GM interview: Kai Schukowski

This month, Kai Schukowski will turn 30 years old. This year, he also won the distinction of being the youngest general manager in the history of the Kempinski brand. He officially took over as general manager of the Kempinski Hotel Ajman this year after his predecessor, Ulrich Eckhardt, left the company in 2014, after 17 years of heading up the property in the Northern Emirates.

German national Schukowski says his interest in the world of hospitality started when he was 14, when the results of a job fair quiz showed his aptitude in the field. His father, who had a construction business, heard about his son’s interest in pursuing hospitality and set him a challenge: if young Schukowski could survive an internship in a hotel, he would allow him to study hospitality management. After six months of banqueting at a Berlin property, Schukowski was even surer about his end goal. From there, he moved to Dubai in 2005 to study at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management.

After his graduation, Schukowski joined Kempinski’s head office in Geneva, Switzerland in 2009, where he was involved in the strategic planning of the brand and reported directly to the company’s COO. He says of the experience: “It was an eye opener, because it gave me an eagle eye from the [perspective of] company strategy, and even today it really helps me to understand how they think and where they want to go, and translate that into the property.”

After two years, he received the opportunity to become the regional operations manager in charge of all Kempinski hotels in China. “I was working with the senior vice president of operations for all of China. I was sitting with the GM and ExCom team, running through all the numbers and performance, sharing best practices with different properties and seeing how we can elevate performance and quality. I got an inside scoop into the hotel operations.”

Fast forward another two years, and in the summer of 2013, Schukowski was appointed hotel manager at Kempinski Hotel Ajman, the first Kempinski property in the region of India, the Middle East and Africa. He performed the role of acting general manager when Eckhardt left, and was eventually promoted to the GM’s role.

“Someone really believed in me and gave me the opportunity to come to this beautiful property in Ajman and prove myself as a hotel manager,” he says. Winning a Hotelier Award in 2015 for this role, the young GM also credits
Eckhardt who trusted and empowered him to prove himself.

Talking about officially becoming GM, Schukowski says: “I was extremely grateful to take over that responsibility from such a legacy. Those were huge footsteps to follow and fill.”

Schukowski is especially focused on his team. One of the changes he has insisted on is calling everyone at the property ‘hoteliers’ rather than ‘employees’ or ‘staff’. As part of creating a family-like atmosphere at the hotel, heads of departments regularly cook for all the hoteliers at the staff canteen, sports activities are organised for the team members, along with staff parties. “All these things build a community,” Schukowski says.

But this community-building, Schukowski believes, is part of his job.

He says: “I consider myself a conductor in the orchestra, in a way. I cannot play the violin, the cello or the piano, but I know the song I want to hear and I know how to select the people to play that music. But without them, I cannot do anything.

“It’s the skill of the GM to bring these experts together and make sure they harmonise together. Because you can have the people, but if they play different songs, it doesn’t sound nice at the end. Being at the corporate office taught me to look at the big picture, set a clear strategy and the way forward. Being detail-focused is nice, but you need to know where you’re going.”

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Being the youngest general manager in the company’s history, and certainly, one of the youngest Hotelier has met, Schukowski is aware of the pressure, the expectations, and even the naysayers. “I know, for a fact, that people say that I will soon be out of a job, and I thrive on proving them wrong. I want to prove the people who believed in me right.”

He says the hotel, now in its 18th year, has matured in its own right, and adds that he wants it to be known as the most service-oriented hotel in the Northern Emirates.

And despite any and all economic and geopolitical challenges in the wider region, the Kempinski Hotel Ajman is still doing well, he reports: “To tell you the truth, we finished May with 95% occupancy. I was extremely happy, and so was the owner.”

He’s open to being flexible with rates, and says as a loose rule, the hotel’s rates fluctuate in line with Dubai hotels.

“But at the same time, when we look at our competition and Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman, we are aligned with price and rates,” explains Schukowski.

“I’m also happy that we have the highest number of repeat guests within the company. That gives us a nice base business and the Russian market is still extremely strong; they come here because they love the property. They have lost 50% of the purchasing power so the holidays cost them twice the amount they paid last year, yet they still come,” notes Schukowski, who says the hotel has lost approximately 5% of its Russian customer base.

While the summer months are what concerns Schukowski the most (although with news that the hotel hit budget in July, it’s looking positive), he reveals that the end of the year is already showing solid business on the books. “Normally the booking pattern gets more unpredictable, but towards the last quarter, we have pretty solid large events and business on the books. For me, the main question will be summer. I think it will get extremely challenging and competitive. But it’s a matter of getting creative, and working with new markets.”

But Schukowski adds that based on the most recent forecasts, he’s hoping to finish the year at 66-67%, which “is not too bad for us”.

By the end of the year, more new hotels will have opened in the Northern Emirates, and Schukowski says that as an optimist, he embraces the competition. “It’s really only positive for Ajman. Now Ajman is a destination in its own right, and Ras Al Khaimah is going out and about. Ajman Tourism Development Department is doing a fantastic job, it’s really putting us on the map, and the more the merrier.”

And what about his personal goals? “I hope fortune is with me in the future, I’d love to continue as a GM for the next few years to get more experience. A next step might be a bigger property, and I’d love to stay with Kempinski.

“The long-term goal is to run a luxury five-star hotel company one day,” he says, and concludes: “I want to build my own pillars of success.”

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What makes a good GM?

1. “It’s overused, but you need to have the passion for the job because you can’t do 14-15 hours, and keep smiling at the guest. People realise it’s fake. If you don’t have passion, you won’t succeed. You can only fake it for so long.”
2. “Times are changing. You used to start as a specialist, then work your way up. General manager, as the title implies, means you need to be a generalist. You need to be able to let go and empower your people.
3. “The more you know, the more you realise how little you know. You have to update yourself every day. Something may have worked in the past, but if you don’t change, it may not work in the future. The worst phrase in the English language is ‘I already know that’.”

MY THREE FAVOURITE THINGS:

1. The beach: “The 500m pristine beach is unique in the UAE. It’s natural and I haven’t seen any other beach like it here.”
2. Bukhara, the Indian restaurant: “I wasn’t a fan of Indian food before, but when I tried it for the first time… it’s fantastic. It helps to bring in the crowds; we have people from Abu Dhabi coming there to try the food.”
3. The hoteliers: “The team is ultimately selling this place. When we see the feedback, the service is what sets us apart from the competition. The unwavering passion that we have is second to none.”