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Starwood Vita & Finance Futura

Management Program Newsletter Q3 2015

Inside this issue

Worldwide Talents ...................... 4/5

Introducing Ourselves 9/28 ......... 6/7

What have we been up…….8/9/10/11

Interview………………………………..12/13

Sheraton 2020…………………………14/15

Young Hotelier Award…………..…16

Social Media……………………………16/17

Special points of interest

Where are we located?

What are we specializing in?

Our projects

Sheraton 2020

Welcome! to the class of Vita Futura & Finance Futura

2014-2016.

Spread all over the world, around more than 10 different

countries from Poland to Qatar, Spain to the United Arab Emir-

ates back to the UK, and everywhere else VF/FFs are developing

themselves to become Starwood’s future leaders. They interact

with hundreds of different nationalities and cultures, working in

various functions, on different tasks, projects, assignments and

tasting different and unique experiences. The VF/FF’s are design-

ing their own destiny!

We are delighted to share with you the first newsletter of

the VFFF class of 2014-2016! Meet the fantastic team players

and find out what they have been up to!

Join them in this amazing journey!

Yiannis Batsis

Manager, Staffing & Employer Relations, Europe, Africa & Middle East

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Worldwide Talents Nikolas

Zardas,

Amsterdam

Tiago

Paula,

London

Joseph

Quilter,

London

Aino

Valkama,

Doha

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Ana Rita

Matos,

Abu Dhabi

Eva Maria

Villanueva,

Abu Dhabi

Cristina

Montes,

Rome

Laura

Kaschper,

Vienna

Sandra

Soerensen,

Frankfurt

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Introducing Ourselves - 9/28

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What have we been up to

During our Vita and Finance

Futura training, we are exposed

to all the different departments

the hotels have to offer. But

our training is not limited to

this.

Here you will find a list of a few

of the projects we have done as

Vita and Finance Futuras. Three

will be explained into more de-

tail, and will hopefully inspire

you with new ideas for your

properties.

Keyless Launch Assisting in the keyless entry systems of various properties includ-ing Aloft Brussels and W Barcelona

Assessment Day Assist in assessing new Vita and Finance Futura Candidates at the Hubs in London and Barcelona

Sparkling Vienna Organizing a luxury hotel bar hopping night for various five star hotels in the city

W Insider Video Writing the script and coordinating camera crew for our new insid-er video

Chinese Welcome Kit Introducing a welcome kit for our Chinese guests with information about the hotel and the city in their own language

Finance Champion Becoming Finance and POS Champion for the installation of Sim-phony

Hotel (Re)Opening Assisting in various functions during the (re)opening of properties including Hotel Imperial and Excelsior Hotel Gallia, a Luxury Collec-tion Hotel

Road to Awareness Raising funds for the Road to Awareness campaign across dozens of Starwood hotels in the EAME region

University Presentations Visiting various universities throughout Europa and the Middle east promoting Starwood and the Vita and Finance Futura Programs

Micros to Simphony Setting up a new micros system from scratch. Ensuring all products were organized correctly and logically with the correct prices

Green Committee Support the champion in coordinating and planning all trainings as well as being the administrator of the development center and keeping track of the progress.

LRA Preparations Review all the LRA Standards for the hotel, checked with each de-partment what we have to change/where we need adjustments/what was new et

Summer Entertainment Organizing various fun events for children staying within the hotel during the hot summer months

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Stay Connected Project (Later named to “Let's Chat”) By Ersin – W Doha Hotel & Residences

The Stay Connected project was initiated by the Director of Rooms before I came to the property. It aims to take “Whatever/Whenever” service one step further by providing guests with instant communication through their mobile phones. It allows W Doha to enhance and personalize guest experience even before they have stepped inside the hotel.

Guests can request any hotel service via WhatsApp or BBM for 24 hours a day. Requests vary from booking a table in a restaurant to airport pick-up or requesting extra hotel amenities in the room. As a VF, I have taken active part in the project when I was working in the Welcome Office. My role was to explain the service to the guests who were checking-in (most of them heard it for the first time), to get their written consent for contacting them via mobile messaging, coordinate with Whatever/Whenever agents to contact the guest for the first time from the hotel WhatsApp / BBM account, and ensuring a smooth process with follow-ups and gather-ing feedbacks. The project was later renamed to "Let's Chat" and implemented in other Starwood properties as best practice.

The TV isn‘t working!

Please help!

I forgot our

anniversary!!

