As Senior Vice President of Dusit International Octavio Gamarra understands well the need to plan ahead in times of political gridlock and economic stagnation. As a teenager he was a world standard swimmer and today is a tri-athlete who races to win. There’s no shortage of energy and vision from this Latino raconteur whose career has traversed the globe and woken up more than a few sleepy souls. Ben Hopkins is jolted from a day dream in Bangkok’s Dusit Thani Hotel lobby.

One suspects Octavio Gamarra didn’t work his way to the position of Senior Vice President by merely saying what other people wanted to hear. His approach is direct and his conversation is spiced with humor and controversy. Coming from Peru he puts it down to his Latino heritage. “I’m a people’s person, I thrive on connection with people,” he explains in the lobby of Dusit Thani’s flagship property in Bangkok.

It’s a style that stands in refreshing contrast to many of today’s leading businessmen who tip toe around sensitive topics with the kind of smooth talk that says nothing at all. It’s also a style that has won him a reputation as a compelling public speaker and raconteur.

The drive to succeed was plainly channeled into Octavio from an early age. Growing up in Peru the young sports enthusiast forged talent with deter­mination to become a national champion in swimming. By the age of 18 he was ranked 60th in the world for the 400 meters. The Olympics would have surely followed if Peru hadn’t boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games on politi­cal grounds.

With a wired up energy and a flare for recalling conversations to illustrate events Octavio explains. “My coach said, ‘Octavio, don’t worry about it. Keep training and you can go to the next Olympics.’ But the politician, you know my love for politicians (a shrug of contempt) how could I know they wouldn’t pull the rug on me again and boycott that too.”

Instead, the 18-year old decided on a future away from competitive swim­ming. Again he swiftly recalls a conversation as if it happened only yesterday. “My father would ask me. ‘So, Octavio, what do you want to do with your life?’ And I’d say, ‘Well I don’t know.’ And he’d ask me, ‘Do you want to be a doctor, do you want to be a lawyer?’ And I’d say ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.’

“I was a swimmer, and as a swimmer you follow the dark lines in the pool and your brain becomes very transfixed. But my father would keep asking, ‘What do you want to do?’ So I said ‘listen, I’ll enroll in university, and get a job, perhaps work in hospitality.’”

After gaining a Bachelors Degree Octavio packed his bags, said goodbye to Peru and went to study hospitality at the Hotel School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The choice of career  led to a nomadic  life that would satisfy the dreams of anyone with a fascination for diferent cultures. “I’ve worked in Detroit, San Francisco, Boston and Hawaii. Then  I was  transferred  to Sydney, Barcelona, Osaka and Singapore.  I’ve opened hotels  in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Montreal – all of this with the Ritz Carlton Hotel Group. So as you can
see I’ve been all around the world.”

His current position as Senior Vice President of the Dusit International is all about making global strategic plans, determining what is going to be the direction of the company and instructing hotel managers around the world how to execute the plans. It demands a great deal of travel and meetings in board rooms away from the hands on approach of running a hotel. Something he’s thrived on for much of his career. “My wife, when I got this job said ‘Aren’t you going to miss the contact, aren’t you going miss developing employees and talk­ing with guests.’ And you know in the two years I’ve been doing this, the one thing I miss is that aspect of the business.”

Anecdotes relating to his career in the hotel industry pour forth at a rapid pace. Like a recent meeting with a hotel owner in Cairo when negotiations reached fever pitch.

“There’s me the owner, a legal councilor and the people who travel with me and he’s raising his voice and I’m doing the same and he’s screaming at me and everyone’s looking worried but when the meeting is over he says, “Octavio, this was a great meeting, lets go to dinner.”

As we’re talking the government opposition -red shirts -are growing in momentum only a few km’s from the hotel, threatening to plunge the coun­try into deeper political and economic malaise. It’s a situation that has per­suaded many in the tourism industry to tighten their belts and do nothing. Again, Octavio breaks ranks with the doom mongers to set his sights on a future beyond the red and yellow hell of the present.

“Since October, with the economy and the airport seizure the situation be­came dire. So in October and November I made some decisions and said to the general manager we should go for volume business. Secure accounts. If somebody is going to book four or five rooms for the entire year don’t worry about the rates, take it, take it, secure the account. This is what we are doing.

For the first time we have an airline crew, 15 rooms secured. And people would say, ‘Oh an airline crew,’ (shrugs his shoulders disparagingly). In better times you would hold the rooms for a higher rate but for now, when business is down, no matter what happens you know you have a baseline of 15% or 20% secured. In December when all the other hotels were running 20% or 30% this hotel was running 50%.”

The past few years have been the boom years for the hotel industry and now is the time to take stock, look over one’s shoulder and learn from past mis­takes. “You know in Dubai they became too aggressive with rates. Now that tourism has gone down and the hotels need to fill rooms the wholesalers are saying, ‘Hey listen, last year when people wanted to come you were putting up the rates, now we go elsewhere.’” As if to illustrate the point as a micro­cosm of what’s happened on a global scale he continues, “They became too arrogant, too greedy and now they are paying the price.”

With new hotels opening in Cairo, Delhi Dubai, Abu Dhabi and China’s Hainan Island the weight of expectation is on the shoulders of Octavio but he shows little sign of middle aged wilt.

“Taking part in triathlons is something I do in order to remain sane, if I don’t do this I will kill someone.”

Gesturing to his suit he explains, “I always say that this is not me, I’m just happy to work in the hotel. If you see me during my days off I don’t shave, I mountain bike, I go kayaking, I love the ocean, I do the triath­lons, I go to the mountains, and that’s really what I love, you know. When people see me on my days off I’m in shorts, baseball cap, three or four days I don’t shave, I’m very pleased that my wife doesn’t mind. When employees see me on the street they don’t rec­ognize me.”

Besides his wife and two boys Octavio’s other driving passion is competing in triathlons. Every year he sets himself the target of competing in four triathlons and in every triathlon he competes to win. “Taking part in triathlons is something I do in order to remain sane, if I don’t do this I will kill someone.”

Getting out into the wild and competing in triathlons maybe the escape from the straight jacket confines of work that keeps Octavio sane but he also sees correla­tions between sport and work.

“The way to discipline yourself with sport is the same way to discipline yourself with business. You know my two children (7 and 9 year olds) are doing Taekwondo. They have both become green belts and you know I just love the way they progress. You become a white then you become a yellow and a second yellow and a green.

“I was talking to a general manager of one of the hotels last week. He had a black belt and finished fourth in a world championship. And I said to him Paolo, did you become a black belt from one day to the next. He said no, I had to do this, I had to do that and after following the steps I became a black belt.

“So I said why don’t you use the same method with your hotel. Why don’t you say to staff, what do you have to do to become a yellow belt, what do you have to do to become a green belt, it’s exactly the same. And he listened to me and said what you just said makes perfect sense, I had never thought about it that way. I use this method with the general managers and the corporate staff.”

Only two years through a five year contract Octavio is dedicated to his work but not imprisoned by it. When I ask him how long he plans to stay at Dusit Interna­tional he’s adamant that he’ll complete his five year contract. And after that? “I will stay if we are happy”.

But what stirs the soul may be something quite differ­ent. “If I choose to leave in three years I will be 50. I would like to do the Ironman. This is a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a 42km run. The winner can do this in nine hours. I’d aim to do it in 15 to 16 hours. I would need to take a year off to train for this. When I set my mind on something I do it.”