When I spoke with Mahmoud Skaf, he was general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia. The book notes that he has since become Area General Manager of Marriott International properties within the YTL Hotels portfolio in Malaysia and Thailand.
Skaf’s path into the work is one of the origin stories I return to in the book. His father was in the military and the family moved eight times. By fourteen his mother’s love of cooking had persuaded him to become a chef, and by eighteen he was certified as one. Military service took him around the world twice before his hospitality career began, and yet the shape of the work had been set in a family kitchen years earlier. What he speaks to most directly, though, is empowerment. He described it from inside the brand that did more than any other to systematize the practice, and he framed it in a way I found clarifying: giving the ladies and gentlemen of the hotel the room to make decisions and resolve problems is as much a business decision as a service decision. It is how a property moves from satisfactory to memorable at scale, without the leader present for every interaction.
“We encourage the ladies and gentlemen of the hotel to engage our guests if the opportunity presents itself, and to make decisions, craft special moments and resolve customer issues in any way or form they chose to. This is as much a service decision as it is a business decision.” Mahmoud Skaf, then General Manager, The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur
In the book, Mahmoud Skaf appears in Chapter 1, The Calling, where his teenage start in a small hotel kitchen is one version of a pattern I saw repeatedly; in Chapter 5, Giving the Keys, where his account of empowerment at The Ritz-Carlton sits beside Kevin Fehling’s independent kitchen in Hamburg; and in Chapter 9, Knowing Your Guest, where his refusal to say no to a request illustrates the proactive rung of anticipation, which depends on a team trained to notice and empowered to act.
“One of the hallmarks of the luxury hospitality industry is never saying no to a guest request, no matter how big or small.” Mahmoud Skaf, then General Manager, The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur