SNAPSHOT:
The manager: Darren Darwin
The job: General Manager, Holiday Inn Sofia
Nationality: British
Age: 38
Arrived in Bulgaria: August 2006                                     

From August 2005 to August 2006, Darwin was general manager of Camden Court Hotel in Dublin. While in charge, he oversaw the refurbishment of all the bedrooms, a new bar and conference centre.

From February 2004 to August 2005, he was director of operation of the Almond Village Resort in Barbados in the Caribbean. It is one of the busiest resorts in the East Caribbean, and he oversaw the day-to-day running of the resort, looking after 1400 guest and 500 staff. The resort had a large conference centre that would hold many local and international events, including the Duke of Edinburgh awards. "We also held about 350 weddings a year with up to four a day in peak season," he says.

From October 1998 to February 2004, he worked for Intercontinental Hotels. During this period, up to October 2000, he was general manager of the Holiday Inn Liverpool, and then for a year was general manager of the Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport 4, following this (October 2001 to February 2003) as general manager of Holiday Inn Birmingham M6 and then as general manager of the Holiday Inn London Brent Cross.

From June 1993 to October 1998, Darwin worked for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants (UK). "I worked in three areas within the UK in total, including London where I spent two years. I was mainly sent in to trouble-shoot. I started at Chester as a restaurant general manager. I was then promoted to area manager, responsible for eight restaurants."

From April 1990 to May 1993, he was with Boddingtons Hotel and Restaurant Division.

From July 1986 to March 1990, Darwin was in the British army, serving in 29 Commando attached to the Royal Regiment of Artillery.

He received qualifications in communications, gunnery and shooting. With an exemplary record, he received a General Service Medal.

Darwin lists his hobbies as squash, golf, gomputers, running, gym and reading.

There is a rueful modesty in his smile as he prepares to answer. “Hopefully, I was the best person. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I can speak for myself. I was very confident going into the application process, having worked for Intercontinental Hotels for six years, and with my international experience. I dare say these factors helped. I would like to think it was my personality, and my vision about what the hotel could do and where it could go.”

In the job interview, he was asked: Why Sofia?

“I can understand why that was asked. I got the same question before I went to the Caribbean. My answer was that I had never been to Sofia or to Bulgaria, but I had heard many good things about it, about peoples’ personalities, about the city, about the country’s history.

For that matter, I had never heard anything bad about it.”

He saw working in Eastern Europe as a new challenge.
“I believed that it would test me. I wanted to work in a country where English is not the first language. I think it will broaden my international experience. I wanted to see how I would handle myself in that environment.”

Sitting in the lobby coffee shop, six weeks after the hotel opened its doors and with 10 days to go before the official opening party, Darwin appears calm and confident. This appears so even though there are factors that make the story of the Holiday Inn Sofia somewhat different from the norm. Unlike most other five-star hotels in Bulgaria’s capital city, his is out in Mladost 4, in Business Park Sofia. Moreover, it is well known that the hotel opened much later than was initially expected. Further, among Holiday Inns the hotel is unusual, for being only one of two in the world that has five stars. The other is in Saudi Arabia. All of these are special factors, and here he is, new to the country and not yet able to speak the language. In the latter situation, there is a risk, that a new manager will be disproportionately dependent on his subordinates. To this, he responds: “I have a good, dedicated, experience management team, and I am in an industry where 99 per cent of people speak English. The team is fantastic, and very helpful. From the outset, everyone has been great in helping me deal with matters like a visa, getting my storage from Ireland, and so on. Also, as a manager, I do have an open door policy. Throughout my career, some of the best ideas have not been my own, they have come up from staff. When I met the staff for the first time, I told them: I am new, new to the hotel, new to Sofia, and I am going to need help and advice. For example, when we talk about promotions, I take very seriously what they say about what is likely to work in Sofia and what not. At the same time, this level of involvement on their part helps them to take ownership of what we do”.

In his career, he has learnt numerous lessons, he says.

“The most important is that I have got to know and understand people more. If you had spoken to me five years ago, I would have said that I have a good understanding of people. As you speak to me now, I would say that I have a better understanding. I think that this has helped with my work internationally, for the past five years. Cultural awareness is something that is high on my priorities, not just as a hotelier, but working in different environments. You always have to understand that you are in someone else’s country. I think that one of the lessons that I have learnt is, while some expats sometimes say: ‘Why don’t people adapt to the way I am or the way that we manage?’ but my belief is always is that we need to adapt. We are in someone else’s culture and environment, and we are the ones who need to adapt. The thing that drives me and fuels my ambitions is that, and I know that this is a cliche, but I genuinely love what I do. I genuinely enjoy working with people, developing people, it gives me great pleasure when I get a slip from guests saying that they have had a wonderful stay. Also, not to be naive, it gives me great pleasure to give the shareholders and the investors a return on their investment.”

Asked which of his previous posts and the places that he has worked in that he regards as most analogous to his job in Sofia, he says, after some thought, “the way that the hotel works, with the demands and the business environment, I would say London. With the people in Sofia and the friendliness of the people in Sofia, and the willingness to serve and to learn to advance, I would say the Caribbean. They have similar traits to people in Sofia. They are very, very friendly. I have worked in three places in the past three years (Ireland, the Caribbean and London), and when I came to Sofia, bearing in mind that I am a single person coming to a new country, very quickly I was made to feel welcome, very much part of the team. There was a great ethos of ‘if you need anything, please ask’ and you don’t always get that when you work internationally, and it certainly makes an easier transition. Yes, certainly, the Caribbean, but without the weather.”

