Andreas Diakodimitris - Hospitality Consultant / GM of 'Me Zen' Project
- by XpatAthens
- Wednesday, 13 May 2015
“Treat your guests as you’d wish to be treated. Be yourself and smile. It doesn’t cost a penny!”These are the words of the Greek entrepreneur behind the 'Zen Project.'
Andreas is an experienced and skilled General Manager with expertise in hotel management, food and beverage operations, vendor relations, profit and loss management and guest services operations.
After 17 years of managing small and medium luxury hotels, he is currently developing the “Me Zen” project, a small chain of traditional Tsipouro Bars throughout Greece.
Following the successful opening of “Me Zen Volos” he and his team are preparing for the opening of “Me Zen Larisa”.
What are the things you like best about your job and how would you describe your hospitality and tourism management philosophy?
Travelling around Greece and the world to discover flavors is what makes my job unique. Meeting people with different cultural backgrounds always reminds me of the reasons for choosing a career in tourism.
My motto is: “Treat your guests as you’d wish to be treated. Be yourself and smile. It doesn’t cost a penny!”
Have you had to face any challenges in your career to get to where you are today?
Tons of work , full time schedules and no holidays and days off for years, elder colleagues that I had to manage, working on weekends and public holidays, accurate forecasting and teambuilding were a few of the challenges I had to face during the 17 years I have been managing hotels.
In regards to hospitality, where do you think Greece needs to improve the most?
Better management of regional airports will certainly give a boost to more destinations. Destination marketing must at last follow a steady plan and be managed by one independent authority. Millions of euros have been spent during the past decades without any measurable outcome.
To read more of this interview, please visit: Greek Travel Pages