The
general manager of the Amari Rincome Hotel is a Swiss national
Marc Dumur. He is a paradox. A man who could not complete his
secondary schooling as he was found to be dyslexic, and yet is a
man who now speaks six languages!
His comes from Lausanne, but had no
connections towards the hospitality industry. His father sold
microscopes and of the two children, even his younger sister is
a lawyer.
He was not a good student, with very apparent
difficulties with reading and writing holding back academic
progress. He was eventually sent to vocational school to see if
they could find a niche in life for this young man with an
affliction. While there, the students were taken to visit a
hotel and Marc was immediately attracted to the lifestyle, and
began an apprenticeship as a waiter. He enjoyed this departure
from school, “I liked it, but I knew I was not going to be a
waiter all my life.”
After 2 years he finished this training, but
had no real plan. Looking at his parents, uncles and aunts who
spoke many languages, he realised that an ability to speak
different languages was an asset, but with his dyslexia he would
not be able to just pick up a book and start speaking. The only
way he would be able to learn would be total immersion. “For
me to learn a language I had to go to the place.”
Fortunately he had uncles and aunts all over
the world so he set forth firstly to the United States to stay
with an aunt who had married an American. By this trip, Marc
also found that he had a natural propensity for languages and
was able to pick up foreign languages very quickly.
He returned to Switzerland with the intention
of enrolling in a hotel school, to be told there was a 4 year
waiting list! This was not the news a young man with language
ability and a desire to be involved in the hospitality industry
wanted to hear! While working out his next move he joined a
restaurant in Switzerland and learned the kitchen and cooking.
From there it was to the front office in a ski resort which had
a connection with a 5 star hotel in Amsterdam, Holland. He had
been noticed by the manager and was offered a training post so
he went to Holland for 5 months with the large 400 room hotel.
Those 5 months turned into 3 years. During that time he was
introduced to aggressive sales and marketing, some aspects of
which he admits he still uses today.
However, with Switzerland being a non-EU
country, Marc suddenly found visa and work permit problems were
looming (it is not only in Thailand that this happens) and he
returned to his native Switzerland to join the sales side of an
international hotel chain, ending up as assistant manager of
sales in Zurich.
Having by this stage travelled extensively he
found the Zurich lifestyle oppressive, “I like the
cosmopolitan life challenge, so I resigned. Initially I was
going to try Mexico but found they did not need any Swiss. Then
I received a call from Thailand to say the Amari Airport Hotel
needed a resident manager, so I came over in 1988.”
The Amari group, at that stage, was mainly
provincial and when Marc was offered the post as general manager
of the new Amari Boulevard Bangkok he jumped at it. This was a
phase of construction and Marc found that he was a “hands
on” type of manager. “In a country like this it’s the only
way of doing it. It’s harder for me to get people working, so
I have to get involved myself.”
This was now the early 1990’s and times in
the hotel business were tough, with the fallout from the Gulf
War and then the internal democracy riots in Bangkok. Marc was
getting married and a total change was necessary. He went to Hat
Yai to run a 400 room hotel there, but again the depressed
tourist market and a relative lack of funds from the owners to
renovate the property resulted in his calling it a day after 23
months.
Fortunately it was at this time he received a
call from his previous employers - the Amari Group - who were
looking for someone to run the Amari Rincome Hotel in Chiang
Mai. He came up to look at the property, staying with his
mother-in-law. It was the 15th of July 1996 and he is still
there!
Marc seems to be the type of manager who
revels in the challenge of renovations and constructions, and
the initial phase at the Amari Rincome was just that. He had
just got the new pool, elevators and rooms completed when the
baht collapsed, but he views the future with optimism.
Success for Marc Dumur is being recognized
for your worth within your circle of friends and workmates.
“Financial? It’s relative. It comes and goes,” he said
philosophically.
He feels very much “at home” in Chiang
Mai. “I hope to stay here for some time yet to make this one
of the better hotels in the north in its class.” He has plans
to build a home, but rues that the dream house is still in the
planning situation 3 years down the track.
He does have hobbies, but like most
hoteliers, time constraints are omnipresent. “Hobbies I have,
but I have no time to do them!” He has an old VW he is
restoring, enjoys motorcycle touring and 4 wheel driving and
even has the hope of driving overland to Europe one day. He also
has community work which he does through his membership of
Rotary International in Chiang Mai, but the majority of time
goes to the hotel.
Marc Dumur comes across as a man who has definitely found his
niche in life, and a shining example of not using problems as an
excuse. Overcome them!