汤大伟

By Vicco Wu

Five years ago, David Katemopoulos was the general manager in Le Méridien Xiamen. Under his management, Le Méridien Xiamen opened successfully, and it stand out from other hotels, due to the unique surrounding.

Five years later, David Katemopoulos come back to Le Méridien Xiamen with the award of annual hotel people which was awarded in 2013.

Mr. Katemopoulos graduated from Lincoln University, and mastered in Management Development in PKKI Hong Kong university and Marketing Planning in Cornell University. Early in his life, he gave up his father’s watch factory and stepped into hotel industry by accident, but right know, he has over 30 years experiences in hotel industry. He was sales director in Shangri-La Groups. During 1990 to 2001, he worked in the Peninsula Hotel. In 2001, Mr. Katemopoulos joined Starswood hotels, and prepared for the opening of ST REGIS Hotel in Shanghai. Mr. Katermopoulos wen to a lot of cities in China during his 14 years work in China.

Mr. Katemopoulos has a very good understanding of hotels in Xiamen. He has his own opinions about the market here.’The tourism market boomed, so it promotes the related industry. But the increasing of new hotels makes the competition harder. To get the trust, we need to be special.’ He said. Le Méridien Xiamen has natural surroundings and the value of it adheres ‘fashion, culture, exploration’ in France.

Art is the core icon of Le Méridien Xiamen. Mr. Katemopoulos invited numbers of artists to do the exhibition in Le Méridien Xiamen. He stressed that the guest can feel free to visit the Gulangyu Piano Museum. These culture features and hotels warm services give guest a very good impression.

五年前，于酒店业有着良好美誉的资深专家汤大伟先生（David Katemopoulos）时任厦门艾美酒店总经理。在他的运筹帷幄下，酒店成功开幕，并以独特的山林景观、高雅浪漫的艺术氛围及注重品质与细节的服务而在当地众多酒店中脱颖而出。

五年后，获选《新旅行》2013年度高端酒店年度人物的汤大伟回到厦门艾美酒店再次担任总经理，带来了一片新气象。

汤大伟先生毕业于林肯大学，曾于香港大学潘锦溪商业研究学院修读管理发展的研究生课程，以及于康奈尔大学修读营销策划课程。早年，他没能在父亲的手表厂里暂露头角，却机缘巧合地进入酒店行业，如鱼得水，迄今已积累了30年的酒店从业经验。他在香港曾担任香格里拉集团销售总监一职。1990至2001年间，他加入半岛酒店集团，晋升至市场营销部总监。2001 年，汤大伟先生加盟喜达屋酒店及度假村国际集团，为浦东的瑞吉红塔酒店（现上海红塔豪华精选酒店）筹备开幕事宜。伴随着在中国14年的工作历程，汤大伟先生足迹先后遍布上海、海南、澳门、厦门，曾在海口喜来登温泉度假酒店、澳门瑞吉酒店、上海衡山路十二号豪华精选酒店及厦门艾美酒店等酒店出任总经理。

汤大伟非常了解厦门酒店的市场，针对近几年发展迅猛的酒店业格局与现状，他给出了自己的见解。“旅游市场的繁荣，带动了行业的发展，但新酒店尤其是五星级酒店的涌现，使得竞争更加激烈。要赢得客人的忠诚度，酒店的特色与服务至关重要。”汤大伟强调，厦门艾美酒店坐拥仙岳山这一天然绿色氧吧，加之其秉承的法国品牌酒店“时尚、文化、探索”的核心价值观，令酒店占尽天时地利人和。

艺术一直是厦门艾美酒店的一张文化名片，就像品牌的DNA一般。在汤大伟先生的倡导下，酒店积极与国际及当地的艺术机构合作，邀请了不少国际知名的艺术家进行活动展示。“只要你是我们酒店的住客，就可以免费参观鼓浪屿钢琴博物馆。”艺术的氛围也受到了时尚界的垂青，享有盛誉的时装品牌宝姿1961就在今年春天选择厦门艾美酒店发布了一场当季的户外时装秀。这些文化的体验为客人带来惊喜，加之酒店的优雅装潢、精美食物以及细致入微的服务，这些都让汤大伟对厦门艾美酒店的前景充满信心！

Q&A

How do you feel when you come back to Le Méridien Xiamen?
Le Méridien Xiamen has plenty of special features which can not be copy by the other hotels. Hotel has the unique view of Xianyue Mountain, and 342 elegant suites and rooms, also 12 villa suites. All of the rooms have the views of nature. Moreover, the 850sqm hall in Le Méridien Xiamen provides natural light which attracts so many international companies.The wedding hall is perfect for the couple. We are pleased invite people to explore our hotel.

