Guy Hutchinson: At Home in Hotels

The President and CEO of Rotana Hotels discusses following his passion and forging his own career path

Guy Hutchinson, President and CEO of Rotana Hotels considers himself homeless, not in the literal definition, but every time somebody asks him where he is from, it’s not an easy question to answer. Born in Venezuela, he has lived in Brazil, Peru, Paris, the UK, and South Africa owing to his family relocating often. The constant moving gave him an appreciation for being in different places and he knew he wanted a career that involved travel and international exposure.

He had to start by asserting his independence and moving away from the presumption he would follow his father’s footsteps into the family business. “I’ve always been one who’s been focused on quality of life. I think if you have passion and you find that thing which really works for you, that is the key to success. It delivers that internal drive and ambition, whether that’s hotels or accounting or banking or filmmaking, or whatever it is. What is ultimately going to define your success is going to be your passion for what it is that you’re doing. If your child expresses that to you, any parent has to support it because happiness, success, and confidence are built out of that space. Right. I asserted that quite early in life in terms of what I wanted to do,” said Hutchinson.

It’s a nerve-wracking conversation for many teens to tell their parents they don’t want to follow a predetermined path but Hutchinson maintains it’s an important conversation to have. “I told my family I wasn’t going to be an accountant. I think that’s probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I could have wasted four or five years going down a path that didn’t excite me out of conditioning or a sense of responsibility, but that’s time you never get back,” he said.

When he considered what he wanted to do and reflected on the time he had spent in hotels while growing up, what he really appreciated about his life experience was the interaction that hotels offer. He was fortunate enough to be accepted into a fast-track graduate intake programme where he was one of 12 selected from around the world.

“From that day to today, there’s never a day that I don’t enjoy what I do and there’s never a day that I don’t look forward to doing what I’m going to do. I was fortunate to have connected with that very early. I was based out of London for six or seven years, then I transitioned to Europe and joined Hilton International in Amsterdam, and it’s a great company that took me around the world,” he said.

Hutchinson considers himself fortunate for having such a multicultural upbringing that he’s been able to carry into his career. He had to adapt to so many cultures so many times; he never internalised stereotypes because I wasn’t in those environments that were reinforcing them for long. That shapes a very fluid cultural identity because he lives a life of constant change.

For young professionals starting any role, Hutchinson’s father told him there is a huge difference between 10 years of experience and one year of experience repeated 10 times. “At 28 I was running F&B at one of the leading hotels in London and people who were 40 and had been doing the job for almost 20 years would say I was only 28. You’ll constantly face that from older generations, who are less fluid or have a different perception of what it takes to build a career, and I have always challenged that. The day that you feel you’re perfectly ready for a job, you’ve taken too long to make that decision. If you wait until you’re ready, it’s too late,” he said.

Guy’s three pieces of advice for young men entering the workforce:

1. Be assertive:
   If you have a passion, trust your gut if that is something you believe is right for yourself, and follow it through.
2. Apply yourself:
   Education gets you through the door where 100 people are together with you – perhaps better qualified and with a greater intellectual capacity. But the application is such a strong differentiator.
3. Compartmentalise:
   Good application doesn’t mean being a workaholic. Having balance and personal pursuits won’t offset the trajectory of a career if the passion and application are there.

This article appeared in Issue 002 – the Men’s Edition