“It is a hotelier’s dream to work off the beaten track,” said Monty Brown, currently general manager at Amanrüya, Bodrum, Turkey.
Just as Amanjunkies are faithful customers who rush to each new hotel as fast as possible, so, says this three-decade veteran, management is also incredibly loyal.
Few hoteliers leave, except for personal reasons. Brown moved from one job to another, usually after five-year contracts. But now, based in Hawaii, he is the flying GM, going wherever he is needed (in this case, Bodrum). Respect the relevant culture and it is easy as pie to slot in from one location to another, and five to six days’ handover is all that is required. Brown reckons within two months of arriving he is happy with the teamwork.
“I have a working wardrobe of light blue shirt and jeans that have, with a sunhat, taken me to every hotel – with one exception as I did have to buy more clothes for Amangani (Jackson Hole, Wyoming) due to the winter temperatures,” he said.
Amangani had, in fact, been one of the most challenging openings back in 1998. “The issue was that highly educated young American professionals did not understand Aman’s culture and philosophy; to them it was a job, perhaps for three months,” Brown said. “Turnover was 200% in the first year.”
Brown, therefore, hired as many Hispanics as possible, but he still had to roster with three staff per room, half of the norm Aman works to in Asia.
Amangani also closed during both the spring and fall low seasons. “Here at the 36-cottage Amanrüya, we have one big closing, winter, from November to March,” Brown said. “We need, therefore, to make all our budget in seven and a half months.”
One-third of the 142 staff are permanent, another third return the following year, which means, come March, Amanrüya only hires a third of its total complement. Brown obviously misses Aman’s Asian properties, where Amanjunkie guests are attracted back by staff who stay for decades.
Born and raised on Hawaii’s Big Island, Brown was 14 when he got an after-school job as a busboy making about US$8 a night in tips (“almost as much as my father’s car dealership and gas station brought in,” he joked). This, he thought, was pretty good.
After graduating from the University of Denver hotel school he worked on Hawaii but, fascinated by Pacific migrations, he took a sabbatical to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and other Pacific islands. In French Polynesia he went to Hotel Bora Bora – best croissants and eggs benedict in the Pacific, he had been told – and the owner’s representative offered him a job.
Adrian Zecha came on a reconnaissance trip in 1987, and in 1988 bought it to become the second Aman resort. Brown has been with the company ever since.
Come November, when Amanrüya closes, he will await his next assignment. “Hotel Bora Bora might re-open, and there is opportunity for more locations around the world,” he said excitedly.