Send me 12

roses quick-

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State Opera Suites By Laura – Hotel Bristol, A Luxury Collection Hotel

As the Hotel Bristol has such a long history and close relation-

ship with the Vienna State Opera due to buildings being located next

to each other, the hotel decided to name the rooms that are directly

facing the Opera after all the General Managers (Operndirektoren) of

the Opera.

Each room has a little sign on the outside of the door which

states the manager name and the dates when he was the director of

the state opera. On the inside of each room we have prepared a Cur-

riculum Vita of the director in German and English and (if available) a

picture of the person. This was framed in a golden picture frame

matching the hotel room design.

Beach Party By Joseph & Tiago – Sheraton Skyline

The beach party is planned to happen for September 2015 to encompass both the Shera-ton Heathrow and Sheraton Skyline properties in London. It is a staff event, intended to enable associates to enjoy themselves, to network and to bond, but most importantly to arrange activi-ties which ultimately will raise money for UNICEF. One of the responsibilities is to liaise in the intra-hotel meetings to ensure the planning

and organization of the event runs smoothly. Beyond deciding the general logistics of the event

such as the date, the theme, the lo-

cation, it was then necessary to try to

generate ideas for fundraising activi-

ties which would maximize the funds

generated for UNICEF. We had to

bear in mind the importance of staff

enjoyment and balance the fun ele-

ment of the party theme’s with the

most important factor of the evening

which is to raise money for a good

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I have always had a strong affinity with the F&B world as my family owned a restaurant, so after finishing my bachelors degree in Communica-tions Management in Belgium I thought I’d like to further develop myself within the Hospitality industry which I was so curious about. I studied Hotel Operations at the Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne - a great opportunity to see from a close perspective how this industry can be so interesting like no oth-er. It gave me the chance of understanding all areas within a working hotel.

Interview with VF Alumni Yves Dewaegenaere Director of Marketing United Kingdom at Starwood Hotels and Resorts

Tell us how you decided to join this program?

Why Hospitality?

This was the time when I first heard about the Vita Futura Manage-ment program, which sounded like a great opportunity to start off my career within hospitality. Starwood sounded really attractive as a company to work for as it was the only hotel group at the time focusing so heavily on its brands, as a marketer if found this very appealing. I remember applying and going through the strict recruitment process which I was so glad to be suc-cessful in. Back then I was very fortunate as I was invited to develop the pro-gram in one of the first W Hotels worldwide – the W Los Angeles. My Vita Futura program had a very strong operational focus – a big asset for any manager – I remember working in Housekeeping, Front Office, F&B, everywhere! At that time I was quite interested in marketing already, but numbers had always caught my attention and I strongly advise any Vita Futura to master numbers and budgets – that’s why I decided to spend quite a lot of time in the Finance department as well. Once I had finished the program I was looking for a good opportunity to develop my career. I have always been flexible and had no restrictions moving anywhere, so really I was just looking for a good opportunity.

“My Vita Futura program had a very strong operational focus – a big asset for any manager”

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“I strongly advise any Vita Futura to master numbers and budgets – that’s why I decided to spend quite a lot of time in the Finance department as well.”

Any survival tips?

What do you vividly remember?

I should say that I am not really the type of person that spends a lot time

thinking about my achievements, I am always thinking about the next project

and what else we can do to improve our results. However, one of moments

that I feel proud of in my career would definitely be when I was responsible

for the marketing of the Turnberry Resort in Scotland. I was part of the team

that handled the challenging rebranding from Westin to The Luxury Collection

following a £65 million renovation program!

I still remember the day we first opened, hosting The Open Champion-

ship and a hotel sitting at 100% occupancy, the re-opening was a huge suc-

cess. Another moment would have to be the amazing job we did with The St.

Regis Doha. As the Director of Marketing and Brand Ambassador, sharing the

brand spirit and getting all the associates engaged with the St. Regis culture is

something I found both challenging and extremely rewarding.

Stay true to yourself – Never forget who you are and the things you truly believe in!

Ears and mouth ratio – Stay sharp and listen to the people around you. A person that talks more than listens doesn’t necessarily learn as fast… Find the right moments to ask questions.

Life / Work Balance – Classical tip, but so true. We don’t live to work, we work to live so do not forget about your private quality time.

The role of Human Resources Assistant covering the maternity break of the People Development Manager in Brussels at the Starwood Divisional Office sounded exciting and could be a good platform for me to start off with Starwood straight after the program. I learned a lot from this role and that later on led me to start my marketing career in Starwood as the MICE Marketing executive UK & Ireland.