What is your new stratagems when you come back?
We have a lot of ideas to plan, our hotel changes more and better. Like the NEW HUB project, this is an area which is different from the traditional hub. The origin of Le Méridien is from French, so there will be some French life styles in our hotel. The most popular project is Éclair finger Puffs. Now you can try this puff in all the Le Méridien in the world. We will put some local items into the puff, so it will taste different in different regions, which is very exciting. The new Le Méridien will hold more activities with culture features also.

What do you think can make a good hotel manager?
A good hotel manager should be accepted by guest. However the circumstance is, I will communicate with guests and get the advices for my team. These things can make hotel goes better.

In the hotel management, what is your secret of success?
I don’t think they are secrets, but I do want to share tree tips: first, communication, get knowledge from mistakes and change. In hotel, communicating with other members from different departments is the key thing to management; second, try to get lessons from the errors; at last, managing a hotel is like managing country, sometimes, a good changes can make a differences. So I hope my team can keep pace with the time.

What is the most important treasure for a hotel?
Human, always. The basic things for a hotel are the location, the capacity and decoration. So when dealing with people, reception, cooperation, catering and room services are the things guests can feel. So I take a very serious way about the team member training. Le Méridien Xiamen has a team of 400 employees, and we are concerted tightly, so I feel very happy.
In the future, there are 100 hotels in the plan of Starswood in 5 years. Now we are searching for the talented hotel people for the best serving.

What is your hobbies?
I’m a fan of sports. About 6 years ago, I started to play golf, at that time, I was in the Sheraton Haikou Resort. Right now, I still like do some exercises with my friends. It is a good way to relax.

重回厦门艾美酒店担任总经理，您的心情如何？
这对我来说，就像是一次回归。厦门艾美酒店有着众多别家酒店无法复制的特色，首先它坐拥仙岳山独到自然美景，其次它所拥有的342间别致高雅的客房与套房包括12间各类别墅套房，所有的房间都有面向山景或庭景的开放私人阳台，850平米10米调高的自然采光的五立柱大宴会厅也吸引了众多跨国公司的厦门目的地会议举办。多重选择的婚宴场地及自然迷人的景观更是满足了新婚男女关于婚礼的所有想象。我们真诚希望大家亲自来探索发现。

您回归厦门艾美酒店后，正逢品牌重新定位，能谈谈全新的艾美品牌都有哪些不同吗？
是的，作为喜达屋旗下的酒店，艾美品牌正在经历激动人心的重新定位，许多创意正在计划与实施中，改变时时刻刻都在发生。比如HUB项目，打造了一个与传统咖啡厅完全不同的公共区域，即使是陌生人，大家也可以一起交流。艾美品牌源于法国，因此更多法兰西的生活方式被纳入全新的品牌定位中。其中最有趣的当属堪称今年重头戏的Éclair手指泡芙的项目。如今，在全球的艾美酒店你都可以尝到这款点心，但每家酒店都会结合本土美食，推出创意风味的Éclair手指泡芙，传达浓厚的文化情愫，我们会把厦门的特色风味融入其中。全新的艾美品牌会将更多文化内涵融入各类活动中。

您觉得怎样才算一名成功的酒店管理者？
一名成功的酒店管理者肯定是被客人所认可的，这非常重要。无论在什么场合，我都会积极与客人沟通，将所有的意见反馈给各部门，以期力臻完美。唯有把这些做好，酒店才会成功，财务业绩也就一路飘红。

在酒店管理上，您成功的秘诀是什么？
谈不上秘诀，但我想跟大家分享3点经验，让你可以事半功倍：沟通，从错误中吸取教训，改变。在酒店工作，需要协调各部门协同运作，沟通至关重要，良好的沟通会让一切都井然有序。其次，人总会犯错，面对错误要勇于承担，并从错误中吸取教训，这样才会成长。改变有时是最为困难的，管理酒店就像运作一个国家，变革是进步的基石，我总是希望整个团队能够保持开放的心态，与时俱进，这样一切才能变得更完美。

对一个酒店来说，什么才是最重要的财富？
人，酒店最重要的财富永远是人。一个酒店，它的坐落位置、客房的数量与体量以及内部装饰、配套设施的完备都属于硬件的水准。而与之对应人，包括接待、运营、餐饮、客房等员工的专业性，才是真正让客人感受品牌价值的关键。因此，我非常看重员工的培训和培养，给予他们更好的工作环境以及发展空间，将个人的成功与酒店的成功拴在一起。厦门艾美酒店有着一支由400名员工组成的团队，大家齐心协力，众志成城，我感到非常幸运。
未来，喜达屋集团计划开设100家酒店，未来5年，公司正在积极培养和储备人才，有了这些优秀的员工，才能给客人提供最好的服务。

您平时都有哪些爱好？
我平时非常喜欢体育运动，大约在6年前，我开始对高尔夫产生了浓厚的兴趣。当时，我正在海口喜来登温泉度假酒店担任总经理一职，一次偶然的机会让我迷上了这项运动。现在没到闲暇时，我都会跟球友们一同去运动一下，锻炼的同时，还能放松身心、感受自然。

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