Oriental's new GM aims to scale greater heights

Being the fourth female GM of this 136-year-old property, she looks up to nobody but Kurt Wachtveitl, the legendary figure in the hotel business who ran the property for 40 years and who is still advising the group and helping her to draw back foreign clients.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you know. One, it’s the Oriental. Second, it’s Bangkok. Third, it’s Thailand. You can’t say no, because of the reputation and the heritage” of this hotel.
“I wanted it so much I would have killed. In Europe, this hotel has a name as the greatest hotel in the world with high standards,” she said, explaining her reasons for taking up this job, leaving some unfinished projects in Washington, DC.
She is here full of ambition and passion, to establish a long-term connection with this Bangkok hotel, which she first visited in 1991, and where she stayed eight times in the past few years.
Hyndman built up her service-minded passion while working for a cafe in Scotland. She decided to get a degree in hotel management, and during her university years, she worked and accumulated knowledge of the industry. After accumulating supervisory skills during those years, she was ready for work, and was consequently named general manager only six years after joining Copthorne Hotels after graduating from the University of Strathclyde.
“I was proud,” she said. Setting the goal to become the youngest and first female hotel general manager, she attributed the achievement to hard work – 18 hours on some days – and her employer who realised her ability and gave her opportunities. “Some people work that hard but are not recognised, because they work for a bad company.”
In Aberdeen, Hyndman recalled the time she approached oil and gas companies and other businesses, proposing how the hotel could serve them. Once, she approached the Chamber of Commerce on how to make the city more lively, as her hotels were a part of the city. Being the youngest member of the management team, she was compelled to prove her credibility, but her management skills grew with time.
After 15 years with Copthorne, she felt the urge to seek experience elsewhere, with a five-star hotel. She settled with the Waldorf in London. There, she found that she could not continue with the missions she enjoyed in Aberdeen with more than 100 such hotels in the big city. She instead tasked herself with a new challenge – strengthen the team for the relaunch of the renovated hotel.
Hyndman joined Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in 2007 for overseas experience. She was assigned to work for the Excelsior in Hong Kong. Despite the bigger size of the property, she was pleased with her first experience in Asia. Here, she learned that Western management techniques did not work in an environment where “face” was important. No more challenges beyond that.

PRINCIPLE ‘UNIVERSAL’
“The principle is universal. Hotels have the same principles – of delivering outstanding services with motivated, trained colleagues,” she said.
A year later, she hopped over to Washington, with the intention of experiencing the different work environment in a big country. She was settled there when the financial crisis struck the United States hard.
Aside from significant improvement plans in all areas of the hotel overlooking the Potomac River, she launched colleague development programmes and championed the hotel’s involvement in local community initiatives.
Together with local business leaders and organisations, she helped create hospitality job opportunities for residents of the Southwest District.
The hotel also helped redevelop the Southwest Waterfront and lent support to the local art community. In 2011, she was recognised as “General Manager of the Year” by the Hotel Association of Washington, DC.
Having been in Bangkok for three weeks, she is focusing her attention on building up local and overseas client bases. International sales trips to woo back whoever stayed at this hotel will be arranged, to be joined by “Khun Kurt”, while she is being introduced to the local high society by “Pa Ang”, Ankana Kalantanonda, the guest-relations manager who has served the Oriental for more than 60 years.
The globetrotting and energetic hotelier also got herself busy with visits to several five-star hotels in Bangkok, looking for clues on how to improve her hotel.
Hyndman said that by itself, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok is strong with its heritage and location by the Chao Phraya River, underpinned by the strong relationship of 1,200 staff, some of them having served the hotel for more than 40 years. She herself wants to run this hotel for as long as 42 years.
All her achievements are not a result of her femininity, she insisted. “You have to have passion. I have the best job in the world and I take it very seriously. You have to love it. Sitting in this historic room, having tea in here – it’s amazing.
“It’s hard, though. If you don’t love it, you wouldn’t care.”