Above: Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge
Q: What was your first job and what did you learn from it that you still use today?
A: My first real job was working on an assembly line in my father’s manufacturing plant.
Very difficult work, but my key takeaway was the people working on the frontlines, executing the strategy and product delivery to the customer are key to your success.
Creating the right environment for them to be successful is how great companies excel. Culture is driven by how you treat and empower your team to go beyond the standard operating procedure, allowing them to have ownership and pride in the work they do!
Q: What’s the first thing you do when you start a new position?
A: Listen and observe! I try to meet with team members at all levels, hear their thoughts on what’s going right, what they’d like to see evolve and what they think we should stop doing.
Important to be someone that’s not only respectful of all the great things done prior to your arrival, but to be someone that gains perspective by learning from what you see and hear.
Q: What advice would you give someone wanting to start a career in travel now?
A: Think broadly about your experience and gain perspective on what a “career in travel” actually means.
Understand what aspect of travel and leisure that appeals to you the most, then create a plan for how you take the right steps to learn the things that will make you valuable to companies in need of passionate individuals, with the right skillset.
Lastly, become a great communicator and someone that goes beyond what is expected of you.
Your work ethic is important and ensuring everyone understands your goals helps them support your development and career progression according to what you would like to achieve.
Q: If you hadn’t gone into travel, what career path might you have taken?
A: I think something in sports would have been great. I’ve always had a passion for team sports, I loved playing and competing, and while growing up I was raised in a part of the United States that really rallied around their hometown franchises.
I think there’s a lot of connective tissue between sports and leisure tourism. Both bring joy to people, both are experience-based opportunities for fans and guest to participate in, and both involve creating memories for those involved.
Q: How do you think the travel industry is looking at this moment in time?
A: There are many significant events going on in the world that warrant caution while travelling to certain geographies, but on the other hand, traveling to destinations that are unique and experienced based are continuing to grow.
I see generational travel occurring, where families and friends want to create memories in special places, that are deep and emotionally connected with who they are and the values they represent.
I’ve been really inspired by what we do at Baillie Lodges and Tierra Hotels. The unique destinations, the cultures and our commitment to not only being responsible stewards of sustainability, but to be more regenerative everywhere we live.
What we offer is really transformational luxury experiences, highly personalised to what our guests need. Getting to know them on a much deeper level and to curate the time they spend with us is the mission!
Above: Huka Lodge
Q: Who would you most like to sit next to on a plane, living or dead?
A: I’ve had the great fortune of meeting many interesting people in my life. Being in the leisure tourism business is one of the best careers to engage in conversations with guests from all over the world.
But, if I had to pick one person to sit next to on a plane it would be my daughter. She’s the person that keeps me grounded, inspires me to want to be the best version of myself that I can be…and by the way she’s just a great person with a lot of character and personality.
We sometimes tend to take for granted the people that have the biggest impacts on our lives and while I have admired and learned from many people in my life, she’s the one I would always choose to be with given the opportunity.
Q: What are some of your favourite spots around the world?
A: Honestly, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy so many destinations around the world. Famous cities, nature based retreats, all with great food, culturally unique and incredible experiences.
Some of the favourites on my list would be Singapore, New York, Shanghai, Hawaii and the Maldives.
I’ve enjoyed living in some of them and visiting others and I look forward to continuing to add more special spots.
The great thing about a career in leisure travel is you’re lucky enough to be in places that some will never be able to experience. I’m thankful for that opportunity!
Q: What is your best travel story?
A: I was traveling with my daughter Kaitlin in the Maldives and we were on a seaplane back to Male’ to take our flight back to Singapore and encountered some bad weather.
Our pilot was great but was forced to make a quick landing at one of the resorts on the way back to the main airport.
As we were landing, a Chinese couple that didn’t speak English was on the plane, returning from their honeymoon.
My daughter, who speaks fluent Mandarin, noticed the couple was very nervous and overheard them speaking in Mandarin about their concern.
She jumped into action, speaking to them in their own language, explaining what was going on and giving them a level of comfort that everything was fine and we just needed to land while the storm passed.
They were amazed, grabbed onto her and she became their interpreter for the rest of the time we travelled to the airport.
Gratifying when you see your kids become adults that are beyond your hopes of their abilities!
Q: What are you most looking forward to about working with Baillie Lodges?
A: Baillie Lodges is an incredible company, built on a people first culture. Our guest, our team, everyone is emotionally connected to our destinations, our experiences and everything we have to offer.
Having stayed at many of our current locations, they are all amazing and create transformational memories that become part our guests lives forever.
I have been given an opportunity to help continue to evolve a luxury business based on the highest level of personalised travel in the industry.
Also, a chance to continue to grow a portfolio with “one of a kind” assets and continue to support and grow an amazing team and culture.
Building a reputation as the standard in luxury experiential travel is the goal and when I was given the chance to help create and execute that vision it was something I had to do!
Clayoquot Lodge picture courtesy George Apostolidis
