For Andre Gomez, VP, operations for Hilton International in India, success and mindshare is a cumulative effort of the entire team
By BABITA KRISHNAN
For someone who failed the interview for his first job as a Burger King cashier, Andre Gomez has surely come a long way to become the VP operations for Hilton International in India. Though admittedly devastated after the aforementioned incident, in the true ‘never-say-die’ spirit of down under (he was raised and educated in Australia), he applied for a job a week later, at a five-star hotel. When the lady behind the counter pointed out that he had not put down the job he was applying for, “I thought about it and said just give me the job that nobody wants,” Gomez recalls with a smile. He got the job of graveyard shift waiter for two years doing room service – and thus began a journey that has taken him places as Gomez moved up the ranks, learning the ropes and skills along the way across leading hotel brands to reach his current leadership position.
What appealed to him about Hilton was its discipline as a brand. “It is very focused on being consistent, being the best at what you do. That’s where we talk a lot about best practices and never giving up. And that is just like me,” he says. In a highly intensive profession, finding the perfect sync with your brand is, I guess, the most important criteria. And Hilton, from all reports, does lay a lot of importance on building the culture within the tam and “it starts obviously at the very top, back of house and front of house”.
From an HR perspective, Hilton International has three areas of focus — great rewards for the team, great work environment and great careers. It is all about provide the associates with the development opportunities — “right from the time they come in to how well you induct them and build a great environment. We also review our workplaces, right from our regional office through to the hotels, to ensure they are efficient workspaces. Even better offerings at the staff cafeteria,” Gomez elaborates.
For the first time in India, Hilton is introducing a management trainings programme for the associates. “It is probably a first for any company in India,” he says, explaining how the fresh trainees will immediately go overseas and spend six months in some of the “trophy” Hilton hotels before they start their careers in India. This, according to Gomez, is critical as the exposure abroad will give them a better understanding and a wider vision of their profession and very important to the brand in building its culture.
To emphasise the importance of training and reinstating the Hilton culture, Gomez along with the VP of Southeast Asia based out of Singapore, travelled to every property in India — delivering and facilitating a workshop to the teams. “For us it’s all about winning the hearts and minds of our team members. We believe that only then will they be genuine to the guests. We’ve got to get our house right and then go out,” he says.
As a global hospitality giant, Hilton is a very strong brand with about 4,700 properties covering some fitting brands. In India, the Hilton footprint is spread over 15 properties covering five brands including the recent introduction from the luxury portfolio –Conrad, Pune — that has received great reviews. “It is special. It is one of those properties, that one could physically pick up and put it into another city like Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. I can guarantee that we would be extremely successful in those markets as well,” says the proud team leader.
Though there is a market penetration with the existing brands like Hilton (the core brand), Doubletree by Hilton, Hilton garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton, Gomez reveals that they are constantly on the lookout for other opportunities as India is a very strategic and important market for Hilton International. “What’s important is to ensure that we have the right timing, in the right market and with the right partners,” he says. While looking at different parts of India to see available projects that would fit the various Hilton brands, the company has a pipeline of nearly 20 hotels under construction. Gomez candidly admits that what brand fits where depends on the nature of the project and its location.
Acknowledging the fact that India is a difficult market to operate in, he says, “One example is that different states have different laws which comes with its pros and cons. In India I can’t use the cookie cutter approach for our hotels across the country. So it just means we have to adapt the way we do business and be nimble in our decisions, which is not such a bad thing. It keeps us on our toes,” he says.
But the decision to invest in India is based on the fact that the company believes that India is progressing in the right direction. “When we look at some of the studies of demand versus supply, I feel if demand continues the way it is growing now, at some point, it is going to outstrip supply as the trends show. And this reinforces the fact why we have invested in India with a dedicated office and team. We will deploy more resources out of Singapore into India as we move forward,” Gomez shares.
India being very strategic and important market, Hilton is very conscious of creating brand awareness. This year, Hilton launched a massive campaign – the biggest in the 97-year history of the company. The purpose was to up the brand awareness along with that of the loyalty programme. The HHonors Program is one of the leading loyalty programmes in the world with nearly 55 million members. “In fact, over 50% of our business is driven through the loyalty programme,” shares Gomez.
Hilton prides itself at being able to include the local ethos into its properties, “You always have to tweak a little bit whichever market you go to. What we are careful about not to lose the identity of the brand,” he says. Going forward, one of the key focus areas for Hilton will be F&B and the brand has already set the ball rolling with aggressive promotions (a case in point being Conrad, Pune). Interestingly, this is not just on the guest facing front but also for the teams.
Gomez shares that one of the most important pillars that the brand rests on is employee satisfaction which results in retention. All initiatives have rewards that the employees would look forward to. One of the star programmes under this scheme is the F&B Masters, where any associate can participate in an internal culinary competition and compete first at the property, then zonal, followed by national and finally at the regional level. This helps the brand discover hidden talent and the associates have the freedom to change departments. Being the official partner for Grammys is another advantage that Hilton uses as an associate benefit, where some of the winners of internal initiatives attend the Awards.
With so much constant excitement within the teams and so much to look forward to, it is not for nothing that Hilton was voted amongst one of the top brands to work for in the world!
