Hilton VP: Romania, still the hidden gem of Europe that many people have started to discover
Hilton, one of the biggest hotel groups in the world, has three hotels scheduled to open in Romania in the coming years, adding to the nine hotels the group already operates in the country. The increasing number of tourists has created an exciting environment for hotel development in the country, Jochem-Jan Sleiffer, Hilton Senior Vice President Operations, Full-Service Hotels, Continental Europe, said in an interview with Romania-Insider.com.
“Romania is still the hidden gem of Europe that many people have started to discover. The main cities are easily accessible by plane, which is an advantage compared to other destinations,” Sleiffer said.
“To ensure the country continues to attract visitors, business and investment, Romania should continue to invest in infrastructure projects,” he added.
Read the full interview with Jochem-Jan Sleiffer below.
The region you are responsible for at Hilton includes 59 hotels and 13 properties under development. How many of these are in Romania?
We have been offering our renowned hospitality to visitors of Romania for more than 20 years. Since the opening of our first hotel, Hilton Athénée Palace Bucharest in 1997, we have opened a total of nine hotels across Romania. Hotels trading under four brands – Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton – are available in cities such as Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Sighisoara, Oradea and Sibiu.
From your perspective, how is the Romanian hotel market compared to other markets in the region?
The hotel sector in Romania has seen rapid development in recent years, with many new international brands announcing partnerships with local investors for hotel openings. Do you have new openings scheduled in Romania in the next years? Do you have negotiations for other new partnerships for Hilton brands in Romania?
Romania is an important market for Hilton and one of our largest in Eastern Europe. We continue to see opportunities to grow and have three hotels scheduled to open in the coming years. The first of these, Hilton Garden Inn Bucharest Airport is scheduled to welcome guests this summer. The hotel will have 218 guest rooms and will be Romania’s first internationally branded airport hotel.
What are the main challenges of the hotel industry in Romania and the region in terms of operations?
More people are choosing to visit Romania. To ensure the country continues to attract visitors, business and investment, Romania should continue to invest in infrastructure projects. Hilton welcomes ongoing plans to improve Romania’s highways, airports and seaports.
When it comes to foreign visitors, Romania is mainly a business destination. What does the country need to become more visible as a tourist destination?
Romania is still the hidden gem of Europe that many people have started to discover. The main cities are easily accessible by plane, which is an advantage compared to other destinations, and as a result this has had an impact upon the business-leisure tourist ratio. As we have seen, this factor, alongside the efforts to make the destination more appealing for leisure tourists, has led to a growth in leisure tourism in recent years.
How many times have you visited Romania as part of your management assignments and what do you like about the country?
I visit Romania at least once a year for business meetings or special public events. I remember one of my previous visits in 2016 coincided with Careers@Hilton, an opportunity for hotels to open their doors to local young people and show them the roles available within the hospitality industry. During my visit, I was impressed by how engaged the students were, and their curiosity to discover what it’s like to work for a hotel company.
More recently, I attended a Women@Hilton event at the Athenee Palace Hilton, which was another great occasion to discover the determination, professionalism and passion of our Romanian team. I love the hospitality of the Romanians, the Romanian food and the traditions that I’ve discovered during my time spent here.
The theme of the event you moderated in Romania this year is Gender Balance. What is the ratio of women to men hotel managers in the region you coordinate?
The diversity of our company’s workforce is a key component of our success. We continue to work hard to create an environment in which all our Team Members can thrive, and as we head towards our 100th anniversary this year, our commitment to attract, retain and promote the brightest and the best remains fundamental to the success of our business.
At Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest, we are proud to have built a balanced leadership team, with more than 50% of our management positions occupied by women. Building a diverse team has helped us ensure we always take a balanced view when making important decisions within the hotel.
We are proud to have been recognized for our efforts, in particular being listed as a best workplace for women in Europe by Great Place to Work last year – something we intend to build on this year.
Why are there fewer women hotel managers than men hotel managers? What are the main challenges for women in this sense?
We have made great strides in recent years when it comes to supporting and promoting our female leaders – and we’re focused to continuing to demonstrate the benefits of a hospitality career – no matter what an individual’s ambitions.
For many women, in particular, flexibility is often an important consideration. We’ve made huge strides in empowering our Team Members by providing flexible working opportunities, including part-time roles, job shares or flexible hours, all of which are important to help support women as they progress through their careers. In 2017, we also launched Thrive@Hilton, our flexible and adaptable approach to workplace wellness which seeks to help Team Members feel more resilient, focused and optimistic about their work. Thrive@Hilton puts the approach firmly into the hands of Team Members themselves, and is designed to be led by our people and their needs. Many of our hotels and offices started by developing a program of activities centrally to set an example, but as time goes on, more Team Member-led ideas are coming to fruition.
It’s also important to provide the right training and development opportunities to help encourage progression. We offer a range of training programs to support Team Members at different stages of their career, including a range of management training courses and formalized programs such as our Elevator Program, an 18-month scheme to fast track globally mobile graduates to General Manager positions within 5-8 years of completion.
Guidance and support, through either official partnerships or informal mentoring relationships, are also important to help encourage development. Last year, more than 400 women in EMEA took part in our Coaching on Call initiative. This mentoring program is aimed specifically at women in the earlier years of the career and seeks to help set them on the right path to realize their full potential in the years to come.
editor@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: courtesy of the company)
