Timothy Sainsbury brings with him 19 years of hospitality experience from hotels across gateway cities in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
His experience spans ultra-luxury and large-scale operations that include properties that were within mixed-use and multi-property complexes. A passionate leader who firmly believes in Conrad's core values of providing authentic, flawless, personalized and innovative guest experiences, Mr. Sainsbury is bringing his extensive knowledge and luxury experience to help continuously enhance the service quality and brand value of Conrad Bangkok.
How has your experience been so far in Bangkok? How different is it from your last post?
Bangkok is a vibrant and fascinating City and I am delighted to be starting my new journey here in the land of smiles. My last post was in East Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu and as you can imagine Bangkok is quite the contrasted environment. However, having grown up in Hong Kong and spending time in key gateway cities, I am certainly looking forward to being back amongst the bright lights of the cityscape.
It has been a pleasure to work with the dedicated team here at Conrad Bangkok as everyone has been so welcoming to my family and me. Coincidentally, the timing of my arrival has also been greeted with an upturn in trading levels so I have had to hit the ground running as we enter into what we hope is a period of sustained recovery.
Now that everyone is competing on price, what's your strategy in staying competitive?
Naturally prices have dropped significantly over the past months, and indeed the past year now, which was due to reduced demand and a massive supply of fine accommodations across the city. With so many lodging options it is crucial that we understand our target markets and value proposition. At the same time we need to appreciate our customer segmentation is larger than ever and we must remain attractive to our domestic market that has supported us so well during the tough times.
People are the most valuable asset in business. Hotels are starting to recruit again. What kind of profiles are you looking for?
People are at the heart of everything we do and we are fortunate to have been able to retain excellent talent. Moving forward we need to take a strategic approach to recruitment to identify candidates that complement our existing structure and what we want to achieve in the long term. The hotel has recently undergone an extensive renovation and as we re-position the hotel during this recovery phase it is important that we identify the right talent profiles that match our brand values. It is definitely not a process we will rush as we view this as a long term investment.
What is one thing that you've learnt from this whole pandemic experience?
It goes without saying that the health crisis experienced worldwide was unprecedented in more ways than one. The challenges have required us to show tremendous resilience and overall we generally have a great appreciation for everything, especially friends and family. We likely also recognize that we are more adaptable and connected than we perhaps once thought. The one key thing that I have learnt is the importance of understanding that not everything is under our control. And whilst we navigate our way through difficult times we need to look after our wellbeing and mental state in order to make a positive impact at the workplace. As a leader our teams look for guidance and if one does not look after themselves it is extremely hard to look after others effectively.
Visit Timothy Sainsbury at Conrad Bangkok