GSA

A Grand Master of a GM, Peter Carmichael

8th Feb 2006

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First impressions count. I arrive late from a gridlocked taxi journey to meet the Grand InterContinental Seoul’s General Manager Peter Carmichael, and I am acutely aware of this as I apologise to Sugar, the charming and efficient PR Manager. She soothes me, orders me some water and we wait. Not five minutes later the tall, Irish GM strides into the room, and we both launch into fresh apologies. He’s gracious and friendly and puts me at my ease, for which I am most grateful. It turns out he is an avid believer of first impressions too.

“You cannot regain that first impression,” he smiles. “It depends on that first point of contact. The doorman opens the car door, the bellman asks if you need any help and takes you to check in… You can determine in the first thirty seconds how a hotel is managed.”

It’s true. These details matter in the world of keeping your five star hotel ahead of the competition. Then he asks me what the last thing that is commonly said to a departing guest. “Goodbye?” I suggest tentatively. “Did you take anything from the mini bar.” He counters triumphantly. And I figure he’s also a fan of last impressions counting too.

First impressions of the Grand InterContinental pretty much follow what it says on the packet – it’s grand! It’s a big traditional heavy weight of a hotel, with a long-established reputation of being the grand daddy of the city’s international five star hotels. Being brought up to the present day through extensive refurbishement, courtesy of Peter’s foresight, it is still no easy task to retain such a title.

For Seoul is a city in the middle of a boom. Following over a decade of financial, economic, and health crises, finally things are on the up. And back in late spring of this year the General Manager of the Grand Intercontinental, Peter Charmichael, could feel it. “I’ve always said that hotels are a barometer for the economy,” he said in his soft Irish accent. “Right now occupancy is very, very strong.”

And he’s weathered that decade of Asian crises, having flown straight from a five star hotel in Vancouver to 1994 China. “I felt like a pioneer,” he remembers. That along with some of the strangest East meets West sights. “I’ll never forget looking through the window of MacDonald’s and seeing a women picking up two straws to use for chopsticks.”

But he remembers Beijing very fondly. With two postings there, between 94-97 and again 2000-2002, he was in the perfect position to not only see the changes as the country opened up, but actually feel them as his hotels evolved.

With other postings in Jakarta and now Korea, Peter acknowledges he’s a city guy. “I did resorts in Canada. I was the GM of an alpine skiing resort – white water rafting, heli skiing etc. Five years living on top of a mountain changes a guy!”

From a mountain of snow to a decade of challenges, it could be argued that weathering quite this many storms also changes a guy. “When I was in Hong Kong in the late nineties stock was down, then there was SARS and the economic crises. In Korea there was the IMF situation. When I was in Indonesia the currency exploded. It was a hell of challenge. Five months after we arrived my family evacuated to Singapore, there were protests and tear gas in the streets and a bomb in Jakarta. They don’t teach you this stuff at school. I’ll be honest, I’m kind of crisis-ed out!”

He figuratively looks around him as if at the hotel and the city itself. “It is really nice for the first time – the budget you’re achieving, goals are realised and the owners are happy.”

Of the two InterContinental hotels perched like bookends north and south of the Korea World Trade Centre complex, little sister COEX is the young contemporary version while the Grand is the traditional, and yes, grand, hotel. Open since 1988 it has recently undergone major refurbishment under Peter’s sharp eyes. “This hotel has had more changes in the last two years than in the last ten. It is very easy to be number one,” he says without so much as a blink, “but it is very difficult to stay number one.”

And there is plenty of competition in this city in the shape of the Shilla, Grand Hyatt, JW Marriott and more five star hotels keeping this city of over 10 million residents and thousands of business visitors busy.

Clearly this is one very hands-on GM. “You go in and you look for opportunities,” he says, explaining how to keep standards high. “There’s always an opportunity. Elevate the experience of the customer. If you can elevate the knowledge of the employee and develop them too, that’s what it’s all about. The people here are probably the most talented I’ve ever worked with. Korea has a bad reputation, but there is an extraordinary amount of dedication to the company here.

The average daily rates here are knocking around US$50 more than in Shanghai or Beijing. Following a sharp peak up to around US$270-290 just before the World Cup in 2002 they have settled at a more realistic, although still extremely healthy US$230-250. “Seoul is a business city. It’s also the fourth most expensive city in the world – on a par with Tokyo.”

Apart from the Park Hyatt just across the road, there hasn’t been much new hotel activity in the five star sector in Seoul for some time, but according to Peter there’s definitely room. “Both InterContinental hotels are full seven out of twelve of the next days. That’s 1,180 rooms full. There is huge dining out and F&B here, it is extraordinary like I’ve never seen. The two hotels are turning over 2.5 million per annum. Koreans just love to dine out.

“I enjoy the fast pace. The customer turnover is 2.4 days. I’m a business oriented manager. I’ve been two and a half years here. Two to three years is the time you’d expect to spend in this job.”

True to form, six months later Peter has just handed over the reins to Hans W Olbertz and moved to a GM and Regional Manager role with the Singapore and Cambodia InterContinental hotels under his new reign. But it’s been a good few years in Korea for him, and he’s happy. “I arrived here at a time when SARS was happening and there was a financial crisis. Any GM wants to have the property in better shape when he leaves..."