Call Eric Viale the selfless area general manager of two InterContinental Hotels Group properties in the historic Portuguese city of Porto, a 20-year industry veteran who was recently named the company’s European GM of the Year. In fact, he won a Mini Cooper for his accomplishment, but instead of keeping the car, he asked for the cash and shared it among his 85 team members because he understands it is they who make the hotels that consistently rank at the top of TripAdvisor rankings. It is the team he motivates that the hotel’s guests speak about so glowingly. But the rising star in the IHG universe dates his passion for the hotel business back much earlier.
Growing up in the south of France in Montpellier, close to the Mediterranean, Viale would travel as a young boy to seaside resorts and remembers being captivated by their beauty and elegance. “I remember, too, as a child, being fascinated with the idea of air travel and the notion that there were exciting destinations out there that I couldn’t even imagine,” he recalled.
When Viale reflects on his career, he sees it as a series of transformative moments. Attending hotel school in Thonon-les-Bains in eastern France near the border with Switzerland was one such eye opener. “I still felt the allure of stately hotels and first-class service, but I got caught up in the business side of the business,” Viale explained.
In the early 1990s, when revenue management was becoming a sophisticated discipline, Viale was studying sales and marketing at the Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. His time spent in the U.S. was another eye opener. “The U.S. was far ahead of Europe at the time in terms of technology—whether back-of-the-house, distribution or guest-facing—so it was exciting to feel you were there at the beginning,” he said.
In hindsight, sales and revenue management exposure was pivotal for Viale. Entry-level jobs at Relais & Chateaux and the Frantour Group provided valuable real world experience. Eventually, however, it whetted his appetite to work in larger luxury hotels with more services. “Even from the sales and marketing side of the business, my passion for hospitality only deepened,” he said.
Not surprisingly, given that Viale’s base of operations was Western Europe, there was no shortage of hotels that could be described as iconic. Accordingly, he found himself working at “treasures” on the order of Hotel de Crillon in Paris and, once he joined IHG in late 2003, the InterContinental Carlton in Cannes and the InterContinental Paris Le Grand. “Just to think about their history and the significant people who have stayed there over the decades has been special. They’re such compelling examples of the luxury experience,” he said.
While Viale had considered jumping to operations at different points, it wasn’t until early 2012 when “all the stars aligned” and he accepted the general manager’s position at the InterContinental Porto Palacio das Cardosas in Portugal, a timeless adaptive reuse of an 18th century former bank building located in the city’s historic center.
Joining soon after the opening, Viale participated in building the team and positioning the hotel in the local market. Porto, Portugal’s second largest city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is best known as the home of port wine. “One of the beauties of the GM’s job is leading the team, mentoring young people, helping guide them as they build their careers,” he said. “It’s actually the part of the job I like the most.”
Subsequently, IHG named Viale area general manager, assigning him responsibility for a sister IHG brand hotel, the Crowne Plaza Porto.
Another challenge for him in managing two very different properties was “to acknowledge their differences at the same time keeping in mind each speaks to the heritage and character of Porto in its own way.”
Flatly rejecting the old-fashioned notion of the general manager as remote and isolated, closeted behind closed doors, Viale views himself as a brand ambassador, eager “to be out and about the hotels, greeting guests, making them feel welcome, eliciting their feedback” and, in the process, conveying some of the passion for the business that drew him to hospitality in the first place.