JONATHAN Crellin this week assumed one of the top roles in Bermuda’s hospitality industry when he started work as the general manager of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.The twin responsibilities of taking charge of an historic treasure and in catering to the ever-increasing needs of the 21st-century client is something that Mr. Crellin appreciates well.

In his previous job, he was general manager of Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, which opened in 1912 and whose guests have included numerous American presidents since then.

The 410-room “Pink Palace” on the Hamilton waterfront goes back even further — its doors opened in 1885 and its name is derived from a visit to the island by Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria.

On the American’s first day in the new job, Mr. Crellin talked to News Editor JONATHAN KENT about his plans, his optimistic outlook for Bermuda’s hospitality industry and how an official dog is one of the innovations he may consider.

Q: Can you talk a bit about your background? I understand you were working at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston.

A: I just celebrated my tenth anniversary with Fairmont Hotels and all ten years were at the Copley Plaza. I went there when Fairmont bought it in September 1996 and my first role there was director of sales and marketing.In a hotel, sales and marketing means everything from reservations to group travel to catering.

The nice thing about the Princess is that it’s very similar to Boston in terms of being the historic “Grande Dame” of the city.Q: How do you strike a balance between the need to have modern facilities to suit the 21st-century guest and maintaining the hotel’s historic value?

A: Today’s discerning traveller needs to have facilities like internet access and we have to keep up with new trends as they evolve. Fortunately in Fairmont’s case, certainly in Boston and Hamilton, you get to do it in a pleasant historical setting.I’ve always worked in historic hotels. I was at the Omni Parker House before I went to the Copley Plaza. I tend to gravitate towards historic hotels. It’s a nice point of differentiation.

Part of our aim is to give our guests a memorable experience. And with an historical hotel backdrop, it is that much easier to achieve. You don’t get to see rooms like this (the Gold Room) wherever they are.Q: So what made your mind up to come to Bermuda?

A: Well, I’d been in Boston for ten years and that’s unusual in this business. For a variety of reasons, it worked for me, my family and the company and it was a good experience. Certainly it was time for me to have another experience.So when they said, ‘Where do you want to go’? I said, ‘What about Bermuda’? About four weeks later, they decided that was a good idea.

Being from the northeast, about every fourth person I talk to either knows someone who’s been to Bermuda or who’s living in Bermuda now.

The Boston Herald <$>did an article on me coming down to Bermuda and I started to get a lot of calls from Boston-area guests who have stayed at the Princess.

One gentleman, Mr. Morello, said he had been coming to the Hamilton Princess since 1971, when he came for his honeymoon. He’s come here in the third week of August every year for the past 35 years.

He now brings his son and his grandchildren here and it’s a great place to have that family tradition. He’s passionate about this place and I’m hoping our staff will be just as passionate.

We’re having our service awards this week when we recognise people for ten, 20, 30, 35 and 40 years’ service. I was signing the certificates today and there were many people in the 20- and 30-year range and two who had been here for 40 years.Q: I guess you take that sort of loyalty to be a good sign.

A: <$>Of course. I think hotels need their long-tenure service staff to balance out their new staff. Just today I went to an orientation meeting with ten new staff members. They come in with new ideas, enthusiasm and they’re eager to get up and running. That needs to be balanced out by some long-term colleagues who know the hotel and its tradition, the steady people who help to guide the hotel through times of change.Q: Do you expect to see some of your old clients here?

A:<$> Absolutely. Friends, neighbours, relatives and friends of friends. It’s easy to get to from the east coast. And this is a hotel that’s doing well. I like a hotel with that “Grand Dame” status, which is right at the heart of the community.And that’s why I decided to come here from Boston. The hotel has performed well, but I think this is an opportunity to enhance and develop the operation here. I like a challenge.Q: What do you see as your main challenges in your new job?

A: <$>I obviously need to get to know the market and the customers, as well as colleagues who have been with the hotel a long time.I think the challenges will be similar to any other hotel operation. Finding staff who are right for the particular jobs is challenging. It was challenging in Boston, to find people who are passionate and who want to work in this demanding business and to keep them motivated.

I believe there are a lot of reasons to be excited about the future of hospitality in Bermuda. The flight situation is very good and there are rumours out there that it is going to get even better.

The problem for many destinations is that you can’t get there, but Bermuda now has great connections with the eastern seaboard.

And if that gets better, it will stimulate demand and help us to stabilise our occupancy rate.Q: Would you say the Princess is more of a business traveller’s or a tourist’s hotel?

A: If you look at it Sunday through Thursday, it is definitely business, lots of meetings, people sending faxes and e-mails, and shoe shines.But when you get to the weekend, it flips over and becomes a leisure hotel, with afternoon tea, happy hour on Friday night and we’re hoping Saturday night will be a movie night with a big screen outside featuring Casablanca<$> or The Graduate<$>, and maybe we can add some fun things like water aerobics classes.

