Viceroy Hotel Group CEO Bill Walshe considers himself lucky; having started his career in small Irish guesthouses he now heads up the luxury Californian brand Viceroy, which he’s set to take global. Here, Walshe reveals his inspirations, vision and why sometimes, 51% is enough
Bill Walshe is a familiar face to Dubai hoteliers, having previously worked as Jumeirah Group’s chief marketing officer. He is the man responsible for putting Tiger Woods on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab, and he now jokes that it was this or send “55 press releases.”
What the stunt taught him, however, was that it’s better “to do a few things really big and really brilliantly”, and now, he’s again ensuring his company is in the limelight with a staring role as a judge on The Job, a CBS reality show that will see Walshe hire the spa manager for Viceroy Miami.
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It’s little wonder that Walshe’s secret is the fact he “put himself through college doing commercial radio and stand-up”.
When we meet in Dubai, Walshe’s excitement both at being back here, and at how far he’s come, is palpable. Having begun his career, by accident, as the bin boy at his uncle’s guest house in Limerick, Ireland, Walshe became hooked on the industry he now “adores”.
To be appointed the chief executive officer of Viceroy Hotel Group on July 1, 2012, and move to LA was “really a dream come true,” says Walshe.
“As a young kid in Limerick who started out washing cutlery and now my zip code is 90210 — that’s pretty cool. It might sound really arrogant and cheesy, but I kind of think I’m loving it, I’m living the dream and every day just gets better and better.”
It’s clear Walshe relishes his new role and the opportunity ahead for the group. He talks nineteen to the dozen about his priorities for the company — the success of which he acknowledges is reliant on him achieving “complete alignment” and understanding of his vision across the organisation.
Ultimately, his goal is to ensure Viceroy has the infrastructure in place to deliver its brand values of “consistent individuality” and “commitment to authenticity” as it enters a new era of growth beyond its traditional North American roots.
“If you look back over my career what is a constant feature is I like to work for companies at an early stage of evolution,” says Walshe, referring to his earlier roles at Kempinski and Jumeirah, then at Dublin’s Doyle Group, which was “fundamentally and utterly repositioned” under his leadership.
“Taking over the Yas Viceroy hotel and then opening up the Viceroy Maldives has really been game changing for the company in many ways; it’s put us on an international stage,” says Walshe.
“What it has taught us is that we need to have an organisational structure that allows for real time decision making and to ensure that we have talent in market for market. We can’t run the world from LA.”
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