'There is a uniqueness to our Centara hotel business. While our business roots are in a family-founded company, in the hotel industry we require professional practices such as management systems and procedures to be in place," says Thirayuth Chirathivat, the new chief executive of Centara Hotels & Resorts. "In this regard, a proper blend of these attributes is necessary in order to grow and be competitive in the market."
‘‘It’s not only the accommodation, it is the service that is far more important than the hardware and technology since we cannot use machines to serve food or offer a ‘wai’,’’ says Mr Thirayuth.
After receiving a master's degree in hotel and tourism management from the Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York 22 years ago, Mr Thirayuth started his career as a food and beverage coordinator. Most recently he served as senior vice-president for project management at Central Plaza Hotel Plc (CENTEL), Centara's SET-listed parent, before taking over his present chief executive position.
"Professional management normally takes an approach involving clear-cut measurement in order to achieve pre-agreed objectives," he explains. "At times, this may be different from the way we treat our employees with the type of respect accorded to family members, which is the way I have been taught and groomed in my family.
"Throughout the 30 years of our operations, we have always valued our people as the main driving force behind the success of our business. It's not only the accommodation, it is the service that is far more important than the hardware and technology since we cannot use machines to serve food or offer a wai."
We are here for you: "Our core values are reflected in the slogan 'Here for you'. In this context, we mean all stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, suppliers, customer and others. We must always take good care of our people and ensure they are aware of how important their jobs are.
"No matter what their position, each person is one of the critical gears in the larger Centara operation. We wish for all our people to wake up in the morning and have a willingness to work with happiness every day and look forward to growing together."
Centara today employs 6,000 people and last year conducted two major employee satisfaction surveys across several layers of the organisation, using two outside consultants. The results identified a number of areas in which the company felt it could improve, not to mention those with which the employees were already satisfied.
"We intend to be an 'employer of choice', which reflects our strong will to provide satisfaction to our employees. Career paths have been defined. Therefore, employees will know what kind of career growth they can expect in the next five years," says Mr Thirayuth.
"Whenever I address our hotels' general managers, I always tell them if their employees can grow by going to work at another hotel [in the group], they should let them go. Do not hold them back. It's great to see people grow and move along their career paths."
Strategic direction: As it developed and grew, Centel relied initially on management chains to run its hotels, but six years ago it decided to manage its own properties and offer management services to other hotel owners as well under the new Centara brand.
"We believed we should have our own name that reflected out true self," says Mr Thirayuth. "The Centara name derived from our intention to keep the 'central' meaning. However, there can be misinterpretations of the word 'central', perhaps related to the location of the hotel. After a number of recommendations from consultants, we finally choose the Centara name.
"In fact, the Centara name had been with us all along as the name of our spas. The 'cen' related to our intention to stress the meaning of central, while 'tara' means flow of water in Thai, which also reflects a middle-path meaning."
Centara's strategic direction now is to focus more on management of hotels within Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Investment in new hotels including joint ventures with other partners will be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis.
As the chief executive of a company that has grown very large, Mr Thirayuth needs to rely on information from different sources to evaluate business as well as employee performance.
"For handling individuals, since I cannot work closely with everyone on a daily basis, I tend to take evaluations, especially feedback from our guests, as a basis," he explains. "Consistency of behaviour is another criterion I have adopted when considering a person. Some may behave politely with us but not with others.
"We must always observe the surrounding conditions also, as we can only see people from our angle. Spending time outside work with team members is also advisable. That way we'll have an opportunity to see them from different angles as well."
Consultative leadership: "I am comfortable leading my management team by engaging them in the decision-making process," he continues. "Debating, making decisions and moving forward together are crucial, because we cannot work alone.
"Listening with an open-mined attitude is a critical factor. Not everyone normally tells all the facts. Some may share only part of the whole story. Therefore, after listening, I typically analyse what's been said to clearly understand the issue. It may happen sometimes that I have to call the shots in case that particular person may persist with an unreasonable opinion."
Mr Thirayuth's office is always open to any employee to come in to share their thinking. "If I don't stop and listen, then in the end I won't hear anything," he says.
"Besides, in line with my own way of doing things, I view people from their belief in what they do. If they don't really believe, then they will not truly commit to their performance."
Sorayuth Vathanavisuth, a former chief executive of the Thailand Management Association, teaches at Mahidol University's College of Management. His areas of interest are leadership development, executive coaching and strategic business planning. He can be reached at sorayuth@sealeadership.com