Interview with Fabien Mutinelli (IMHI 05), Director Asset Management Europe & Americas at Katara Hospitality.

AAIMHI: How did you end up working in Hospitality?

Coming from a family of doctors and pharmacists, I can tell you that the initial plan was not really about hotels or restaurants! Actually, I was already enrolled in a Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences when I met an old friend of my father, a passionate hotelier with a decades long experience with Accor, who inspired me and talked to me into changing my plan for hospitality. I had to start with the basics, learning the art of service and operational management at the Jean Drouant Paris Hotel School and then a few years later at the University of Nevada Las Vegas graduating with a Bachelor in Hospitality Management. 

AAIMHI: How did the MBA at IMHI help you in your career development?

When joining the program in 2003, my experience was largely operational and I wanted to develop my financial and hotel real estate skills with the best experts in the field but also in a leading international academic environment. The MBA gave me all the necessary tools and foundations to pursue my professional journey, first in consultancy with Jones Lang Lasalle and Cushman & Wakefield, assisting hotel investors and developers on numerous projects across Europe and then with the Walt Disney Company, developing the hotels and retail destination of Disneyland Paris before finally joining Katara Hospitality to asset and project manage the company’s portfolio in Europe and the USA.

AAIMHI: What is the best memory of your time at IMHI?

While I have many great memories such as the intense Computer Science workshops of Peter O’Connor, the Finance courses of Mr. “Cash” Kastner, the Hospitality Real Estate master classes of Jan deRoos or the ultimate Strategic Management thesis with Professor Olsen, the one I cherish the most is the individuals I have met through the program. The diversity of the students’ professional and cultural profiles is in my view, one of the key pillars of the program, making it a collective strength stimulating and elevating the learning journey.

AAIMHI: Is there a particular takeaway you would highlight today?

There is one particular advice I remember from Peter O’Connor which helped me at different points in my career: “survive, adapt and overcome”. I didn’t fully capture the sense of it at first but it’s with time and real-life experiences, that I put this to practice and understood the “magic” of actually turning challenges into opportunities. It’s also with time that I realized a few years down the line that this is also one of the mottos of the U.S. Marines made popular by one of Clint Eastwood’s movies!

AAIMHI: What would be your recommendations to the new students joining the program?

To make the most of it by keeping your eyes and ears wide open, exchanging as much as you can with your peers, professors and faculty staff and constantly challenging yourself. Don’t take the easy path, step out of your comfort zone, challenge is an opportunity, this is where learning lies.