A lot of people who come to Bermuda on vacation don’t necessarily want the sea and the sand all the time. They’re happy to be in town so they can have the shopping and the restaurants without having to take transport.

We’re very fortunate to have the water shuttle over to our sister property in Southampton. So guests can take advantage of that for a couple of days and then eat in town for a couple of days.

We have a great horticulturalist who’s been here for about 35 years. Maybe at 10 a.m. on Saturday mornings, he could do tours of the garden, just something a little bit different we might be able to offer.

We’re hoping to fine tune some of these weekend things, so we can give people a memorable experience, different from staying elsewhere.

At the Copley Plaza, we had a hotel dog, a black labrador called Catie Copley. We called her our ‘canine ambassador’. Any guest could sign up to take her for a walk. She’s very popular and has attracted a lot of attention from the media.

Maybe that would work here. But before implementing any changes like that, I would have to talk with staff and guests and see if it’s something that would fit well with the Princess.Q: What, in a nutshell, are the responsibilities of a hotel general manager?

A:<$> You have to oversee all areas of the hotel from the executive committee, which the general manager works with closely. You have somebody who oversees sales and marketing, accounting, human resources, plant, food and beverage operations — those are the key areas and I’m ultimately responsible for all of them.I’ve also got to oversee strategy. The way I look at it is that the general manager has the ultimate vision for the hotel and has to be the chief booster, supporter and champion of the hotel.

I like to spend time with the people who are cleaning the dishes and cooking the pastries and cleaning the rooms.

I spend a lot of time walking around and asking questions. I ask them: What could we do better? What do you need to do your job better? They know the answers better than I do.

My marketing background made me very customer focused and that’s something I’ve taken into my work as a general manager.Q: What sort of qualities do you look for in people to work in the hospitality industry?

A:<$> Basically, you have to like working with people. There are very few positions in our industry which don’t involve working with people.As part of the interview process, the Fairmont asks questions to test whether someone is a fit with the industry. Most of those people tend to be outgoing and enthusiastic about providing good service.

If that gentleman over there working on his laptop needs a new battery for his mouse, then we should be prepared to go and find one. If he wants a diet Pepsi when we sell Coca-Cola, then we should go and get him one. People who will want to do that, that’s what we look for.

It’s a two-way street, though. If we have someone who wants to be out talking to people all the time, we will not want to put him in a room folding towels. We want to keep him happy and motivated by fitting him with a suitable job.Q: The need to get as many local people involved in the industry as possible may be a new challenge for you. Has the hotel any programmes to reach out to young people?

A: Yes, our human resources department is dedicated to doing that. Last week we were represented at a careers fair and this summer we’ve had students from Bermuda College working here. I believe in education and I like to give back, so I have gotten involved in hospitality programmes and have spoken to students. We always need to be planting seeds so young people know about the possibilities of this industry as a career.Q: Many hotels face losing valuable and experienced members of staff next year because work permit time limits will kick in. Is this a problem for you?

A: <$>Yes, we have 18 members of staff who will have to leave next year and the Fairmont Southampton will lose a few more than that.If that’s the rule, then we have to live by it and we’ll make it happen.

People will take with them the experience and the tradition they have learned here and take it elsewhere.

I spoke with a staff member today who is in that situation and she said maybe she would go to a Fairmont in Canada, or to the Savoy in London.

For people who don’t want to leave it’s not a good situation.Q: And replacing them presents you with an extra challenge.

A: <$>Of course, we’ll need to find more people next year to join our team. We’re up to the challenge. Generally speaking, staff turnover here is on the low side. We’re starting to recruit now for replacements for people we know will have to leave next year.Q: How many staff do you employ?

A: We have 420. Normally there is around one staff member per guest room — that’s an industry standard.

Q: What are your occupancy rates this year?

A: In the low 70s. By the end of the year, it should be around 71 per cent. That is strong compared to recent years. The US economy seems to be stable and the airfare situation is good, so people are travelling.Q: Personally speaking, what are you looking forward to about living in Bermuda?

A:<$> No snow. That will be a big change. I’m moving here with my wife Seana and daughter Charlotte, who’s 19 months old. Much though we loved living in Boston’s Back Bay, in winter it’s dark most of the time and very cold. Picturing Seana pushing Charlotte around in those conditions — it would be dreadful.

I think Bermuda is a great place for kids and it will also give us a chance to learn about a new culture.

lNorman Mastalir, general manager of the Fairmont Southampton, added a comment on the staff who will be affected by work permit time limits in 2007: “We have provided written notice to approximately 40 non-Bermudian employees that their work permits will expire in April 2007 and cannot be renewed in accordance with the work permit term limit policy.

“Fairmont wanted to ensure that the affected employees received as much notice as possible in order for them to make future career plans.

“The colleagues involved will have the ability to pursue future career opportunities in Fairmont Hotels world-wide through the Pathfinder Programme if they wish to continue with the company. Fairmont is working closely with the Department of Immigration to satisfy the new regulations.”