Willemijn Geels (IMHI 04) is Vice President Development Europe chez InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG®)

AAIMHI: What do you remember from your time at IMHI?

Willemijn: I do remember the gatherings at Foy’s after the classes and the parties for sure! As I was not living on the campus, I remember as well travelling back and forth to IMHI via RERA, which was not the most fun part. I may have missed out a little bit of the campus life because of my choice to live in Paris. However, since I was doing the two-year track as “apprentice”  it was more convenient and easier to combine with my job.

As for the courses, the two that really stood out for me are:

Peter O’Connor’s Excel course which was an eye-opener and it was so impressive to learn everything you could do with Excel. To this day I still just love it.

The other one was the real estate finance course. I learned everything I needed later in my job, from reading a P&L to building cash flow projections and valuation. The teacher had a sort of buzzer he would hit when we were not presenting well enough or when the time was up, there was so much tension...!

AAIMHI : After IMHI, which professional direction did you take?

Willemijn: I started in consulting, although I knew I wanted to do something in development. My very first “interaction” with development was during an internship at Intercontinental Global Sales Office way before IMHI. I happened to sit next to the small team who was responsible for development and at that time for renovating InterContinental Paris LeGrand. 

I was listening to their discussions about developing hotels, building and furnishing, and they interacted with the owners. It was so interesting; the seed was planted !

Fresh out of IMHI, I was attracted by consulting because of the diversity of assignments, clients and it seemed a good place to start. I was hired into the Hotel & Leisure team of PKF in Paris, which later integrated with Deloitte. During my 7 years in the company, I had opportunity to work on market research, feasibility and valuations in many different countries. I was a huge learning curve.

From there, I moved into a development at Louvre Hotels Group, first as a development analyst and then growing responsibilities to become a developer, an ultimately head of development and acquisitions for Europe. It was a great experience as it was a very entrepreneurial company and colleagues were given a lot of responsibility early on in the career. I found myself rapidly travelling to Eastern Europe, buying plots of lands, negotiating construction contracts and raising the financing to develop budget hotels in the region. At that time, we were investing directly and as such had a very hands-on approach to development. To this day I am still very grateful to have received such trust and amazing opportunities. 

AAIMHI: Was IMHI an accelerator in your career?

Willemijn: Yes. IMHI helped for two reasons. First its reputation and image in the industry is very strong. Second, I think what you learn at IMHI are all very practical tools. 

The courses, the curriculum, the assignments, or the group works, all this seamlessly transitioned to the real work environments. I felt it was very applicable in the real world. 

It was good mix of between theory, guest speakers, people coming in and talk to us about their careers there, we had the most amazing teachers and then we did all these group works. 

I felt so ready then and until today, I keep using the things I learned. 

AAIMHI: What are you most proud of in your career?

Willemijn: As a developer I'm proud of all the deals I've done, but there's two that stand out: one is Intercontinental Lyon and the other one is the Kimpton Paris, which was probably one of my last deals before I moved into a more managerial role. When touring the property during at the start of the operator search process, seeing the potential for this to become a hotel, my then boss Philippe (IMHI ’92 😊) said to each-other “This one, we want it”. The process was extremely competitive, with 20+ hotel groups invited. It was a very long process and tough negotiation but when I see the results today, it feels like my little baby and I'm proud of it. 

In my current role, I am managing a team and I had to transition from being a “doer” to becoming an “enabler”. It is not an easy transition for a developer because you always have been in that excitement of projects, negotiating, making the deals, and getting things done. But I'm proud of having built a strong team of experts in their field based across Europe close to the local markets. Knowing that I have those people around me, I aim to be more of an enabler to them rather than a doer, which wasn't easy to start with. 

You need to learn, and you need to teach, you need to remind yourself constantly that you are an enabler now, working with people, coaching people, or being simply a sounding board and all at the same time managing to stay connected with the market reality.

AAIMHI: You have been working a very male environment, did you feel that was a problem?

Willemijn: It has never been a problem for me, and I would always refuse to see it as an obstacle.

When I first started, I remember that I always dressed on purpose in really bright colours just for the fun amongst all the grey suits in the room. I actually think sometimes it plays in favour: negotiating firmly but with a smile and with female sensitivity.

A lot changed over the last 15+ years. We have more female colleagues in development and female leaders in general, but we still have way to go. 

I have been lucky to work with people and for companies where diversity is important and ingrained in the company DNA. Nowadays we talk about it a lot, but it is the actions and opportunities given to female colleagues that count. 

Of course, balance family life and professional life is not always easy but here again one keeps learning ….: you need a good organisation at home and surround yourself with people that can help and accept that we are not super woman ….and that is OK !

I always worked full time and I didn't take long maternity leaves, but that was a personal choice as I want to make a career.

AAIMHI: What advice would you give young IMHI?

Willemijn: 

Be Patient. Careers may not always be linear, and you have different phases in a career. 

Sometimes you will grow quickly, then you may have to take a step back. And then I think there's can be phases where you may want to enjoy the moment. 

Accept, go with the flow, and go with the feeling what is right for you at certain periods in your life. Of course, this is personal and different for everyone.

Be humble.  You come from IMHI, and we all know we had a great schooling, but also you still have to learn a lot. Continue to be curious and learn, take every opportunity to learn. 

Care about the people around you. The human element in our industry is very prevalent. Treat people with respect and care for each other; eventually it will always come back to you in a positive way. 

AAIMHI: What soft skills do you feel are important?

Willemijn:

Teamwork. In most organisations, you don’t simply work for one boss; you work for multiple stakeholders. You need to be able to manage multiple stakeholders, you need to develop emotional and social intelligence and get things done through collective effort. 

Effective communication (including listening): Try always to understand people and their motivators and adapt yourself to your interlocutor to get the message across. Many people start talking without even listening to what the client may want and need. Not very efficient in the end !! Effective communication is key.

Resilience and adaptability. The world is increasingly complex, unstable, unpredictable. Who knows what's going to come next after three years of craziness? Learn to accept. It is going to be unpredictable, and the more resilient and adaptable we can be, the better. 

Finally : Have fun in your job, but also in life, make sure you have fun. Make sure there are moments of celebration, whether its professional with your team or whether it's in your private life. 

AAIMHI: Have you hired IMHI?

Willemijn: I try to not be biased, but obviously yes, I have hired several IMHI in the past. Some started with us as intern and went on to have a great careers. 

AAIMHI: Do you believe the alumni association is important?

Willemijn: Yes it is important. Even though I am personally not that active, I like the fact of being part of a tight group, we share a similar experience, and you can always rely on IMHI wherever you are. I really enjoyed meeting different people, people that you don't know but are part of the same group as you. Older, younger, different industries, some have gone into very different careers, even outside hospitality. The Get-togethers always bring some interesting conversation. It almost feels like a family. 

Thank you Willemijn!