Reaching for excellence – Running an Amalfi Coast luxury boutique hotel

50 Shades of Hospitality

In this podcast, we interview Estelle Vassallo, who is the General Manager of the Anantara Convento di Amalfi Grand Hotel in Italy. Estelle answers our questions about crisis management in the hospitality field and about what it takes to become a GM.

We ask Estelle to describe what it is like to manage a hotel in an iconic location like the Amalfi Coast and she explains what kind of clients the Anantara Convento di Amalfi Grand Hotel attracts. We also discuss the selection and hiring process for a luxury hotel GM, gender equality in the Hospitality Industry and the increasing number of women who are filling GM positions.

We also discuss the importance of having a cool and calm demeanor in the face of crises such as terrorist attacks, union strikes or political instability and Estelle explains how she goes about managing these very difficult situations.

Estelle Vassallo is a passionate hospitality leader with extensive background in all hotel areas, both on-property as well as regional. Being half-German, half-French, married to an Italian and having lived in 7 European countries, she considers herself a proud and multi-lingual European. She loves every aspect of the hotel life, especially team motivation and engagement, as well as delivering quality service to her guests, always keeping innovation and change as a priority.

Estelle is very organized and has a strong orientation for results, with a lot of budgeting, forecasting and cost adjustment experience. Crisis management is one of her specialties, having had unfortunately to deal with many crises throughout her career, including various terrorist attacks, difficult union situations and strikes, and political instability.

In 2010, Estelle was the winner of Hospitality Career Award and she speaks five languages.