An Exclusive Eshotel Interview with
Dirk Crokaert, "Another Red Carnation Star"

Mr. Dirk Crokaert
General Manager
The Montague on the Gardens Hotel
15 Montague Street (off Russell Square), LONDON
http://www.montaguehotel.com

Dirk Crokaert's penne with kale lunch grows cold as he rapidly warms up to my first question, "Why do you like working in the hospitality industry"?

"I like it because I never know what will happen each day and that's why hospitality is so interesting and exciting," he responds enthusiastically.

At 33, Dirk Crokaert has just completed his first year as general manager for the Red Carnation Hotel group at The Montague on the Gardens Hotel, a stylish and warm four-star boutique hotel with 99 rooms in a series of town houses that used to belong to the British Museum. In less than ten years, he has climbed from trainee and night receptionist to being general manager of a prize-winning four-star boutique hotel in central London.

I ask how he did it.

The question elicits an immediate glint of excitement in his eyes. He puts down his fork yet again and tells his tale.

A Belgian by birth, he first left Antwerp to study law at Louvain University, only to be recalled two years later by his parents who suspected that his real major was Fun 101. Chastened, he obediently followed his parents' suggestion to study hotel management in Antwerp and rewarded them with immediate success in his studies. As part of his academic program, he completed a training program at the Marlborough Hotel in London, part of the Radisson chain.

After graduation, he was invited back to work for Radisson in London, which he accepted with the intention of returning to Belgium in a few years. He started off as a night receptionist and auditor and then assistant night manager, again at the Marlborough Hotel.

Full time night work was radically different from his training program in F&B. Suddenly, he was thrown into the deep end without a life jacket, as he says. His second night on the job, the night manager phoned in sick and he found himself alone - and responsible for a hotel of 173 rooms and all its guests. Everyone who could have helped him had left at 8:00 p.m. He had never manned the front desk before; he couldn't log into the computer system; and he had never before taken a reservation. Within minutes, ten people checked in.

Somehow he survived. And his survival did not go unnoticed.

The following week, it was decided that since he had performed so well he could also man the night desk at another Radisson hotel, The Kenilworth, immediately across the street. These were the boom years of the '90s for hotels in London and both hotels were packed. Dirk decided to "just get on with it", come what may. He claims now that he probably learned more about hotel management during that stressful time than at any other period of his career. It was working with perpetual challenge that made him strong.

He now had full responsibility of a total of 400 rooms and was doing double shifts. While working at these two hotels, he often slept only four hours at a time. Fortunately, once again, he got noticed. For his reliability and his ability to cope, he was promoted to night manager after seven months.

Dirk still feels that his nighttime experience was the most valuable in preparing him to become a general manager. He learned about fire prevention, safety, heating, plumbing, illness, endless problem solving and, above all, people. He also collected very funny anecdotes along the way, which he is bursting to recount, but we keep our eyes on the clock. He has only a short lunch break today.

Relentless night work takes a toll on health and social life, so Dirk was relieved when Radisson named him day reception manager, again for the same two hotels. Eventually Radisson called him to their Leicester Square flagship hotel where they were encountering problems in the process of maintaining the property’s five stars. He again found himself front office manager for two properties across the street from each other - the four-star Pastoria and the Hampshire Hotel, which received its fifth star classification with a 100% rating a few months after Dirk appeared on the scene. He won't say it but I can guess: He had a big hand in helping that hotel retain its fifth star.

After having worked for Radisson Edwardian hotels for nearly five years, Dirk was approached by Quest Elite, a headhunting agency specializing in middle and executive management levels within the hospitality sector, who arranged for him to meet with the Director of Human resources and General manager.

After being interviewed on five different occasions totaling almost ten hours, Dirk was offered the position of Front of House Manager in charge of reservations and revenue - a completely new area for him.

It didn't take him long to accept this opportunity to work at an exceptional property, The Montague on the Gardens Hotel, rated AA Four-Star Deluxe, English Tourist Board Five Silver Crown and awarded 'Best Floral Hotel in London' status.

Within four months, he was promoted to deputy GM based on his performance. He remained in that position for three and a half years until promoted to GM in October 2005.

I ask him what's the toughest thing about being a GM. He grins broadly and I can almost feel the effervescence.

"Having to hold back," he replies. "I've had a very hands-on career and I can still get very excited about taking reservations, but that's no longer my role."

Curious to know about career goals beyond general managership, I ask him if he has a life plan, a career strategy.

"I find it's hard to plan where you're going in hospitality", he replies, his pasta by now irremediably cold.

"You have to always be ready to take up opportunities as they arrive, and that's not possible to plan. Right now, my goal is to become a strong GM and that can only happen with several more years of experience. I am very happy and comfortable with this group. In general, a future role for me might be a director's role, to become the managing director of a group, or be on the board of directors of a group."

But it's obvious that he's enjoying his present role at The Montague too much to set his sights on more heady goals for the time being.

Driven now by curiosity, I pursue the interview with an eye on the clock, because I've promised I would take only an hour from his busy schedule. Fortunately for me, I can see that he's now too involved in – maybe even enthralled by – our discussion to much care.

"Is it possible to speak of 'hospitality culture' and does it change from one hotel to another?”, I ask.

"Hospitality culture is definitely not the branding that is known by the general public," he explains. "It's rather something you have to experience to know. There can be a huge difference between the culture of a large, international, profit-driven hotel chain and a small group. The large hotel chains base their strategy on short-term measures such as cutting corners, reducing or squeezing staff, and resorting to such tactics as overbooking to make their quotas. Red Carnation Hotels, a small group, is all about service, prestige and being the best within a specific area. RCH is willing to use resources to maintain that role and has a long-term vision of developing client loyalty to get repeat customers. I think we are succeeding in that."

Over coffee, I ask him one last question with my hospitality students in mind: What are the key factors required to succeed in a hospitality career?

Obligingly, Dirk Crokaert takes a small sip of his coffee, puts down the cup, softens his eyes with a glow of remembrance, and recites the hotelier litany he feels every hospitality student needs to keep in mind: "Motivation and determination, career focus, flexibility, good judgment and common sense, taking initiative and paying attention to detail, being a team player, having good social and conversational skills, maybe even sales skills, using the local language and English fluently and having a smiling presence".

In Dirk's case, we can also add warmth, grace and distinction.

A brief look at Red Carnation Hotels

Red Carnation's mission statements - “Service, service, service!” and “No request too large, no detail too small.” – were rewarded in 2004 when the group won the RAC's Credit to the Industry award. Despite the vagaries that hit the hotel industry following September 11, 2001, the group's six UK hotels managed to set new standards of excellence in customer service, fine dining and appealing, relaxed atmosphere.

The group's London hotels include four four-star hotels, notably The Montague and also the larger Rubens at the Palace; and two five-star hotels, of which The Milestone, which was recently attributed the prestigious Five Red Stars for 2006/2007 by the "AA Inspectors' Choice Hotel in Britain and Ireland".

Overseas, the group owns the Chesterfield Palm Beach, Florida (four-star); the Twelve Apostles, Cape Town (five-star); and Hotel d'Angleterre, Geneva (five-star).

In any of these hotels, you're apt to find the RCH's very own fine wine, Bouchard Finlayson, from South Africa.

The group's success is largely attributed to the "family feeling" cultivated by its founder, Beatrice Tollman, who started the group twelve years ago. Bea Tollman knows most of the group's personnel by name and is frequently seen in the various properties, often looking after interior design.

The group cultivates employee attitudes in line with the company's vision statements, with mottos such as "Yes, I can!" and "Spot it, own it, fix it!"

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