When I spoke with Christian A. Hassing, he was general manager of Mandarin Oriental, Singapore.
Hassing speaks to the boundary between what technology should absorb and what a luxury property must continue to deliver in person, and he draws that line more clearly than anyone else in the book. Automation and applications, he told me, have given the luxury travel industry new ways to work more efficiently, and none of them can replace the human touch or the personal relationships that form between guests and colleagues. A genuinely caring, curious and kind human interaction is part and parcel of the luxury experience, and he warns against underestimating its power. He then extends the observation into a trend that cuts against the whole premise of a connected hotel. When everything is digitized and the guest is connected around the clock, the most sought after itineraries, services and amenities are the ones designed to help guests disconnect and reconsider their relationship with technology. The property that has built its position around integrating technology faces a guest segment that values its absence. Both can be true at once, and the operator’s job is to recognize which guest, on which stay, wants which.
“Never underestimate the power of a genuinely caring, curious and kind human interaction. It is part and parcel of the luxury experience.” Christian A. Hassing, then general manager, Mandarin Oriental, Singapore
In the book, Christian A. Hassing appears in Chapter 12, The Digital Discipline, where his account of the line between efficiency and presence is what every senior operator in the book is drawing in their own properties, and where his observation about disconnection names the paradox at the center of the chapter. The chapter closes on his point: the technology is the assistant, the substance of the craft still has to come from inside the operation, from people hired for character and trained to be present, and the chef and the hotelier are still the chef and the hotelier.
“In a world where everything is digitized and you’re constantly connected 24/7, going offline is the new luxury.” Christian A. Hassing, then general manager, Mandarin Oriental, Singapore