Philip James Barnes brings over a decade of dedicated service and expertise to his new role as Country General Manager of Ascott Indonesia, commencing March 1, 2024. Armed with a degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Tasmania, Philip's journey with Ascott began in 2008, steadily ascending through various roles. His remarkable leadership and strategic acumen were pivotal in driving Ascott's growth in the Philippines, where he served as Country General Manager since 2022. With his wealth of experience and enthusiasm for success, Philip is poised to steer Ascott's strive to new heights in Indonesia.
In an exclusive interview, What's New Jakarta had the privilege of sitting down with Philip James Barnes, who shares insights from his seasoned hospitality perspective.
Profile of the Month: Philip James Barnes, Country General Manager of Ascott Indonesia
Tell us about yourself – what inspired you to work in the hotel industry?
Interesting story actually, I kind of fell into the industry. I was inspired predominantly by people, socializing with people and interacting. When I was a bartender in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong that kind of allowed me to engage with people. The other inspiration also came from my father’s uncle. He was also in the hospitality industry, and he took me to the hotel, and he showed me the ins and outs of the hotel when I was a bit younger, and that kind of made me fall in love with the kind of beauty and articulation of hospitality. So, primarily it was those two aspects that brought me into it.
What would you say about your role as Country General Manager, Indonesia, Ascott?
Ultimately, Ascott Indonesia has grown into a significant corporation, encompassing not only its corporate office but also its extensive portfolio of hotels, resorts, and serviced residences. My role involves focusing on macro strategy, looking at where we want to position ourselves in the country moving forward, from a brand perspective, and also the stature. I believe that working with our teams, which already comprise a dedicated and passionate leadership group committed to achieving a number one position, is essential for our progress. My focus will be on coordinating and collaborating with all corporate functions, examining operational elements and standards, and identifying opportunities to add value accordingly.
What about your own experience in Jakarta? How do you find the city so far?
I love it actually, it's very nice. You know, to be fair, I arrived during the holidays (Eid holiday). So, you know, it was the traffic and all those aspects were not to be felt, because it was quiet at the time. But, now, those things aside don't really bother me. I found the people to be really loving and courteous, like they're really engaging. They're very passionate about what they want to do and what they want to believe in the company side of things. Outside of that, it's been easy to walk around and indulge in a bit more of the cultural aspects. So, I'm very much looking forward to an extended stay, so to speak, in Indonesia.
The big difference component there between Philippines and Indonesia is that in Indonesia you have quite a very strong domestic market, whereas in the Philippines you still heavily rely on a lot of the international tourist component and international corporations. And, obviously, Indonesia has a substantial portfolio, and due to the country's size, we receive significant support from the domestic market.
How do you adapt your leadership style to meet the needs of different team members?
It's really understanding the dynamics of people and how they work and how they coordinate with their team. And then for me, it's really looking back and thinking, okay, now how can I value add to that team or to that person? And how can I provide that support to that person? I think we're very fortunate in Indonesia, as I said before, that we really have some passionate individuals and leaders who are very skilled in what they do. And so, for me, the challenge is on to kind of be able to support them and drive that aspect.
In your opinion, what are the key skills and qualities required for successfully managing hotels?
In general, one is obviously your EQ. It’s for understanding people and cultures. Communication is also there. I think being able to actively listen, be right, and not jump to an opinion straight away. And fundamentally finding out what everyone's purpose is and how you can correlate to that purpose to inspire them to do things differently.
Can you tell us some of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your job right now?
The most challenging part was during the pandemic. Obviously, in my role when I had that, that was always a challenging component. Naturally, you'll hear that most of the time with the hospitality side of things. But we have passed it. We've passed that. I see quite a lot of positive opportunities. From a brand and service standpoint, there are opportunities to elevate our position by promoting our new brand story and brand signatures. Additionally, fostering greater loyalty towards the brand is another crucial element. These are the priority areas that we need to focus on.
What do you think the next few years hold for the hospitality sector and its recovery?
It's optimistic. It's going to continue to grow. Globally, we are not quite fully at the 2019 level, certain regions are and certain aren't. I think Southeast Asia is a major travel hub and will continue to be. Our focus now is on capturing a diverse market across different demographics and regions, and on attracting them to stay with us. I am very optimistic about our prospects.
What is the motto that you live by?
My motto that I live by? I don't have a daily motto. It's that I believe in a phrase called, “You'll never walk alone”, meaning that in two aspects, you can't do things by yourself and you'll always need a team to be with or people to be with to achieve what you want to achieve. So, I always have that.
How do you balance your professional and personal life?
How do I balance it? Dream more. I've always just thought that people who are in hospitality are either incredibly passionate or just nuts to be in hospitality. You have to have a personality. I love what I do. I always have loved what I've done. Ok, sometimes there are stressful points about work, but otherwise, I think it's important that you find a good 30 minutes or an hour to yourself per day that you can, whether it be to read or to run or to just kind of relax, meditate, whichever is your passion and what is best for you. I usually try to find a bit of reading or I go for a run.
I kind of make sure that I respect other people's time as well. For me, I have to be the first one to do that. Otherwise, if I don't do that, then everybody else starts working on a crazy clock.
There is a great issue about the sustainability programs in many corporations in Indonesia. How does Ascott Indonesia approach the sustainability program for a better future?
We've got quite a number of things that we need to do from the ESG side of things as well. Ascott Jakarta has done its solar panel components there. From a social aspect, we've done a lot of corporate social responsibility across the board. We could probably give you line-by-line projects that we've done. From an operational standpoint, we are going in with GSTC to be certified operationally, whilst not just focusing on green building aspects.
For other sustainability aspects, we have installed the air filtration at Ascott Sudirman Jakarta. It's something that we have to start to do more and look at how we can roll out more programs accordingly, not just from a cost-saving, but from an environmental aspect, but also from the DE&I aspect as well.
There are a lot of important aspects that we do. We also have people with special needs who are actually employed by us as well, and that is an important that we need to continue across our entire portfolio. When you're dealing with a large portfolio, one of the things you have to look at is how can you make programs sustainable across the board rather than just individually, and I think that we have to be consistency across all the brands.
Finally, what is the future plan for Ascott Indonesia?
From a long-term perspective, our goal as a company is to become the market leader and to showcase all our brands on a global scale. I think on the growth aspect, it's also making sure that we grow quality, not grow in quantity to an extent. That philosophy, right? Don't grow for the sake of growing. Grow correctly. It's time to bring out the brands that we have here on the hotels and resorts to a bigger regional platform as well.
