FAIRMONT MAYAKOBA
1. What inspired you to choose a career
in hospitality?
RJW: My grandmother has always been my
source of inspiration, an example to follow, for her
passion for the hospitality business. At age 64,
she opened a hotel in Austria.
2. What is most gratifying and hardest about
moving so many times?
RJW: Oddly enough, for me the most gratifying
and the hardest are the same thing. It makes me
happy to get to know new places and make new
friends, but it is hard to leave those places and
those friends when it’s time to go.
3. What objects with special sentimental value
have gone with you to all your many homes?
RJW: My mother taught me to love art. She
owned a gallery that also had antiques, so many
of those paintings and objects have deep mean-
ing for me and are always in my home.
4. If you had to mention one lesson you learned
from each continent or geographical area where
you’ve lived, what would they be?
RJW: Africa: patience. Asia: attention to detail.
Europe: being able to interact with people from
30 different cultures in the same city, on the same
day. Middle East: respect for all cultures and reli-
gions. America: especially Mexico, is showing me
that all the lessons learned in all the other places
come together here, but what stands out is the
passion for living life to the fullest and that happi-
ness is there to be enjoyed every day.
5. When life is devoted to tourism, do you still
feel like traveling for pleasure?
RJW: Of course I do. I love to travel. It thrills me.
It inspires me. And my trips are not necessarily
deluxe. I like to experiment with different ways of
traveling on an adventure of discovery of places
and customs.
6. Where do you go whenever you can
choose a destination?
RJW: To new places. I hope my next trip will be
to South Africa. It’s on my list of places to go.
7. What funny anecdotes has your career given
you that make your friends laugh?
RJW: I remember very early one day in Maui,
while I was still in bed, one of my cell phones
started ringing –I had three: one from Holland,
another from the United Arab Emirates and the
other from the United States–, my cell from
Holland started displaying a message about a
supposed imminent arrival of a “ballistic missile.”
Since I was just waking up, I didn’t completely get
the meaning of ballistic, so I looked it up on Inter-
net. “It is a nuclear missile,” my phone said. “This
is not a drill,” the text said. Imagine my fright. I
ran to the reception area, thinking about inform-
ing everyone and ensuring their safety. It was
an erroneous message, but the scare –and then
the relieved laughter– were memorable. I never
found out how that message was produced.
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