Some conversations stay with you long after the recording stops. My recent podcast with Francis Zimmerman, General Manager of The Landmark Bangkok, was one of them. I first met Francis during my years with Shangri-La, so it was a pleasure to sit down with him again, this time as two people who have spent decades living and working in Asia.
Francis began as a front office manager at Westin in 1989. He went on to lead hotels for Shangri-La, Meridien, Marriott and Anantara, and later became Managing Director for Southeast Asia at The Next Story Group. In 2018 he took charge of The Landmark. That range matters. He has seen how a global brand thinks and how an independent hotel survives. At a time when our industry is changing quickly, I wanted to hear what experience like that teaches you.
Born into the business
Francis told me he never really had a choice. His father was a respected Swiss executive chef in Canada, and the family life ran on long hours and high standards. On weekends he and his brother were brought into the kitchen to help. Later it became a full month of summer work. He talked about the kitchen culture of those days with real affection, including the rough edges that Anthony Bourdain described so well.
What struck me was how clearly he traced his work ethic back to that start. Discipline and excellence were not taught as ideas. They were things he watched every day. Many of us in hospitality can point to a similar moment, when the industry stopped being a job and became a way of life.
His move to Asia in 1996 was a leap. North America felt a little institutional to him then, and Asia felt alive. He and his wife sent application packs by post to hotels they found in an airline guide. A former colleague put his name forward, and two early morning interview calls later he had a role with Shangri-La. I left England in 1982 and never really went back, so I understood that story completely. Relationships opened those doors, and they still do.
What leadership looks like
I asked Francis how he defines great leadership. His answer was refreshingly honest. One size does not fit all. He has worked for general managers who ran tightly structured meetings and others who held strategy conversations in the lobby while waiting for VIPs who were always late. Each style worked in its own way.
What every good leader shared, in his view, was passion. He added something that I think deserves more attention. You will not always work for a great mentor.
Sometimes you will work for someone whose values or direction differ from your own, and you can still learn from that. Perseverance matters as much as inspiration.
Turning a hotel around
Francis has a reputation for taking troubled properties and giving them a new identity, so I asked him what that takes. His answer was a story I will remember.
Early in his time as an area manager, he found a hotel in chaos, with very high staff turnover. He noticed that he was running orientation for the same position twice in one month. So he changed his approach. He told each new group plainly that the road ahead would be hard, drew the journey on a flip chart, and then said that anyone not ready to commit should not come back the next day.
Some did not return. Over the following months the right people moved into the right roles, and they believed in what the hotel was trying to do. Eight to ten months later, he said, the lobby felt calm in the morning, revenues were rising and service scores had improved.
I admire that decision. It is uncomfortable to be that direct with new colleagues. But clarity at the start is kinder than disappointment later, and any hotelier who has managed a turnaround will recognise it.
Independence and innovation at The Landmark
We spoke at length about the difference between running a chain hotel and an independent one. Francis was fair to both. Large brands have infrastructure, training and technology that an independent hotel cannot match, and much of what comes down from head office has been carefully thought through. An independent hotel must move more deliberately, because every investment has to be right for the guests and the owners. In return it can move faster and work more closely with those owners.
The best example is the Quad at The Landmark. The hotel once had around three thousand square metres of retail space that no longer attracted foot traffic. Instead of letting it fade, Francis and his team turned it into a destination with four restaurants and one bar. Guests can sit anywhere and order from any outlet, and the food is brought to them. It is not a food court, as he politely reminded me. It sits alongside the hotel's all day dining rather than replacing it.
The technology was largely off the shelf, but making it work took effort. The hardest part was the back of house. If a table of four orders from four venues, the revenue must reach the right business unit. It has been open for about a year and a half. It has brought in new local guests, and it has even helped win group business, sinceΒ planners like the idea of a welcome reception for seventy five to one hundred and twenty five people in a space with real character.
He also made a point I agree with strongly. If seventy to eighty per cent of your restaurant guests are not local, you will struggle to make money. A hotel has to belong to its community. That is why The Landmark has refreshed its exterior as well as its interiors.
Wellness, sustainability and changing expectations
Francis admitted that ten or fifteen years ago he did not believe wellness would drive hotel bookings. He has changed his mind. The hotel has a very large fitness space that was leased to one operator for over twenty five years. As that lease ends, he has seen how the old gym model no longer fits. A younger generation drinks less and builds its social life around Pilates, CrossFit and training programmes. His aim is to connect the spa, a wellness clinic and fitness into one offer, ideally with a specialist partner, and with a smaller in house version if that does not work.
On sustainability he was practical. Guests and corporate buyers do ask about it. European companies in particular include detailed questions in their requests for proposals. At The Landmark the hotel is building its own water plant, which should save more than half a million plastic bottles in a year.
He also spoke about fabrics, and how surprising it is that bamboo fibres can make durable uniforms. That caught my attention. When we trialled Crestwell uniforms at Hotel ICON, the durability was impressive, and we got far more wear from them than we expected. It is a quiet example of how sustainability and commercial sense can point in the same direction. I also mentioned that AI tools now let teams design and order uniforms directly, which Francis found as interesting as I did.
Advice for those starting out
I asked Francis what he would say to young people entering hotels. He was clear that nobody graduates into a general manager's role, and that nobody should. Travel, work for different brands and keep an open mind until you find what you love.
He also offered a caution. Do not move every year. He looks for people who stay two to four years, add value and earn a promotion, then repeat that elsewhere. It is a two way street, he said. The hotel develops you, and you must contribute.
He noted that general managers now come from finance and sales as well as food and beverage. If you build strong leadership skills and hire well in areas you do not know, you can succeed. And he wanted young people to remember that it is fine toΒ enjoy the work. Hotels are stressful places, and camaraderie makes the pressure easier to carry.
One practical point surprised me. He believes some hotel programmes in Thailand do not teach enough English. As he put it, strong English sets a graduate apart.
What I took away
The thread through our conversation was people. Francis spoke about technology, wellness and sustainability with real interest, and his children are far more digital than we ever were. Yet he came back to the same point. Guests return because someone recognised them. A team that has stayed together for years is the reason he sleeps well before a six in the morning wedding.
A few lessons stay with me. Be honest early, especially when change is difficult. Let a hotel serve its local community as well as its guests. Treat partners as part of your strength. Stay long enough in a role to prove your value. And remember that hospitality remains, above all, a people business.
I am grateful to Francis for his time and candour. I look forward to hearing how the wellness concept develops, and I hope to see it for myself.
By Richard Hatter