The Holiday Inn Sofia currently has just more than 100 staff.

“The good thing, and something that I feel very proud about and get a great deal of pleasure from, is that 80 per cent of the managers have some kind of hotel experience. I would say that more than 70 per cent of the staff do not have hotel experience, meaning that while some of the waiters are very experienced, they have not previously worked in a hotel, or not for a global brand like Holiday Inn.

So it is certainly very satisfying to be able to bring these people on board, go through a training programme with them, and see the end results, which have been very positive, going by our guests’ comments at the moment. I think that it can be more beneficial sometimes, getting people who do not have the experience and you train them, you see them develop and grow, than getting someone from the Hilton or the Radisson who is already fully experienced.”

Asked what was the biggest challenge that he faced in the run-up to the opening and in the first few weeks of operations, Darwin says that the first was opening the hotel. “For various reasons, there had been delays, and we were adamant that we would open the hotel before Christmas. As with any opening, you can be influential in so many things but obviously there are other factors that you have to wait for, and obviously in Eastern Europe that can mean many circumstances. But we are very proud that we fulfilled our commitment that we would open in December, and we did. Post-opening, it’s really now putting into practice everything that we have been through, in the four months of training, about our procedures and policies. Making sure that the Holiday Inn policy of “can-do” is a reality in the hotel.”

When he stays in a hotel as a guest, what is most important to him?

“By far, the most important thing to me when I stay in a hotel is the friendliness and attentiveness of the staff. Facilities, cleanliness and product are very important, but without friendly and attentive staff, there will not be the difference that makes people come back.

Especially in an international hotel like this one, where a lot of our guests are international people travelling on their own, away from their families, the difference that makes them stay here and not another global brand is that the staff become familiar with their guests, they take an interest in why they are here and what they are doing. The Holiday Inn ethos, going back 50 years, is to have a family-friendly environment. That’s something that we try to get across every day here, that staff friendliness is by far the most important.”

He is asked about the stereotype about Balkan people, that they are surly, unsmiling and ill-disposed to a “Western” service ethic.

“Here it has not been an issue. We have been very lucky, we have recruited very good people, with a friendly accommodating nature. I am more interested in the character and personality of the person rather than the skill. If you want a good bartender, you get someone who is friendly, and teach him how to mix drinks. I also understand the flip side. I have been in many taxis here. I have seen how rude and aggressive people can be. But it is like anywhere else. You get good and bad everywhere. I would give the assurance that people coming to Sofia would be treated in a friendly fashion. My industry is about training, to manage your personality within the industry.”

It is put to him that, going by the appearance of the staff visible to the public, no one at the hotel seems to be older than 30, perhaps no more than 25. “There was no strategy or intention about that. I do have some people at the hotel who are over 60. There are people with a lot of experience. Anywhere in the world now, in the hospitality industry it is younger people who are applying.”

As to his philosophy of staff development, he says that he is a believer in being hands-on. “I am not a believer in putting a poster on a wall and saying, there you go, that’s how you do it.” He works hard to ensure that people fully understand what it is that is being asked of him.

“I try to encourage the approach that the only stupid question is the one that you don’t ask.”

It is equally important to give people the right people to do the job. Taking such an approach assists in the longevity of staff staying with an employer.

“If the staff are happy and motivated, the guests can tell. Guests do not want to be in an environment where the staff do not look happy.

So it is very important for me that we accomplish this.”

He adds that this is one of the good things about working in a country where English is not the first language, because it creates a test of training and managerial skills.

“I’ve had to adapt. I told my managers to give me feedback. I told them that I was not perfect. And when I first came, local people told me I was speaking too quickly. I have a  north-west, Manchester accent, and I was asked, ‘Darren, can you slow down a bit?’ That was great, and I now I have slowed down, do two or three sentences, ask if people understand me, and if their English is not that great, I use an interpreter. That has been a real learning experience. It’s been great.”

So far, he has not had time to begin learning Bulgarian. “It is very important to embrace the local culture. I make a point of trying to go to Bulgarian restaurants, I don’t tend to hang out at the expat places, I don’t want to get caught up in that bubble, I want to experience Bulgaria for what it is. I speak to a lot of Bulgarians a lot of the time. Eventually I would like to pick up the language. I did a lot of travelling as a child. My father was in the forces, so I lived in Singapore, in Germany. But I never really learnt German, because I was enclosed in an English environment. That is a regret. I want to make sure that I do not do that in Bulgaria.”

Asked about his career ambitions, he says: “I would like to do at least two years. Beyond that, I don’t know. I love Sofia, I love the hotel, so it could be two years, it could be five. It depends on my personal circumstances, there are a lot of things I would have to take into consideration. But at least two years. I would like to continue my international career, I would like to stay with a global brand. As to where I go next, I honestly don’t know. I enjoy Bulgaria, but I am not counting out anywhere else in Eastern Europe. Also, I am getting to a stage now where I would like to settle down, get married. I have a big job to do here, to make this hotel successful, so it is not a question that I am going to think about for another 18 months, two years.”