Click image to view larger version

It’s a kaleidoscope of experience that this hotelier has brought to Oman
Nazia Khan

When it came to deciding on a career path as a teenager, there were really no questions for Antonio Zamora, now director of operations-Oman and general manager, Al Bustan Palace. “As an adolescent, I would travel with my father, and I was absolutely fascinated by hotel lobbies. When I finished school, the hotel industry was the one I wanted to explore, and here I am.”

Zamora’s formal introduction to the industry happened as a 16 year old, when he was in his junior year of high school. Young Zamora wanted to spend his summer working away from home. His father agreed to let him go, provided he found a job on his own. Which he did, working as an all-round helper in a small motel, an hour away from San Francisco. That first career move provided as good an impression into the challenges of the hospitality industry as any other. “But my first real job was running a small hotel in California. That was just after I finished hotel school.”

Roots through routes
The journey since has led Zamora, who was born in South America, across the world. From Sydney to Korea, and from Indonesia to Thailand and Japan, he says that he has accumulated impressions that have formed his way of thinking. “When you have worked internationally as much as I have, in such diverse places, you are constantly impressed by the qualities you observe in people.” Of particular note was his stint in China, when its economy was just opening up. “I was involved in negotiations for the first international management contract pertaining to the hotel industry in China. It was very interesting to deal with individuals who had never been exposed to a free market economy. They had always worked in a centralised economy and we took to them business and management concepts that were different. The negotiations were long, as they were grappling with what was then this unusual concept of a management contract. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.” Describing his time in China, through Tiananmen Square as well as the first steps towards a new economy, Zamora says, “I was there at the best of times and I was there at the worst of times. And I will always remember the varied experience that it provided.”

Present focus
Zamora has been in Oman just about 16 months now. There are certain changes that he has brought about in the Al Bustan since he joined. However, he prefers to downplay those. “I think that our management and our staff are a lot more focused, and our service levels have improved.” He adds, after a short pause, that he is always cautious in answering such questions since there is the risk of implying that things were not done well earlier, or that the previous management was negligent. “That’s not at all the case.” Zamora thinks that he was lucky to arrive at the hotel at a time when the market was changing dramatically. He describes that as a phase that brings with it a changed approach to management. “You have higher volumes and higher revenue. There’s more money to spend on improving the property. Since I’ve been here, I’ve got the team more focused on service delivery and revenue improvement.” He has also got the team less focused on cost control. Because he believes that when you work on service delivery and revenue improvement, the costs and operating ratios take care of themselves. The general manager adds that there is always a need to concentrate on delivering value for money. “Our prices have increased, and along with that increase in price we have to deliver the best possible service.”

To deliver the best possible service, Zamora personally works with the abiding belief that there is always a better way to do things. “However well you are doing something, there is always someone around the corner with a better idea and a better approach. If you don’t look for that concept, if you don’t discover it and develop it, somebody else will. And they will be looking at you in their rear view mirror.”

Lessons in leadership
Zamora believes that directing a culturally and ethnically diverse group of people, as he does, requires leadership by example. “You have to be consistent and fair. Never have favourites and always deal with people objectively. It is also very important to establish a direction and a vision, which can then be pursued with confidence and conviction. That is the way your staff will understand goals and targets and how to go about achieving them as a team.”

To be successful in the business, Zamora emphasises that it is important to understand that the customer is the most important person on the horizon. He continues that if you are unwilling to work long hours, this industry is not for you.

“Also, the nature of the industry is such that you need to be an extrovert and very committed to what you are doing.” But while commitment tends to breed success, agreement might not necessarily raise super success. “Of course, not all ideas are universally agreed upon, particularly when they are different from what has been done in the past. As a general manager, my view is to encourage differing opinions. It is the only way one can learn.”

Zamora thinks that great ideas come from the staff, because they are the ones interacting with the customers on a day-to-day basis. He feels that for management to successfully coordinate the performance of the staff, a clear response mechanism has to be evolved. “One where you respond to recommendations, suggestions and even the objections that the staff has about ideas given by management.”

Work-life balance
Zamora generally gets into work between 8 and 8:30 in the morning. “If I don’t exercise in the morning, it’s 8 am, otherwise 8:30,” he tells us with a smile. Mornings see him at briefings with senior executives from the hotel, and at various internal and external meetings and appointments. He informs, “Three days a week, in the afternoons, I have a scheduled meeting with a senior staff member. That takes 30-45 minutes.”
Throughout the day, there are various PR issues to be dealt with. Evenings see Zamora entertaining clients, and attending diplomatic functions as well as cultural events and celebrations that are organised at the hotel.

With his choc-a-bloc schedule, does he get enough time to spend with his family? “I don’t think I spend enough time with my family but I spend as much as I can. I have a four year old son, who has an early dinner and goes to bed early, so I do try to get home to be with him in the evenings.” An avid reader, he had just finished The Assassin’s Gate by George Packer. Zamora says that he spends a lot of his free time with books. He also enjoys classical music. “I believe music is a great enhancer of one’s personality. I have a daughter who is a violinist and my son is starting to take piano lessons. I kind of regret that I don’t play a musical instrument myself.”

The way he sees it, free time is well spent when it is spent with family and friends. He recently returned from a short vacation to Spain, which he thoroughly enjoyed. “I’ve been there before and I absolutely love the place.” He also loves kayaking and going out in a catamaran on weekends. He enjoys sports of all sorts, but golf is a particular favourite. “I can’t wait for Muscat Golf and Country Club to open,” he says.

Scouting for the perfect place to have his photographs taken in the Al Bustan Palace, Zamora waves out to the desk receptionists and chats with the waiters and other staff who are doing their rounds. There’s an easy camaraderie in his manner and the staff respond similarly in the interaction.

Reaching the magnificent foyer of the hotel, there is a spark in his eyes as they do a slow sweep of the arches and dome that dominate the area. It is obvious that the fascination for hotel lobbies that he experienced as a young boy remains an enduring and captivating one for Antonio Zamora.