Hoteliers of the World

Hotels celebrates the careers of Simon Cooper, confident leader of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and Kurt Wachtveitl, for 41 years general manager of the legendary Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.

-- Hotels, 11/1/2008

Simon Cooper has spent his career as a corporate man, while Kurt Wachtveitl from his earliest days as a hotelier felt more comfortable in an independent environment. But the two winners of HOTELS' 2008 Hotelier of the World award share many winning qualities.

Perhaps most notably, both are true team players who spend time working on their relationships with their staffs, and both take great satisfaction in seeing others excel. At the same time, both men are fully devoted to their guests, recognizing that in the service industry the most important people are the people you serve.

The two also recognize that the people they serve are not only the repeat guests of years gone by—they know that customers change and new ones arrive, and that hotels and guest service must continually change with them. And they know that they can learn from their guests as well, incorporating guests' ideas into their hotels.

Both Wachtveitl and Cooper also have great discipline and a strong work ethic, and both have special Sunday rituals—one involves reading, the other writing. The parallels go on, but suffice it to say that this year's award winners are consummate professionals with distinguished careers who have earned the respect of their colleagues and peers.

To learn more about these two leaders, read their profiles by clicking on their photos.