At first glance on Paolo Campillo, you wouldn’t think that his casual image and honest-to-goodness demeanor has masterfully accomplished an extensive experience in hospitality, which much of it has actually been on taking up the role of the General Manager in notable hotels around Asia.
But, as Discovering Hospitality sat with Mr. Campillo in the plush Business Centre of Discovery Primea, an ongoing client in his current hospitality firm, called 3AM, the true essence behind his lustrous hospitality career emanated with a string of precious personal experiences, unwavering determination, hard-earned lessons and valuable information that our budding subscribers in the industry can relate to and learn from.
Thus, here is a transcribed excerpt of the first Discovering Hospitality Video Talk Show, featuring our guest hospitality colleague, Paolo Campillo, reliving his hospitality journey with us.
How did you start in the hospitality industry?
I've been doing this for 30 over years professionally, not counting summer jobs. I started my career right at the bottom. I started as a pot washer, a dishwasher in a restaurant. I've done fast food and probably everything in food and beverage.
The most difficult job is the Steward or dishwasher. In a hotel being a Steward is probably the second most difficult, the most difficult being housekeeping.
Housekeeping is a punishing job. Hats off to all the housekeepers out there because it's not something I could do day-in, day-out.
In your hospitality career, you get these moments of truth throughout your career, testing whether you want to nut it out for another day or go into a corner and cry and go home.
In University, I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for a living. I discovered that I really liked the food & beverage lifestyle. Particularly in Canada and the US, where you really have to work for your tips. You have to entertain the guest more than just serve, so it was fun.
I was sent off to Switzerland to take up hotel management, and once I got there, I quickly figured out that I not just wanted to own my restaurant, but I wanted to be a Hotel General Manager. In addition, I wanted to do it through Food & Beverage.
