Idyllic atmospheric conditions
By Liu Weifeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-09 09:21
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Busy Kamel Senhadji is happy to be in charge of the Novotel Beijing Sanyuan, where he is creating a harmonious feel. Liu Weifeng reports
Two laptops, two mobile phones, two other phones, some scattered business cards and various documents surround Kamel Senhadji while he works on a L-shaped table in his 10-square-meter office.
It provides a snapshot of the overall style of his hotel, Novotel Beijing Sanyuan - small but warm, with unassuming service.
Working on a tight schedule is common for hotel general managers, and Senhadji is no exception. Besides managing Novotel Sanyuan since last May, he is also in charge of Ibis, a budget hotel that is a 5-minute walk from the four-star Novotel.
This is the 12th positions as general manager for the 44-year-old, who has served the French hotel giant Accor group for 18 years.
Sanhadji says that "creating a good atmosphere" has topped his agenda since he started in Beijing in May. Carol Wang, his executive secretary says: "I've never seen him lose his temper ... and we seldom work overtime."
He believes a smooth and harmonious working environment stimulates people's hardworking and honest spirit. He says a happy team is more efficient.
"I don't want my team to feel it was a nightmare after talking to me," he says, adding coaching his team is the second most-important thing to do after building up a new team.
The Algerian-French man is richly experienced in coordinating relationships with his bosses and realizing a positive GOP (Gross Operating Profit). He worked as hotel general manager in North Africa, France and Greece before he went to Novotel Atlantis Shanghai, China, in September 2008.
He says the psychological understanding of a new culture is more important than the working experience of managing a hotel.
"Adapting myself to the situation, to a team and to the culture of a country", is essential, he says.
Chinese people are clever and sensitive, he adds.
"I like Shanghai, and I like Beijing more," he says, giving a list of reasons why, such as cheaper food, nicer people, more interesting historical places and more ski resorts in winter.
He has never been caught in a Beijing traffic jam because he and his family live in the hotel. Whenever he gets the free time to do a tour of the city, he rides a motorcycle.
Born and brought up in Algeria, Senhadji speaks Arabic, French, English, Spanish and Italian. He studied British literature and got a doctorate in literature at Sorbonne, Paris, in 1992.
At college he had to work in restaurants part time to pay for tuition and feed himself.
"I was very poor in Paris and my parents were far away," he says when recalling how he entered the hospitality industry.
The experience of being a dishwasher, barman, waiter and assistant chef enabled him to run a pizzeria named Le Verluisant in 1990, when he first felt the joy and satisfaction of being a boss. He was just 24 years old.
Even today, he is proud of making signature dishes, including French and North African food.
He is very excited when talking about cooking couscous and harrira, a North African specialty, which reminds him of his happy childhood in North Africa.
The nostalgic topic soon shifts to his hometown music. "I love rai music, which makes me quiet and helps me relax."