When I spoke with Marc von Arnim, he was general manager of Park Hyatt Sydney in Australia. The book notes that he has since become General Manager of Capella Sydney.
Von Arnim speaks to how a luxury property chooses and welcomes its people, and he gives the cleanest version of the hiring practice in the book. He looks for candidates who speak from the heart and show emotional intelligence, on the grounds that the industry is about how the guest is made to feel, so the interview is partly a matter of intuition. The candidate who can describe a difficult guest moment without a rehearsed answer, or name a colleague they admire and explain why with feeling, has shown the capacity the work demands every day. The candidate fluent only in resumes and certifications may have the skills and is still, in his framing, the wrong hire. He then does something that looks small and is in practice a large operational commitment. On a new recruit’s first day, he attends their orientation himself to explain what the hotel is looking for, what the expectations are, and where he came from. The busiest person in the building spends an hour telling each new colleague they are inside something that takes them seriously.
“When interviewing applicants, I look for people that speak from the heart and display a level of emotional intelligence. The luxury hotel industry is about how we make the customer feel, and therefore part of the interview process is simply using your intuition when interacting with an applicant.” Marc von Arnim, then General Manager, Park Hyatt Sydney
In the book, Marc von Arnim appears in Chapter 4, First the Team, where his habit of listening for candidates who speak from the heart is the first of the hiring disciplines that make up what I call the People-First model, and his presence at orientation is an example of developing the team once it is selected, and in Chapter 8, The Human Touch, where his reliance on intuition at interview is set beside Pinar Kartal Timer and Philip Barnes on the one trait no property can teach.
“On the first day of a new recruit, I attend their orientation to explain more about what we’re looking for, what the expectations are, and what our larger vision is for the hotel.” Marc von Arnim, then General Manager, Park Hyatt Sydney