Interview with Clara Muller (IMHI 2016), Senior Manager Development at Deutsche Hospitality in charge of Switzerland, Spain and France.

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

Clara: A lot of things of course, but I am often thinking about some teachers that told us “You’ll see, the friends you’ll make during IMHI will last forever”. It sounded quite “pathetic” back at the time, but they were right. I met wonderful people. We learned calculating the cash flows together, we massively failed estimating the WACC for the IPO of Shake Shack, I am not fluent in Arabic despite the 6-months classes, but these are memories that will last forever, and I cherish them.

AAIMHI: What did you do right after graduating, can you share a bit about your career

Clara: After graduating I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

And one day the entire class received an email from the career service of IMHI with a job offer as “Coordinator to CEO” for Deutsche Hospitality in Frankfurt/Main. I thought it would be perfect to get an overview of all the departments and the structure of an hotel operating company, so I applied. I was second on the waiting list, but the shortlisted candidate found another job, so the process started for me. To be honest I didn’t want to interview anymore because I had another application in the works, and look where I am now! More than 6 years later I am still working for Deutsche Hospitality, took over various roles and am now in charge of the development of our 8 brands in Spain, Switzerland, and France as Senior Manager Development.

AAIMHI: Would you say that IMHI had an impact to your career? Was it an accelerator?

Clara: Definitely! I decided quite “desperately” to start my journey in the hospitality industry after failing my first year of study to become a veterinary. After my undergraduate diploma (BTS in France) in hospitality, I wanted to learn more about the industry, about management and leadership, and ultimately to have a sustainable impact on the industry. I therefore applied for the MBA, and I had the chance to do my master in apprenticeship which allowed me to gain work experience while continuing to study.

IMHI was definitely an accelerator, it took me to another level within the hotel business, and of course we shouldn’t forget that I got hired at Deutsche Hospitality by an IMHI Alumni, Puneet Chhatwal (H91), CEO of Deutsche Hospitality from 2012 to 2017.  

AAIMHI: Could you share an achievement you are particularly proud of?

Clara: When I started my journey in the development department after one year as Coordinator to CEO, I set myself some goals in terms of responsibility and hotel signings before turning 30, and I am grateful and proud I already achieved some of them. I really love working in development, I learn and get challenged every day, I am not in a routine, and I am professionally fulfilled. I definitely still have plenty of things to learn, a lot of milestones on my career plan and I am looking forward to them.

AAIMHI: Are there any lessons you have learned in your career that you would like to share with the younger graduates?

Clara: When I joined Deutsche Hospitality, Puneet Chhatwal once told me that I should be like a “sponge”, meaning absorb the knowledge, the experience and the advice of the persons that surround me.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, to say it when you don’t understand something, and to make mistakes! I never took any class of advanced real estate during my 2 years at IMHI and I had almost no clue about development when I joined the team, but I have always been eager to learn, to understand the “mechanics” of feasibility and development, and this would have never been possible without my colleagues and all the stakeholders I daily deal with.

AAIMHI: Besides the academic degree, which are the soft skills you believe are particularly important today?

Clara: I think that the attitude is very important: be proactive, have a strong team spirit, continuously seek for improvement, think along, be supportive, empower your colleagues, listen, accept being wrong, etc. An academic degree is definitely important, but I think that nowadays soft skills make the difference.

AAIMHI: Do you like to hire IMHI graduates and why?

Clara: I never directly hired IMHI graduates, but I am always glad to collaborate with alumni. It is generally the starting point of our discussion, and it directly breaks the ice!

AAIMHI: Do you believe the alumni association AAIMHI, the IMHI network, is important?

Clara: I think that my answers above speak for themselves: I got hired by an IMHI alumni, I have been trained on the basics of feasibility by Alexandra Apaclla (H14), and I regularly collaborate with alumni whether they are working for consultancy companies, developers, or investors.

Thank you for sharing your story Clara!