Damian

Hong Kong's first warehouse-conversion hotel: 160 rooms in Wong Chuk Hang, three F&B venues and a 3,000 sq ft black box event space. I was General Manager from 2019 to 2024 with the full P&L. The hotel ranked first in its STR competitive set on RGI. F&B did around HKD 50,000 a day across roughly 200 covers, at an average check near HKD 250. The event space hosted launches for Bentley, Aston Martin and Ferrari, along with fashion shows, and I led the property through COVID as a regulated quarantine hotel.

TQM started as a two-storey Mexican restaurant at Mojo Nomad Central in Sheung Wan, which I ran as General Manager in 2019. The South China Morning Post's reviewer rated its tacos the best in Hong Kong, and the bar carried 36 tequilas and mezcals. I then opened the second TQM at Ovolo Southside, a taqueria built around tacos, burritos and tortas, as the hotel's third F&B venue.

Ovolo Southside's main restaurant: a two-level, all-day dining room with an outdoor terrace, open from the morning through to sharing plates and cocktails at night. Komune, Above and Te Quiero Mucho all reported to me as General Manager, and together they served around 200 covers a day at roughly HKD 50,000 in daily F&B revenue. I rebuilt that performance through menu strategy, service standards and how each venue was positioned, which lifted the average check to around HKD 250.

A rooftop cocktail bar 23 floors up at Ovolo Southside, looking out over the south side of Hong Kong Island. I directed its relaunch as a day-to-night venue, with drinks and dining for around 40 seated and private events for up to 60 standing. It was one of the three venues behind roughly HKD 50,000 in daily F&B revenue and around 200 covers a day, at a hotel that ranked first in its STR competitive set on RGI.

Ovolo's co-living brand, with private rooms and shared rooms under one roof and a lot of communal space. In 2019 I was General Manager of both Hong Kong properties at the same time: the 56-room Mojo Nomad Central on Queen's Road Central, and Mojo Nomad Aberdeen Harbour. I was accountable for operations, financial performance, the teams at both and the F&B, including Te Quiero Mucho, the two-storey Mexican restaurant at Central. I kept both properties running to standard through a rebrand and transition.

The only surviving Mark I H-shaped resettlement block, built in 1954, turned into a 129-room heritage hotel with a public housing museum attached, inside a HKD 280 million government joint venture. I was pre-opening General Manager, then ran it through to 2017 with a team of more than 50. Rooms averaged around HKD 657 a night at 85% occupancy, F&B brought in about HKD 13.7 million a year, and total revenue passed HKD 40 million. The project earned a UNESCO Honourable Mention, and we hosted the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and consuls general from the USA, EU, UK, Philippines and Germany.

The ground-floor café at Mei Ho House, open to the public from 7am to midnight and serving breakfast to hotel guests. In May 2016, while I was General Manager, we renovated and reopened it as House 41, named for the building's old address, Block 41 of Shek Kip Mei Estate. Local Hong Kong artists painted the walls on site, the menu leaned into Hong Kong-style fusion, and we opened the Mini 41 store across from it at the same time. F&B at Mei Ho House brought in about HKD 13.7 million a year.

A 199-room tropical resort in the Wyndham portfolio, run as a mix of timeshare and a letting pool with individual unit owners. I held around 92% occupancy year-round in one of Australia's most seasonal markets, with a guest satisfaction score of 8.9 across 12 months, above the brand benchmark. Getting there meant tight inventory management between owners and paying guests, a team of 50 to 70 depending on the season, the 3Sixteen Bar & Bistro, and keeping supply moving into a remote location.

The resort's restaurant and bar, set in Melaleuca rainforest and looking over the lagoon pool and waterfall, with a second bar you swim up to. It's open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, to resort guests and to locals. I ran it as part of the General Manager role, with the commercial performance, cost control and service standards all mine. Working with Executive Chef Glen Abell, I widened the offering and started themed dinners, Chinese New Year and St Patrick's Day among them, to bring more Port Douglas locals through the door.

Built in Waihi in 1897, taken apart, moved to Rotorua and reopened in 1921 as Princes Gate. Today it's a 51-room heritage hotel across the road from the Government Gardens, and the largest of the three properties I ran as Group General Manager in 2026. Across the group I took all three properties live on the Mews property management system, brought in an interim revenue advisor for a full rate and OTA audit, and set up a group-wide policy framework.

An eight-room boutique hotel on Kawaha Point, right on the edge of Lake Rotorua, with a pool, spa pools and a restaurant looking across the water to Mount Tarawera. With eight rooms and a small team there's nowhere for a weak shift to hide, so my work here was rosters, kitchen compliance and service standards.

A 13-room luxury lodge with the separate Hana House, on a 50-acre estate at Hamurana on the north-western shore of Lake Rotorua. It opened in December 2023 with a lounge bar, a restaurant and terrace facing the lake, a pool, sauna and spa pools. It's a young property, so my focus was staffing, rosters and locking in standards.

Hostelling International is the charity behind a worldwide network of around 4,000 youth hostels, run country by country through National Associations. From 2011 to 2012 I was its Regional Development Manager for Asia Pacific and the Indian Subcontinent, with oversight across more than 200 properties. The job was governance and standards: making sure properties met HI's brand standards, operating frameworks and governance requirements, finding and supporting new development opportunities, and getting National Associations in different countries working together. It's the closest thing in my career to the standards and audit work 23 Tradewinds does now.

Where it started. I managed Cairns Central YHA and looked after front office systems across seven Queensland YHA properties, from Cooktown to Coolangatta. Nine years there led to the regional role with Hostelling International.