<p class="MsoNormal">The Islandchief is honoured to have had the opportunity to sit down with the General Manager of Kurumba Ryszard Majewski. As we got to know each other and discuss various aspects of the hospitality industry of the Maldives, We ask about the work philosophies in place at Kurumba, about changing traveller behavior and challenges faced by the industry.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>How did you first venture into the Hospitality Industry? Were you in a different field before?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I started working in the hospitality industry at the age of 14, on weekends and summer jobs. I found it quite interesting working with different nationalities, people from all around the world and then after school I went to travel around the world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">After that I really didn&rsquo;t know what I wanted but I always knew I love travelling, so the hospitality industry all about travelling, meeting new people and lot of experiences with different nationalities and cultures as I mentioned, so I went to the states. I furthered my education in America before travelling around the world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have worked in five different continents now and what I loved about the job or what I love about hospitality is that you just meet different people every day and it&rsquo;s not a nine to five office job every day it is a different challenge. I cannot sit in the office till 9 to 5 so this is perfect for me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Tell us a bit about Kurumba Maldives and the sort of improvements you wish to make under your guidance?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Well I think Kurumba internationally, regionally and locally has a really good reputation. We are the icon of the tourism industry, of resorts in the Maldives, as everybody knows it&rsquo;s the first resort opened all the way back in 1972 and the very first Italian tourists arrived here.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">With huge support from the owners and the great team that I have here and especially the kind of guests we have here, this is kind of a perfect destination and it is reflected well by how we have won so many awards throughout the years and this is all contributed by my team members. We have many projects that we have to do here or that we would like to do to improve because the market is so demanding, people travelling around the world they do a lot of shopping, compare resort to resort soKurumba has to be in the market or on the market for the expectations of the guests.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>What do you think of the changing traveller trends throughout the world, (i.e. Maldives as a wellness destination/experience focused travel) and how does Kurumba cope with these changing trends?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We always go to travel fairs and always listen to tour operators, we listen to our guests, what their demands are what they request and so we try to meet those standards. Maldives is becoming very competitive because more resorts are coming up here but I think because of Kurumba&rsquo;s proximity to the airport, proximity to male, we have a huge advantage over why people choose us and we have a huge amount of repeater guest that choose us for wellness especially for the great spa that we have and just the for the location where we are situated. I speak to guests everyday on email, I speak to them personally and those are the reason why they come to stay with us. They love our food, we got eight restaurants we got four bars here so for them, they can eat in a different restaurant every single night.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>What are your thoughts on eco-sustainability, what steps are taken by Karumba to improve its sustainability levels?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Thanks to our chairman and owners for supporting us, as they are very much into this kind of eco-sustainability. We have recycling plants here. For example our coconuts from our trees we recycle them into oil which we use for making products for the treatments at our spa, for any of the massages or for anything else.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Furthermore we have compost recycling, all the leaves or everything from the garden we put it back into feeding our gardens. Finally the other thing is that all our plastic bottles and our crystal glasses, we recycle them and use them in our construction material. So only our food perishables for example and plastic bottles we take away from here but for the rest of the garbage are all recycled on the resort.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>How do you try to inspire and mentor your team here?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It&rsquo;s all about motivation. We are always encouraging our team especially our managers to motivate the staff, to support them and listen to them. We also conduct a lot of training, as we have a strong training program here where we train the staff up whether they are new to the resort or have been here for a long time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>How would you describe your role here at Karumba? What changes have you added since you came here? And what changes do you plane to implement in the future?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">One of my main focuses installed today on a daily basis is to keep the staff hyped by doing different activities with them, engaging them with our guests and training them which I believe is very important. I think once you stop training people they start getting bored. So we always explore different methods for training. We have a training team here that we have hired. We have hired a Russian teacher, because Russians are one of the top three clientele that come here and it is very important that our staffs learn some basic words to communicate with them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The changes that we have made here include increasing the number of bars at the beach. We have opened a new Thai and Chinese restaurant last year which gave us a very positive effect. We also now have a new shisha lounge that we have opened up at around the end of last year.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Share your work philosophy with us? What are the top rules that you encourage your colleagues to go by?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">How we engage with the staffs is very important. I always believe in the philosophy &rdquo;once you look after the staff, they look after you and automatically they look after the guests.&rdquo; This is a small village here and everybody is living 24 hours amongst each other. So you really need to make best out of it. You need to be the friend and you also need to be sometimes the manager and a leader so I think because of the environment we have here with the staff contributes to everybody&rsquo;s contribution here even if the staff have been here for 35 years or 6 months</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>The resort has recently celebrated its 45th anniversary, in your opinion what is the one thing that makes Kurumba special?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I think what make Kurumba such a memorable place is the staff. If you look at trip advisor and look over the comments, the guests they always love the staff, they comeback for the staff and they have such good relationship with staff. I am very proud as the general manager to have such an incredible team here.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">the 45th anniversary celebration was all about thanking the staff for the push and the motivation and the drive to be always the best and our owners for making this place last for 45 years. With the combination of the owners support and the staff we have lasted for 45 years and we will go for another 45 years.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>What has been the most challenging aspect of working in the Maldives? And tell us about some of the differences of work at home as opposed to the Maldives?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Its finding the right staff for the right job and especially now with new resorts opening the competition is always increasing. Finding good local staff is a challenge as we try to get the best staff for Kurumba.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We take people on internships. The universal resorts have got a training program where we take people right after they finish school, with some of them having no work experiences and put them on a 6 month training period and see if they like this kind of industry because this is the biggest industry in the Maldives.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And we try to concentrate on continuing on this industry with some great Maldivian staff and developing them into future managers or general managers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>So to top it off, what do you do aside from work while you are here?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For me this kind of island lifestyle is perfect as I love the nature, I am not a city person, I don&rsquo;t like the city life. I get uncomfortable when there are too many people and too much traffic and noises. I am a swimmer and I love the sea. I am a sporty person. I go to gym and sometimes I play tennis. These are the things that I usually do at my private time.</p>