The secret global ingredient of success is the fusion of passion and competence

From a young age, I was taught that knowing your field is absolutely essential, and that without it, I had no business setting foot in hospitality.

Allegedly, you need to master every detail — from the composition of the breakfast buffet to the perfect angle of the reception lighting — or you’ll end up in HR, applying for a night watchman position. This paradigm of mine was somewhat shaken by restaurateurs and hoteliers from the ranks of well-informed amateurs, who often turned out far more successful than the diploma-carrying graduates of hotel schools.

And the longer I move in this world, the more I realize that even the deepest expertise isn’t enough on its own. If it were, we wouldn’t see so many hotels that are, unfortunately, just average.

So what sets the exceptional ones apart?

Something you won’t find in textbooks or in revenue management or service standards training.

They have people who combine passion with competence.

People who simply love baking, cooking, talking about recipes, experimenting, chatting with guests about their holidays, or serving food and drinks with a smile — and who know how to transform that joy into flawless service.

And that connection between what we love and what we truly know how to do — that’s the secret ingredient that, in my view, sets apart a hotel where the guest falls asleep with a smile, from one where, at 3 AM, they wonder whether to write a complaint or just let it go and forget about it.

Imagine a hotel where it doesn’t stop at a CV that reads like a school essay titled “Why I Should Be Your Manager”, or at willingness to work overtime (because, “if I don’t sleep tonight, there’s always tomorrow”).

Instead, management actively discovers what people really know, where they excel, and where they could grow. And no — it’s not just a pose in a corporate photo next to a motivational poster featuring a mountain climber. (No offense to climbers — I know one, his name’s Radek, I had his poster in my office for years, and in many ways, he’s an inspiration.)

So I looked at hotels and chains that don’t leave this to chance — that have a clear plan for blending passion with competence. And some of them truly inspire me:

👉 Hyatt

Hyatt works with experts to map talent (such as PwC and other consultants) and runs programs like the Hyatt Leadership Profile or RiseHY for young talents. All so their people know what’s next and where their career can go. (Which is probably better than the widespread “let’s see what tomorrow brings” method.)

👉 Accor

Their Reveal Talent program, run by the Talent & Culture department under global director Béatrice Bouchet, identifies potential and offers a clear path to management positions.

👉 Sacher

Sacher runs its School of Excellence, an internal academy led by their HR department (with Barbara Stöckl or her team at the helm), where they train staff and support participation in competitions like Receptionist of the Year or Amuse Bouche.

Their video on professional skills training inspired me years ago. I watched it twice — once out of interest, and the second time because I’d forgotten I’d already seen it.

👉 And in my own practice

Sometimes this fusion of passion and competence means simple, beautiful stories.

In one of the projects I helped bring to life in East Africa, we had a pastry chef, Rachel. We talked more about cakes than budgets (which, at the time, I found wonderfully refreshing). In the end, I brought her our old family recipe book. I bought us another copy on Amazon so we’d still have one at home, and gave her ours so she could have the recipes close at hand. That very evening, she started baking one dessert a day from it. We even taught her our homemade Pavlova — only she uses passion fruit instead of strawberries, and it’s a fantastic alternative that makes you feel like you’re sitting on a veranda in Rio de Janeiro or Zanzibar.

I’m certain Rachel will never leave this profession. She fell in love with it the way one falls in love with a person — and there’s no turning back. (You can see photos from this project in the article.)

From Vague Notions to Measurable Skills

Hotels are moving away from relying solely on the instincts of their managers (which are often as reliable as predicting a white Christmas). Instead, they use measurable indicators, feedback, tests.

A passionate chef? Great. But can they lead a team — or just cook seven dishes at once? A receptionist who loves guests? Wonderful. But can they launch the reservation system without looking like they’re trying to hack into the dark web?

When Data Cultivates Talent

Modern hospitality — like my life — is a mix of heart and data. Systems that spot potential are like GPS for a career — they just occasionally say “recalculating” when someone takes a wrong turn.

The Way Forward

The future belongs to hotels that can connect their people’s passion with measurable skills — where enthusiasm isn’t spoiled by unclear expectations, but flourishes thanks to clear opportunities for growth. And thanks to trust.

The good news? Tools already exist that help hotels do exactly this — tools that connect the human heart with data and strategy. And maybe we’re not far from the time when every decision about employee development is built on solid ground — and not on whether the boss happened to guess right this time.

More coming soon!