From corporate monkey to hotelier

He used to be a "corporate monkey," now he is a hotelier, doesn't reach goals, and makes mistakes. That's what he says.

"You are the 'rockstar of the grand hotel industry,' according to the Sunday newspaper – why is that?" – "That's not me; 'rockers' have something aging, and I don't like that. But maybe the analogy is meant this way: The rockstar became a star because he shook up established music. And I aim to push the grand hotel industry forward." – "Shouldn't the boss be more of a salesperson than a rockstar? The fashion entrepreneur has to sell pants, the car company executive cars, and the hotelier his beds. How do you sell hotel beds in Zurich, where there are already many?" – "First of all, unlike the products you listed, a hotel is only tangible in some areas. Secondly: If I don't sell the car today, it will still be in the yard, and I can sell it tomorrow. But the hotel room I don't sell today, I can only sell again tomorrow. That's a big difference. But we are not in the hotel business. My company is called Lifestyle Hospitality & Entertainment [LH & E Group], we are in the show business. It's about satisfying the lowest level in the Maslow pyramid first so that guests then buy for the satisfaction of the needs at the top. So, food, drink, sleep must work, but whoever talks about that is not a grand hotelier. Only when you stage it and put the guest at the center, does the mundane act of feeding turn into an art." Carsten Rath, 49, is a German hotelier and entrepreneur. The LH & E Group company, owned by him and a business partner, operates the "Kameha Suite" in Frankfurt, an event venue, and is the name and service licensor of the "Kameha Grand" in Bonn as well as the hotel of the same name opened a year ago in Opfikon near Zurich. The owner of the property with around 250 rooms, built according to Rath's vision, is a UBS real estate fund; the "Kameha Grand" has no stars, in my opinion, it can be described as a boutique hotel, especially for business travelers. Opinions differ on whether the first year was successful and whether the offer is good. Rath has published several books, including "Sex please only in the suite – From the life of a grand hotelier," and he is also a speaker. He is married, has a teenage son, but has been living alone for many years, currently in the canton of Thurgau. "You admit to mistakes, for example, that the event hall on the first floor of your hotel is difficult to fill because it is not visible enough. Or the failure to reach goals – you wanted 59 percent room occupancy in the first year, but you achieved 50 percent." – "51 percent." – "Most bosses deny mistakes, why do you show weakness?" – "Truth, not weakness. I demand from employees to distinguish between mistakes and misconduct. I am unpleasant with misconduct, generous with mistakes. I allow myself that too. Now I am a tennis player, that means I don't like double faults." – "You have been in the business for 25 years . . ." – ". . . unfortunately even longer." – "Have you fared well being one of the few honest ones?" – "There are many colleagues who are honest, only the bad ones lie. Do I look good in front of my investors? No, when I make such honest statements, the phone rings, some are not so happy with the truth. But they have done business with me, as I am, that's not a surprise." "You went self-employed at forty – and then never earned as much as when you were an employee. I didn't want to be a corporate monkey anymore." – "I never earned so little." – "What went wrong?" – "Of course, I earned more as an employee – when you are self-employed, everything goes back into the company. Of course, that was not the goal, but I can't compare that at all, before it was calculated in net income, today I calculate in completely different areas – money is not a trigger for me, not a motivator, money is a means to an end. I decided not to be a 'Como' anymore – I created a monkey named 'Como,' corporate monkey, those who climb the palm tree the fastest, but not for success, but to steal the coconut. And I didn't feel like doing that." – "What is the most important thing you learned from tennis [he founded a tennis school at 17]?" – "You have to pick up the ball yourself. And I'll give you another piece of tennis news: The one who gets the ball over the net one more time always wins." For more information on the topic of corporate monkey and Carsten K. Rath, click here: https://www.speakers-excellence.de/redner/carsten-k-rath-service-hotelbranche.html   Want to know more about Carsten K. Rath? Here you go: https://www.speakers-excellence.de/se/blog/kameha-grand/ https://www.speakers-excellence.de/se/blog/service-excellence-asiatische-barbies/