| MICHEL VAN DER ELST | Swissôtel Ankara General Manager |
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Turkey Is Still Considered Only As A Destination To The Seaside |
Michel Van Der ELST, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am from Brussels; I was born in the administrative district of Auderghem in 1952. My father had a woodwork company. Our family is from Auderghem and is quite well known there. For example, my grand-father had, at the time, built many houses of the district of the “Transvaalt”. And I still have some of my family who lives in Auderghem, Brussels.
I did my schooling in Auderghem, before studying hotel business at CERIA (at Anderlecht, in Brussels) and continued my professional education with a MBA and PhD degree in Finance from Pacific Western University in USA. Meanwhile, I did some football and basketball, in clubs for non-professionals. At the time, we had formed a team in Woluwé (an administrative district of Brussels). This club, which still exists, was named “the football club of Woluwé”. I was therefore a co-founder of this club along with other friends, with whom I still meet regularly after so many years.
My first job related to the hotel business was with the Hyatt Hotel Chain. Hyatt Regency Brussels was the first Hyatt Hotel out of the United-States. People in Brussels didn’t know this company. They called it “yacht, yot, etc.” It was very new and for the Americans it was a winch. We had a lot of support from America, as it was their first foot in Europe. The opening of the hotel was in 1976. The hotel, which was a luxurious one and which was near the place called “the Botanic”, still exists but has since then changed several times of hands.
After their hotel in Brussels, Hyatt Regency had continued to widen their territory and opened a new hotel in Nice, France. They decided to do so 2 years after the opening of their hotel in Brussels, and they took many of their staff from Brussels to help to the opening in Nice. With others, I was therefore transferred to Nice. I stayed henceforth 3 years in Nice, working on the opening of the new hotel. The hotel was on the “promenade des anglais” [the walk of the English], in front of the sea (it was a splendid place); there were approximately 250 rooms, a swimming pool on the roof (it was extraordinary). I was, during all this time, living in Nice, in a villa in Vence (which is near St-Paul de Vence), which I rented with some friends. St Paul de Vence is attracting many artists: painters, but also famous musicians and people from the world of cinema. Famous people has their villas.
How extraordinary! And what a wonderful life!
Yes, indeed, it really was. When we were going out at nights, we came back home, passing through the village of Vence, in the surroundings of Nice. From there, we could take a car and in 1 hour, be in the first ski station, at 2500 m of altitude (as Vence was already of 700 m of altitude).
With Hyatt, I had the opportunity to travel to the United-States. I spent several months in New York, and in Chicago (where the headquarters were and still are). Because Nice and Brussels were Hyatt’s first foot in Europe, they favored us a little bit and made us see the United-States.
After Nice, I returned to Brussels for a year. There I had to do my military service. Unfortunately, I was obliged to, but it was going to stop being mandatory 2 years after I did it. But it wasn’t so bad. I was based in Brussels, in a little castle (petit chateau), and I was returning at home every night. I did so for 8 months.
After this, I had a great opportunity: there was a Belgian who became the assistant director of finance at “Le Royal” managed by Swissôtel in Luxembourg. I thought that Switzerland and hotel business would be good together, and Swissôtel had at the time 2 big partners: Swissair and Nestlé. So I found myself in Luxembourg for another opening. It was Le Royal, at Boulevard Royal, in the centre of Luxembourg. It is still the best hotel of the city. Meanwhile Swissôtel has lost the management, but the hotel is still there, of course. The general manager is still the same as well: Jean-Marie Bibault. It was at the beginning of the 1980s and it was a great experience. I stayed there for a year and a half.
From there, Swissôtel had opened 2 hotels in Holland and I found myself in Holland. It was in 1983. It was in a small place, at 30 km of Amsterdam (in Heemskerk); it was near the sea, in the north and Swissôtel had bought a castle with a hotel with 70 rooms. It was the 2nd movement of the Swissôtel. Swissôtel has henceforth opened 2 hotels in 1983, in Amsterdam, with the same owner.
From Amsterdam, I went to Seoul [in South Korea]. I had been proposed to do the first opening if Swissôtel in Asia. I thought it would be a good idea, and I became financial director of the hotel.
During all these years that I have been working for Swissôtel, I mainly worked in the finance department. When I was in Amsterdam, I was working as a regional finance for Holland, and at Seoul, as co-Asia regional director with Swissôtel presence in Bangkok [Thailand] and their headquarters were in Seoul. The opening of the hotel was in 1987, while the Olympic Games were made in the same city in 1988.
It is also in Seoul that I met my future wife, through Belgium. For the “fête du Roi” [celebration of the King], the 15th of November, I was invited to the Belgian Embassy in Seoul. Every expatriate Belgian were invited, as it’s a custom to do so in Foreign Embassies. I met there a future friend, Marc Van den Plas and his wife Sylvie, who was working for the United Nation Development Program of the U.N. We then met to go out for drinks, to play squash, etc. As it was the first time I was in Asia and I was alone for Christmas eve, I decided to invite him and his wife, and I asked him to bring someone else as well. He then brought with him my future wife, Donghwa. At new year we met again, and one year later we got married.
One week after we got married, we left Seoul, as I was being transferred to the headquarters of Swissôtel in Zurich. I was there for some time, before leaving for Lausanne, where I worked for the Lausanne Palace. Swissôtel was very powerful at the time; it was the strong years of the later and its presence was big. In Switzerland, there was the Lausanne Palace, the Montreux Palace, Bern Palace. I went to Geneva, to Zurich.
So I stayed a little bit less than a year in Lausanne, and after that we did an opening, again in Asia, but this time in Beijing, China. It was Swissôtel’s 2nd hotel in China (there was before a hotel in Tianjin, in the north of China). Swissôtel in Beijing was very important for us, and we stayed there for one year and a half, before being transferred to Istanbul. This was in 1992. I was appointed there as a financial director for the whole Mediterranean region and the Middle East (as Swissôtel has hotels in Egypt: Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh). Since 1992, until today, I staying with my family in Turkey.
