GOSTELOW REPORT—“I knew nothing about the hotel business when my brother asked me to run his resort,” says Michal Šmejc, general manager of Velaa Private Island in The Maldives, Indian Ocean.
He admits he was initially surprised. For some years he had been overseeing some of his sibling’s banking interests throughout Asia and, constantly on the road, he had stayed at many top-level business hotels in key world cities. “When my brother said switch to my island, I spent two months visiting highly rated resorts in many parts of the world, and then I said yes,” he recalled. Šmejc’s brother is Jirí Šmejc, an entrepreneur and investor.
On April 1, 2017, he took a 30-minute seaplane ride from the country’s main airport, Male, to his brother’s 49-acre Velaa (“turtle”) island. At first he was in sole charge of the 47-key resort, which had opened four years before, and its 450 employees. There was no assistant manager or resort manager, neither was there an HR or sales and marketing director (“it took me 11 months to fill that position, but I eventually found the ideal person, based in Monaco”).
Fortunately, the Šmejc brothers, from the Czech Republic, seem to have Boy Scout instincts. Michal Šmejc had coped with banking crises in Indonesia, and running a hotel was just another challenge. His brother had bought the island as a family retreat and added “toys” that he and his family liked – nine golf holes, covered badminton and tennis for him, a climbing wall and arguably the world’s best hotel array of water vehicles for his three teenage sons, and a kids’ club for his 5-year-old daughter.
Then, says Šmejc, his brother realized that since the family would seldom be there it seemed like a good plan to add some hotel rooms. The resort today achieves the Maldives’ highest average rate, nudging US$3,000 with everything extra, and repeat factor over 60%.
“Looking back, it has really helped that I arrived with no pre-conceived ideas, but I believed in strategy. I knew customer service from my banking days, and clients were much more amenable if those serving them were happy. I transferred that to hotel life,” he explained.
Over 25% of his team, who like all in The Maldives are housed on-site, have been with the property since opening: They are paid well, Šmejc said, with above-average accommodation, sports and food facilities.
When it comes to feeding guests, who generally stay at least five nights (over the festive season there is a 12-night minimum), Šmejc wants not only maximum variety but the best. “I have dined in the world’s best restaurants and I want to offer the same here – we have a four-story wine tower that has Teppanyaki or wine-centric dinners, for instance, or you can choose over-water gourmet cuisine while a Carnegie Hall-level professional tinkles a grand piano.” Every Thursday the GM, and the full management team, hosts a cocktail hour for all guests.
“Our clients relate to me as they know I am part of the owner’s family, on an income level they understand, rather than being a career servant,” he shared, somewhat outrageously. “We intentionally belong to no brand or consortium. I am the face of the hotel. On customer service, I benchmark not with other hotels but with priceless timepieces and jewellery,” he explained.
With no rent or percentage due to the owner, Velaa’s profit is plowed back into the property – a teen center is already on the drawing board. Such initiatives stop Šmejc, who as a banker was constantly relocating, from getting bored. “Actually I am off-island anyway about 40% of the time, at shows and events, and although we don’t want another island resort we are looking for a private members’ club, perhaps in London or Moscow,” he said.
If he could roll back the clock, would he do all this again? “Yes, definitely – where else can I go diving when I have a few hours’ free – though I never realized running a business that happens to be a hotel would be such hard work,” he admitted.