Warwick welcomes new GM Saxer
warwick Fiji’s new general manager, Marco Antonio Saxer believes international markets need to be expanded beyond our Fiji’s major tourist providers, Australia and New Zealand. The Swiss national, who began his career in the tourism industry as an apprentice chef at the Zum Goldener Schluessel, in Bern, Switzerland in 1980 is adjusting to ‘Fiji time’ as this is his first posting to the Pacific region.
“My family and I have spent a lot of time in countries where I had previously worked and that includes Asia and the Middle East,”Mr Saxer said. “Through my career I can adjust to Fiji but coming from Switzerland has been a great shift because everything is on time.
“Coming here we need to be a more flexible and understanding, especially the staff and the service we provide for the guests. “When I was small I used to hear about Fiji but never really thought about the place because we are so far away.
“I had a friend who used to work at the Regent (now Westin) and he used to tell me about Fiji and then I saw that this was in the same tropical settings as tourist destinations as places like Bali and Hawaii.
“Fiji is a very important tourist destination in the world and I am happy to have come to work here. “During the inductions of new staff we hear of the famous Warwick and so I am fortunate to be working here,” he said.
As for the European market being smaller than Australia and New Zealand, Mr Saxer agreed that the distance and time traveling were the major obstacles that prevented tourists coming here.
“In Switzerland now people are holidaying home for a change,” he said.
“A lot of them holiday in Europe to save time travelling but you get a lot also looking for tropical destinations like Fiji.
“But if more is done to push Fiji as a destination then this could be good.
Actually lately we find a lot of people not travelling far for holidays.
Outlook for Warwick Fiji
Mr Saxer has worked for a Warwick Hotel in Doha, Qatar in the Middle East and knows too well the brand well, mainly because it is a family-owned hotel chain. “The management style is different management style than Qatar so my focus with the management team here would be sales and marketing, especially during these low period.
“The other areas are service standard which needs to improve,” he said.
Renovations programme
Mr Saxer said the other is he renovations programme for the hotel which he hoped would begin next month. “At the moment we have allocated the rooms that we will begin working on and at the final stage of preparing a mock room.
“Once the mock up room is done, we will wait for the approval and then works can begin.
“We will carry out renovations in sections which would not affect other guests.
“We have not finalised the final investment figure for the renovations.”
Two other areas that the hotel would pursue and uplift as major sales products are the conference rooms which cater for up to 500 and have the capacity to provide accommodation and the weddings market. Mr Saxer’s bio describes him as result driven with international experience in high profile hotels.