10th Edition, 2013

HOTELIER

HICAP UPDATE 2013

Indonesia Hotels Investment World 2013

SAXONLOOKER

Organizational Culture

HOTELIER INDONESIAJOBS | EVENTS | HOSPITALITY NEWS | MAGAZINE

www.hotelier-indonesia.com

PAY FOR PERFORMANCE? Or PAY FOR POSITION?

Edition 10th , 2013

HOTELIER INDONESIA

INDONESIA

PERSPECTIVES ON GHM IN INDIA

THE INTERVIEW

Hotel and Branded Residential Market Update 2012 Edition and 2013 Outlook.

HOT Profile

14 • HOTELIER INDONESIA

DIRECTOR OF FOOD & BEVERAGE AT AMIANA RESORT NHATRANG

[HI] You seemed to grow-up in the hospitality industry.

When and how did you get your first work in a hotel?

[JS] I have grown up in the hotel actually. My mother

worked as Executive Housekeeper in one of the hotels

in our town. I used to go there after school since I was 7

or 8 years old and spend 2 to 3 hours every day. Running

around in the back of the house and discovering the work

flows. When I turn 14 I took my first part-time job in

Stewarding department, I would be washing pots and pans

in my free time, unless like most kids my age, I was making

a “good “pocket money those days…When they asked me

which high school I will choose I automatically decided to

study hotel high school and since then I knew what I want

to do in life.

[HI] You’re currently Director of Food & Beverage at

Amiana Resort in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Having a quick

look at the site, it is quite impressive. As the resort is

weeks from opening, what are some of the pre-opening

responsibilities you’ve been responsible for?

[JS] I have joined Amiana over 4 months ago, since than

we were able with clear direction of our General Manager

create a new concept for our flagship restaurant called

Bacaro.

JAKUB SIPPL

PROFILE:

During our travels, Hotelier Indonesia comes across executives with a unique path in the hospi-tality industry. In recent travels on the southern coast of Vietnam, we had the plea-sure to meet with Jakub Sippl, Director of Food & Beverage at the new Amiana Resort in Nha Trang.

HOT Profile

HOTELIER INDONESIA • 15

With his support we determined the way F&B in our resort

will go and I am proud to say that we will feature plenty of

new products for this market and feature a lot of new ideas

and service touch points. I wish to share the details, but

people will have to simply come and experience themself.

[HI] Can you give us a bit of a background on your path to

Amiana Resort?

[JS] I have moved abroad 9 years ago, my first destination

was sunny Malta, where I worked for international chain.

I was able to quickly progress my career with 2 task force

in Africa (Djibouti and Tanzania) where I was part of the

pre-opening teams. After Malta, I have moved to UK, where

I worked in one of the leading hotels of the world before

moving to London to do my management training . At that

time I felt like I need big challenge in my life and took an

opportunity to move to Vietnam for the first time. I have

been in Asia since, working in Cambodia and Indonesia,

before ending in Vietnam again.

[HI] Is there a particular challenge or two you’ve had to

address in your career?

[JS] As you know, Hotelier life is full of challenges, but my

biggest challenge so far was being in charge of Food and

Beverage Operations in athlete village for Seagames 2011

in Palembang, Indonesia. The hotel chain I worked for a

that time got the contract only less than a month ago, so

we had very little time to prepare and organized. During

the preparation time we had to overcome many challenges,

for example the kitchen in the athlete village was not ready

before and during the event, so we have to prepare food

in our hotel and deliver by heated trucks, which was about

15 km route. Since we were running 24 hours operation

for 16 days it required a lot of logistics and coordination. In

addition to that we were hosting some of the head of states

and government officials during that period, for example

President of Indonesia, Princess of Thailand, Deputy Prime

Minister of Singapore and many more. After less than a

month preparation, 16 days of execution of the event all

was successfully done. I have to say that my team did amaz-

ing job and they really exceeded my expectation. This was

the biggest and most difficult challenge for me so far…I am

hoping for more in a near future.

[HI] What personal goals have you reached? What goals

have you set for the future?

[JS] So far I have set a several personal and work goals.

Some short term and some long term. Talking about work, I

have reached my goal so far, which was a managerial posi-

tion in high class 5 star pre-opening experience, which

Amiana is. My future goal is to establish F&B operation with

Amiana and ensure to have the most enjoyable culinary and

service experience in Vietnam together with creating the

most enjoyable environment for my staff.

[HI] Is there a personal philosophy that drives your

career?

[JS] I do have personal philosophy which drives me since

the beginning. It does develop with me of course, but the

core is to work hard and most importantly smart in order to

achieve my goals.

[HI] What advice do you have to others starting their

careers in the industry?

[JS] This industry can be quite hard sometimes and many

people can start in the wrong places which change very

quickly their perception about this job. My advice would

be to create your own career path and follow your targets,

some people could call it dreams. Always learn from your

co-workers. Bad and good habits, because in the end every

experience is a good experience. I always try to turn nega-

tive to the positive. Since we work in very stressful and full

of pressure environment it is not a career for everybody, but

to me there is no better feeling than going home after a well

organized event or leaving property which became success-

ful thanks to your contribution.

In the end I would like to thank you Bill for this interview,

great talking with you. I wish all the readers of Hotelier

Indonesia great year 2013 and good luck with their careers

and assignments.

Hotelier Indonesia would also like to thank Jakub for sharing

his experiences in the industry. Further information about Nha

Trang’s new Amiana Resort can be found at:

http://www.amiana.com.vn/