Click here to read his first interview

After all the lockdown times am glad to say we are still alive, and we are still here in Budapest. 'Here to stay' is the mantra of the company, and we did everything to preserve our business here for the owners. We kept all staff on who wanted to stay, and tried to preserve our headcount despite all the circumstances. And it is really getting better now, I say we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and not because a train is coming towards us!

For example we were contracted with UEFA already last year, so we kept the same conditions for this year, it was a deal that was not cancelled but postponed, and so for the EURO2020 football we had a great number of guests.

At home, well chaos! We had a ‘Covid child’ in December, a premature child who was hospitalized for four weeks, in a state hospital and fortunately I was able to visit very regularly. We were ‘released’ in January, and now have three kids running around at home creating chaos. We are a very active family with the three kids, and my wife does an amazing job with them all.

2. On a scale of 1 to 10 how happy are you with your life in Hungary, and why?

I would say 10, because I am naturally a very positive person. Both personally and professionally. 

I am very happy about the sales force we have, who never really stopped during the lockdown times, we always kept engaging with customers remotely, so we were very active despite the circumstances. Now it is so nice to smell the burned toast in the morning with guests back in the hotel, the familiar heartbeat has returned at work. As much we like technology, we all also need human interaction, and we have lots of bookings as people want to get out and about again.

3. What’s the best party you’ve been to while in Hungary, and why?

A Christening in 2019, the biggest family event we celebrated before the crisis hit at the end of that year. It was a garden party here for the German protestant community, held in the Castle hill area.

4. What’s your favourite drink?

I don't have a favourite drink, it depends on the season, but one I enjoy these days is Pinot Grigio Rosé from Zoltán Tánczos.

5. What hidden talents do you have?

During lockdown I was one of those who started to bake bread, sure it is not such a great ‘hidden talent’ but it was a good new activity, and I wish I had time to do it more often now. I was surprised how many people started to bake recently, and it seems social media can read your mind because all of the sudden the topic pops up everywhere I look these days.  I have started following all the best bakeries in town  -  there are some very good ones out there. 

6. What was the most interesting travel trip you have ever taken?

The most exotic one so far was to India, in 2018. I went for business but had some free time to explore, and was overwhelmed by the hospitality, the culture, the flavours, the smells, everything was so intense that I have to go back again privately as I only was there for a few days. I did not have a culture shock after living in Istanbul, with 20 million inhabitants – that was a shock already. I was aware of the ‘busyness’ of India so I would not say it was a culture shock, but it was overwhelming!

Also to add, I learnt skiing at the age of 42. I am from the north of Germany, and we never went skiing when I was young, as my parents never went, and I didn’t have friends who went skiing, so it was difficult to learn. More recently we went to Norway with my brother and sister-in-law, who often go there, and I got a ski instructor there to finally teach me. 

7. If you were given a wish that could come true, what would you ask for?

No Covid19 anymore! Or even a ‘reset button’ would be really good. I do acknowledge business in some areas always go up and down, you can't always be on the high point, but to witness all this waste of lives and such a health disaster globally, which became so political, with so much suffering including so many business lows, I feel nobody deserves to experience such a devastating crisis again. 

8. What’s the last book you read, and movie you watched?

Actually it is not a book to read as such but it is good for the whole family to use, it’s called ‘Hundred’ - about what you learn and experience year by year until the age of 100. Heike Faller is the author. It is a wonderful book about understanding different generations, for kids to understand what they will learn by the time they are say 50, and it is also beautifully illustrated. It was a wish come true for my birthday. These days I do not really watch films. 

9. If someone wrote a biography about you, what would the title be?

TBD 

10. What is the perfect pizza toppings combination for you?

Quattro Formaggi / Four Cheese  - I eat it everywhere I go, in town I think the best one is found at Porcellino Grasso restaurant, in the second district. 

11. If you could trade places with any other person for a week, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

I would have said my Dad. He passed away so early unfortunately, I was 33 when he died, just one year after our wedding. It was a sudden death, a heart attack, on a Sunday morning, after three weeks in a coma. So he never meet his grandchildren, he could never experience being a grandad. At that time we were still living in Germany, in Ravensburg, and he never got to visit us living all around the world.

12. On a scale of 1 to 10 how unusual are you, and why?

I would say 6, given all the years living abroad by now, I am not a classic German anymore. I am perhaps too direct, too unpolitical, and more, which makes me unusual as a German. Ok, make it 7. 

13. What’s the best website you’ve ever visited, and why?

Professionally I like Ted Talks. Great inspirational talks by many great leaders. 

14. Who do you admire the most, and why?

My wife, because she has to cope with me and the chaos at home 😊 

15. What do you like best and least about living in Hungary?

When you speak to expats here everybody has a new experience to share. You multiply your experience tremendously because not everybody experiences things the same way of course. There is always something new going on here. So for me the best is that Hungary always has something new to reveal in hospitality, and in the dining sector. 

Least then, well I would say the language, so difficulty to learn. It is also hard to motivate yourself to learn it. Being fluent would make things so much easier but learning it scares you because the famous high difficulty level. The time I would spend on it I ‘d rather spend on something else to be honest, as that makes more sense given life is already so busy. Without the language, the big challenge here is to make yourself understood and to understand the locals totally. 

16. What has made the biggest impact on your life so far, and why?

Having children has a tremendous impact that extends your responsibility to be a family man, a father. And then not to make the same mistakes your parents made, and so much more, actually it had an indescribable impact, in a good way! 

17. If you won USD 30 million, what would you do with the money?

I would donate everything! Sure it is nice to have a new watch, a nice house, a modern car, but it really does not buy me overall happiness. During the pandemic I realized we have everything needed: enough money to spend on groceries basically, as we did not need so many clothes and so on to be happy. We do not need that much actually. We had a lot and still have. We also learnt that there are so many people out there not so well off, many do not have anything. Must say Marriott is great in working with charities, we support a lot of them. We also support hospitals; we donated linen for the local ambulance service for example. 

18. If your life had a theme song, what would it be?

‘Beat it’ by Michael Jackson.

19. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?

There are so many places I would go. Is the question with our without kids too? In our industry living somewhere is not forever, because of the nature of our business I would not be able to settle at one place for long. The only place I can see myself going back and forth to, but not permanently living there, would be Norway. To go skiing in winter, and hiking in summer. And this is the great thing about the mountains, it has two great seasons. I am curious where I will go next from Hungary. I have an indefinite contract here, and we would like our kids to finish first grade here…

20. In ten years from now what will you be doing?
Still traveling as a GM, it would be nice to be living in Morocco.