Lindsey Steenkamp met with Vasileios Oikonomopoulus, General Manager of Mondrian Doha, to discuss the inspirations, innovations, and insights behind his successful career and the evolution of the Mondrian brand experience in the local market under his stewardship.

As lockdown eases in Qatar, and we enter the dawn of the revitalisation of Qatar’s hospitality industry, I wanted to get to know a little more about what makes Mondrian’s new chief tick.

I start with a little background history of Vasileios and how his journey led him to the business of managing a unique destination hotel like Mondrian Doha. He details the backstory of his 20-year career in hospitality, revealing that the journey initially was beyond his study ambit. “I joined due to a passion for service. I love being of service,” he says. “I fell in love with the product. Coming from a bar, beverage and nightlife background, I always felt at home with the management of people – teams and guests. Then this passion progressed to project management. I became adept at adding value to the owners of the brand and the people who use it.”

Vasileios tells us that during his career spanning many countries, he has been blessed to work with many good people all over the world. As this conversation thread unfolds, I want to know which country offered him the most interesting or valuable experience. He starts by listing a few of the countries he has worked in such as Morocco, France, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China and now Qatar, and then diplomatically adds: “Each country infuses one with an understanding of people and cultures, and that’s what I value.” His holistic ethos emerges as he continues: “I see myself as a curator of experiences, and that requires a measure of maturity, humanity and nuance. I often reinvent myself, keeping an open ear and open mind and, above all, staying humble, so that I’m always open to fresh insight. “

With a clearer understanding of the journey, I ask what intrigued and lured him toward the Mondrian brand. He immediately mentions both the attitude of the brand and its signature style. I see the match-up here with his assured and open-minded approach. “I like the improvisational quality of my colleagues and the confidence that the brand invests in me, where I can be myself and they trust me with that. There is no rigid rule making,” adds Vasileios. “One needs confidence to deal with guests across the spectrum. Our team is a small tribe of people who are dynamite and, due to this diversity and freedom of self-expression, we apply the same principle to guests; for example, never defining them by the suits they wear.”

I’m intrigued about his vision for the iconic hotel. “I’m new here and must make sure to bring value to my owners and the guests. Mondrian is unique and has set new standards for the brand and the industry in the Middle East.

“With diversification of the guest profile and the rise of Middle Eastern hospitality, the hotel must constantly reinvent itself through new offerings that satisfy changing clientele in an evolving market. We have significant milestones ahead like the World Cup 2022 and we need to be mindful of the bigger picture for Qatar.”

I ask him how he would best describe his leadership style. In response he is self-effacing and frank. “It feels overwhelming to have that leadership title in the question. It’s too big a name. I would say it’s a working style. We have many leaders in the hotel – each person has a leadership role or is a leader in their own right. How we collaborate is very important. I work at a very energetic pace; I speak and engage in discussion often and at any point in each day. I’m naturally drawn to people and constantly talk to them. People, I think, feel at ease talking to me, so I like to create a vibe where everyone feels comfortable to shine in front of me.” This inclusive style leads me to asking him to share a piece of wisdom he has learned as a GM that one can apply to ordinary life.

He fires back with a nuanced and thoughtful reply: “There is a mantra I live by. I’m really not sure if life taught me this about hospitality or if hospitality taught me this about life but it’s this: [you need] the capacity to catch the heart of a person or situation and to rise above and see the bigger picture. If you can do that with life and at work, you’re good. We deal with hundreds of people daily. Understanding the well-being of people and seeing the bigger picture is very important. So, it’s a balanced mixture of micro insights and macro vision.”

I ask Vasileios his thoughts on the spa and fitness facilities at Mondrian Doha, something I have recently experienced. “I believe our spa offering here is unparalleled” he says. “I have worked in several hotels across multiple continents that offer this component, but the combination of partnering with a very prestigious international brand together with the hardware that we have is unique. Considering the equally spectacular male and female sections, the design and organisation of the experiences is sublime. If you add on a feature like the Turkish bath and the pre- and post-treatment areas, then we have a real value offering. It’s about mental and physical wellness for all our guests.” Asked if he ever uses the facility, “I’m very spartan myself,” he laughs. “I enjoy the occasional sports massage and we have a highly capable specialist to render that brilliantly”.

Time has flown and our chat is, unfortunately, drawing to a close. I ask Vasileios if he has a favourite quotation. He tells me he has several but that they frequently change. Right now, there is a sign on his office door quoting Don Corleone from The Godfather that reads ‘Bring me my coffee and nobody gets hurt’. On a more serious note, he references a quote from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as his current favourite: ‘Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect’. He adds: “I’m a firm believer that less is more. Perfectionism is one of my traits, but it is essential to be able to dilute that into realism and marry both. From one side we need to push ourselves for our colleagues, our guests and our brand, but we also need to find ways to accommodate differences in pace and expectations of others.”

With this combination of warmth, passion and balanced leadership, it’s clear that Mondrian Doha is in good hands going forward. ✤