From his very beginning in the industry as an elevator boy, he raced up the career ladder to his current position. Hans-Georg Roehrbein -- is a General Manager who listens and involves his teams, guiding them to find  new opportunities to help them perform their jobs better. He understands the generation gap, and that leadership comes  from understanding the needs of the team, and  understanding comes from listening. He’s determined to make a difference at this rare and unique property, which is the largest hotel in Marriott’s International hotel portfolio, and he believes in leaving a lasting impression on its visitors who will simply keep coming back.

How important is the hospitality related education to have a successful career in the industry?
I started out as an elevator boy where elevators were still manual at that time, and back then I thought that being in a hotel school was not that important but as I grew older and started having my moves and steps upward until I reached managerial levels and started running hotels, I then realized  the importance of being in a hotel school and how it gives you the business component and it helps you to go deeply in the day to day operation. Of course it is so important to have a hospitality related education to lead a successful career.

Which is more important in your opinion; theoretical or practical part of education, also to lead a successful career of hospitality?
Both are important, theoretical part comes first and it is so important as it is the base that allows you to apply and experiment on practical level, as for example if you are studying cooking you have to learn theoretically how to do it, to know the right recipe from books and if you are studying accounting you also have to learn the keys of accounting from books and then the practical part comes, where you start to apply what you learned and add to it from the experience and skills that you will gain by time and by working on real life. Theoretical side tells you what make sense and what doesn’t make sense, it is a critical element in the hospitality industry.

You have been working for Marriott hotels for more than 32 years, does is it differ from one region or place to another, I imagine that every place has a different target market, different customers, how do you manage that?
The hotels’ setting maybe different but the component of the customer service is the same everywhere. Whether I am at Bombai, resort at Arouba or I am in Cairo. There is a service component that you as a customer are looking for, whether it’s to accomplish a meeting or your business or to spend a nice vacation. So that doesn’t really change much from a place to another. All customers everywhere are expecting the same things as clean room, friendly staff that can answer all your questions and inquiries anytime, nice food, etc. maybe small details differs but the main premises are the same.

You have spent your entire career moving from one continent to another, where was the most different or strangest part of this long trip?
They are all different; I haven’t been in same place twice except for New Orleans. Everywhere was a challenge for me, a new experience where I learned new things. I love moving as I am a kind of person who can easily get bored so moving and seeing different cultures and places is so much fun for me. I like the challenge, as when I came here to Cairo running a big hotel like Cairo Marriott with two big palaces, 1087 rooms to fill; it was a challenge for me. I was so lucky to be in nice places during the past years, like India, Puerto-Rico, and finally Egypt. They are completely different cultures and that creates the excitement to me.

What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses?
Well, as for my strengths, I am very adoptable; take an ownership, very willing to try new things even if it doesn’t work out. I like to involve my team in everything, to have different opinions and always try new experiments.  To get my team engaged all the time.

“The hotels’ setting maybe different but the component of the customer service is the same everywhere”

What do you think are the most challenging issues you are facing as a General Manager?
Well, it is managing new generations, and how to get staff that is able to deal correctly with customers, how to get the right product and to reach the right service level and especially for new generation customer groups as you can not satisfy this age group easily as they have almost everything at home so you have to be highly innovative to impress them. In general guest satisfaction and to balance between all tastes and ages to
satisfy them all.

Do you like reading and what kind of books do you read? 
I do my readings online, I read my newspaper online. I also started reading about the Egyptian revolution to get to know more about it. I also like to read about history and picked up some books about Zamalek area and its history.

What kind of advice could you give to those who are willing to work at the hotel industry?
I don’t like to call it advice, it is my side of the story; I would tell them if you don’t really like serving others, so this industry is not for you, also if you don’t like moving around a lot, so it is also not the right industry for you.