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SHERATON INDULGES IN UNEXPECTED CULINARY COMBINATIONS WITH NEW “PAIRED” BAR MENU

Peanut Butter and Port, Cantonese-style Wings and Riesling: Sheraton “Paired” Com-bines Unique and Surprising Flavors in New Lobby Bar Offering for Guests and Locals around the Globe!

Sheraton is reinvigorating its lobby bar experience with imaginative menu additions through Paired, a new food and beverage program comprised of artisanal small plates and eclectic bar snacks served alongside suggested premium wines and local craft beers. From a Banana Bread Peanut Butter Sandwich paired with Tawny Port to La Quercia Smoked Prosciutto with Scottish ale, Paired stretches the boundaries of traditional pairing principles by blending ingredients together in new and unex-pected ways for guests. Available at Sheraton properties worldwide, Paired is the latest of many initia-tives underway for Sheraton 2020, an all-encompassing plan designed to solidify Sheraton as a lead-ing global hotel brand of choice, everywhere.

Travel is Better When Paired

The new menu uniquely pairs small plates and bar snacks with an unexpected recommenda-tion from Sheraton Selects—a menu of premium wines rated 85 points or higher by Wine Spectator—and a craft beer, sourced specifically from choice local brewers. Wine selections are available in 2 oz. taste, a 6 oz. glass, or by the bottle.

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Through its expanded lobby bar menu, Sheraton enables guests to experience more of their destina-tions’ various cuisines by often featuring global cuisine with local influences, while also challenging them to expand their palates. As part of the program, participating Sheraton properties will bring Paired to life with engaging programming—ranging from educational demonstrations by local craft breweries or sommelier hosted courses where guests learn the art behind flavor pairing.

Continuously Innovating the Sheraton Guest Experience

Paired is part of Sheraton 2020, a comprehensive 10-point plan revealed in June 2015 designed to put Sheraton Hotels and Resorts firmly back into the global spotlight. A nod to the plan’s clear five year vision, Sheraton 2020 also includes a new $100 million Sheraton-focused marketing campaign; the launch of the new premier tier, Sheraton Grand; continuous innovation of the Sheraton guest experi-ence; an unwavering commitment to service excellence; the implementation of revenue and profit-driving initiatives to benefit owners and developers; and a goal of opening more than 150 new Shera-ton hotels worldwide by 2020.

For more information on Sheraton 2020, visit www.sheraton.com/transformation.

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Young Hotelier Award—

Congratulations Lars The Young Hotelier Award (YHA) is an annual

competition in Vienna, organized by the General

Management Council (GMC) of luxury hotels in Vi-

enna, and the Hotel Trade Association of the Austri-

an Chamber of Commerce. The objective of the YHA

is to challenge young talents in the industry and to

encourage further training and development.

This year Lars Heesbeen (photo) took part in the contest, and as a topic he took on “Productive Aging in the Hospitality Industry.”

Taking into consideration that the popula-tion is getting older and many people have to work longer before they retire Lars focussed his research on traditional career paths versus future career paths. It is important that the old experienced gen-eration trains the young generation, but it is more important for the younger generation to keep the older generation young. The jury selected Lars as first place and as a prize we won a full tuition to professional develop-ment program at the prestigious Cornell University in New York, sponsored by Diversey.

The 3 days spent at Cornell were filled with lectures, presentations, group work, but also fun activities. His favourite activity was using Lego bricks in learning the basics of Revenue Management. Lars had the opportunity of meeting a few Starwood associates working in the Americas region. All in all, it was an incredible experience which he can recom-mend to everyone!

Have a look into these posts and keep up to date with their latest projects, challenges and news.

Keeping Social Media Busy

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Your Vita & Finance Futura Creative Team

Thomas van den Einden, Fernando Carvalho, Lars Heesbeen, Tiago Paula,

Cassandra Frame, Fabia Roos, Javier Vega, Joseph Quilter

& The Vita & Finance Futura Class of 2014 –2016

Adeline Kloosterman, Laura Kaschper, Sandra Soerensen, Bart van Egdom, Ersin

Yilderim, Tony Loefving, Ana Rita de Matos, Pedro Ferreira da Silva, Eva Maria

Pineiro, Jakub Kovac, Aidan Heald, Julie Guias, Nikolaos Zardas, Jeremy Waller,

Sandra Persson, Javier Esteban, Jacob Varian Frisch, Roxane Guilbot, Clemence

Vermes, Aino Valkama, Cristina Montes