You appeared to have worked with Swissôtel for many years. How many has it been?
Since 1983, since I was in Luxembourg. This means it has been 23 years. The chain has since then changed. It was belonging to Swissair-Nestlé (50% to each, and until 1986), then it became in 1986 100% Swissair. Unfortunately, with Swissair’s fall, Swissôtel has been brought by Raffles of Singapore, and our headquarter has moved to Singapore. It was then Raffle with Swissair, and recently, it has been a year now, Singapore has sold to the Americans of Colony Capital; the name is still the same and the brand hasn’t changed, but the owner has changed and has become American. 3 months ago, the same American owner has brought a big part of the Fairmont group. The later is a group of very luxurious hotels, 5 stars, and who is located mainly in the North America and Canada; therefore, the group has now also the famous Savoy in London and one hotel in Monaco.
Now we have 3 important brands: Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel. Swissôtel is now very much implemented in Turkey. Swissôtel The Bosphorus (Istanbul) since 1992; a new one has opened in Ankara.
Of which you are the director?
Indeed I am. It’s a new adventure. The hotel has opened in April 2006. And we (Swissôtel) have a resort at Göcek [Swissôtel Göcek], in the Aegean Sea; we have 2 current contracts, with the future opening of 2 hotels: The Grand Hotel Efes, in Izmir and The Çelik Palas in Bursa. We hope to have in the near future, 5 hotels in Turkey.
Being the general director of the Swissôtel Ankara, could you give us some information on the concept of your new hotel?
The hotel has 150 rooms. The hotel is a five star, and is situated in Çankaya (very near Atakule, near the embassies, not very far from the city centre). The situation of the hotel is very good, near the presidential palace and the embassies. There will be the Café Swiss, which is now the classical restaurant of the Swissôtel; and the Swiss Gourmet, Bloom Restaurant. All the rooms will be equipped with wireless and wired high-speed internet access, coffee maker machines, a shower and a bath (separate). There will be a big ballroom (whose capacity is up to 1000 people); 8 different meeting rooms. One of the biggest advantage of the hotel is that there will be the first Amrita Spa & Wellness Centre; it has approximately 3000 m2 of surface area, with 12 different treatment rooms. It is like in Istanbul, where the East meets the West, where the treatment which are specific to Asia are in Turkey. It will be a big innovation in the capital.
For how many years where you in Istanbul?
In Istanbul, I was there since 1992. It will soon be 14 years.
14 years? With your family, to move to Ankara, it must not be very easy.
Nathalie, my daughter, is 16 years old. She was therefore 2 when we arrived in Istanbul. And Aurelien, my son, was born here, 12 years ago. Indeed, moving out of Istanbul to Ankara will change a lot for us. In the sense that, after 14 years, when we land in Istanbul, after having visited the family in Belgium or in Korea, we feel as if we are back home, to our place. Clearly, after having spent 14 years in a city, we have made our “universe” here with friends; the children go to school, we have made new contacts from both Belgium and Turkey. The children go to the British School.
At Ankara, the advantage is that it’s an interactive city. But it would be a change, obviously. We cannot compare both cities. However, what I believe, since it has been 3 months that spend the week days there and week-ends in Istanbul, Ankara is a city which changes a lot and it’s an international city, for the same amount as in Istanbul if not more. I say this in the sense that while Istanbul is more about the commerce, while Ankara is more diplomatic. The companies which go to Ankara have different roles than the ones in Istanbul. But it’s a challenge, there will be some adaptation to make. To change a city after 14 years, it’s a challenge, yes.
If we were now to speak about Turkish tourism and tourism in general, how do you think we could compare them?
I think that the Turkish tourism is not much different from the international tourism. What Turkey offers, is what the whole tourism can offer. This is because the country is rich from many points of view; it has history (its past is very rich, in the whole country and not just in Istanbul). There is a tourism for every sector: for the tourist who comes for the seaside and the heat; there is a cultural tourism; tourism of businessmen (they come to Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other major cities). Therefore Turkey has everything to offer.
What could be eventually done is, I think, to better explain Turkey to everyone, and not just make the promotion of Turkey as a seaside resort on the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Because in doing so, we limit ourselves too much, because there is much more to offer in Turkey. This is one of Turkey’s challenge, even though it has improved a lot and that its hotels (in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities) are now well-known worldwide. For example, there has been lately a list of the best hotels in the world; and there are 3 or 4 of them which are in Istanbul. Swissôtel is one of them.
But many still think that there is no tourism of the rich in Turkey.
Yes, exactly, because Turkey is still considered only as a destination to the seaside or to clubs where we don’t move. There is now a need to promote much more other regions of Turkey which are a bit less well-known, in the Cappadocia region or in the region of the East and the North (with the North Sea). There is a need to attract a different sort of tourist.
It is said that in general, there is no “rich tourist” because the service is not good. Is it true?
In Turkey, the service is very good in “real” 5 star hotels (the categories are not always the same, as different number of stars are given differently depending on countries, including Turkey). Service is good in the very good hotels, as Turks have the service a bit in their blood, as for other Mediterraneans.
The service is better than, I think, in a big part of Northern Europe. It’s more similar to the Asian side, where the service is not something which is unnatural, it’s something people give naturally. It’s natural and it feels so and people are, I believe, happy of the service.
What is true is that there is a need for fine-tuning the service, in order to provide one of good quality (and I believe that the international hotels do that very well). Sometimes it lacks a bit of delicacy, because it’s not enough being nice, the technique must be good as well; and that, international hotels can provide.