Fly on Corporate Wall

 Dusit International CEO Chanin Donavanik’s son Siradej is a chip off the old block. He too enjoys working in the hospitality industry and, now that the Dusit brand has ventured overseas, the young man has more opportunities to show how competent he is as manager of operations and revenue.
Though he usually accompanies his dad to important events, Siradej skipped Dusit’s recent contract signing with a luxury hotel on the Pacific island of Guam because he wanted to join Thai reporters on a visit to the Dusit spread in Maldives.
And he was without a doubt the best choice of corporate executive to show the media around. He’s been involved in the US$90-million Maldives hotel since Day 1. Unbeknown to most of the builders, Siradej was the “kid” wandering around the construction site helping with logistics.
He spent lots of time with the workers and staff to ensure everything was ready for government inspectors, a day he well recalls. The hotel’s licence hung in the balance. “It was quite exciting,” he says.
Though a ripe “old” 27, he’s still a bundle of energy. He’ll typically finish a long day’s work in Maldives exploring the ocean. “I love diving. I’ve always been an ‘ocean kind of guy’.” And his resulting respect for nature has helped Siradej anticipate guests’ needs.
“What we want to do is to make people believe in our service, and here we answer our guests’ every demand. Whatever they want – spotting dolphins, a picnic on a private island or a diving trip – we’re able to provide it.”
He’s not idly boasting. As a keen diver, Siradej can conduct boat tours to the best places for snorkelling or seeing rare and beautiful fish. The lad knows his Deep Blue.
So it’s no surprise that the hotel in Maldives is his favourite Dusit property. He visits many times a year, considering it his own brainchild in a way. It has, of course, demanded extra attention since its recent official launch. But also, it stands to do very well financially. “It’s a captive market here,” he says of the remote island string. “We expect to break even in less than 10 years, and that’s a conservative goal.”
An economics-and-politics graduate of the University of Exeter in the UK, Siradej has been in the workforce for five years, including a job at a securities firm. If possible he’d like to get a master’s degree in real estate, but the question is when. Meanwhile he loves his job and, once every day, practises meditation. “I start on my own, like 20 minutes a day,” he says. “I want to be more focused.”

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