His home is the world
Credit to Author: BERNADETTE T. REYES| Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2019 16:14:55 +0000
“It’s always good to learn foreign languages, but it’s more important to be multicultural than to be multilingual. It is more important to learn about and adapt to the local culture where you are than to be able to speak the local language.”
Marc Roman Handl, regional vice president of the Rosewood Hotel Group and managing director of Rosewood Beijing, is one of those lucky people who did not struggle to discover his calling.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Swiss hotelier Richard Handl and Filipino model and Queen of the Pacific 1968 Maria Rita “Baby” Santiago, Marc moved to Tokyo, Japan at four months old with his family and lived at the Tokyo Hilton for the first 25 years of his life. His dad, who passed away in 2004 at 74, ran the property as general manager, moving up to president of Hilton Asia Pacific in Japan until his retirement in 1998.
“At a very young age, I was [already] fascinated by everything I saw around the hotel — the restaurants, the chefs, the guests, the bellboys, the doormen, the servers, the managers and the executives,” Marc recalls.
“I was very fortunate to have experienced all the activities that went on there. I would see my dad in action and learn from his comments on the operations,” he adds.
Marc’s dad was not the only one attracted to the hospitality trade. His older brother Dominic is a chef; their grandfather Roman was a chef who owned and managed Restaurant Hornli in Appenzell, Switzerland; and several cousins are hoteliers, as well.
Reflecting on the family trademark, Marc says: “I didn’t choose to work in this industry. It just all happened naturally, and I never really thought about doing anything else.”
But having an iconic surname did not exempt Marc from earning his stripes. During school breaks, he worked as a cook, server and bellboy. He drew inspiration from his dad’s example. The senior Handl was the quintessential old school teacher — “strict and very hands-on,” according to the son.
“He was always on the floor and very demanding. But he was close to his team, who looked up to him,” Marc says.
The situation might have exerted pressure on the young professional, but he adapted to it. “I did have to work harder because of that and just doing things properly so there was less margin for error,” he says.
“As a son, I need to perform well, live up to his reputation. There’s always that whether people cared or not.”
Marc, however, admits to being naturally focused and ambitious. Experiencing the best schools for hospitality and management — Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and finally, the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago for his masters in business administration — honed his competitive skills.
Unlike his father, who rose from the ranks of Hilton and stayed with the group until his retirement, Marc is a veteran of a slew of hotel brands, working in cities such as São Paulo, Brazil; Tokyo; Seoul, South Korea; and Beijing, China; among others. In fact, it was Handl senior who encouraged him to simply follow his passion.
“I knew what I wanted to do, and that was to be in food and beverage (F&B). During the 90s, Hyatt had the best F&B operations,” he says.
Marc started out as assistant manager for Grissini restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong (an Italian outlet which is still going strong) in 1999. That kicked off a series of other F&B positions before he entered the spheres of sales and marketing and operations, eventually assuming the post of general manager in two Ritz-Carlton properties (Seoul and Tokyo) and an Aman (Tokyo).
“I have had wonderful experiences in each country [that I have lived in],” Mark says of his previous assignments.
“It is always good to learn foreign languages, but what I realized is that it is more important to be multicultural than to be multilingual. It is more important to learn about and adapt to the local culture where you are than to be able to speak the local language.
“Speaking the local language does not mean you will meaningfully interact with locals, or fit into the community. However, if you really embrace the local culture and mentality, you will have more chances of succeeding in any foreign country.”
Marc’s current stint in Beijing is his third, but this time, he holds a higher position and bigger responsibility. He manages the Rosewood Hotel Group in China, which currently operates seven hotels and has four hotels in the pipeline under the Rosewood, New World and Khos brands. Opening this year are the Rosewood Guangzhou and Khos Langfang hotels, followed by the Khos Qingyuan and Khos Shenyang hotels in early 2020.
The hotel scene in Beijing, according to Marc, continues to be a hotelier’s Mt. Everest.
“Demand here can swing up or down very quickly for various reasons, and there is a constant supply of hotels opening up,” he observes. “The fast-growing hotel development in China makes it one of the toughest markets to find enough staff and retain them.”
Each posting, though, for Mark in this sprawling metropolis always proved stimulating. “It’s been fascinating to see how the city and industry have evolved over the years,” he says.
The Rosewood Group is also poised to expand as more member hotels are set to open, including in the ultra-luxe Rosewood Hermana Mayor resort on a private island in Zambales, in 2023. The chain also manages the New World Makati Hotel and New World Manila Bay Hotel.
Newly wed to Singaporean Veronica Foo, a former actress who runs Small Potatoes Ice Creamery, famous for its purple potato flavor, Marc is hoping for a more settled life. He says: “I have always been on the move because moving upward was my focus. But my priorities have changed — I got married and reached a certain level in my career,” he says.
“Of course, I still want to progress workwise, but I hope I can achieve a more balanced lifestyle.”
If he could choose, Tokyo would win hands down as his permanent home. “I could easily live there forever.” But Manila is also where his heart and his mother’s large clan reside. Eventually, Baby Santiago-Handl intends to retire in the Philippines from living in Honolulu, which means more visits from her children.
For Marc, who visits the Philippines yearly and enjoys touching base with his Filipino roots, that situation suits him just fine.