Business Leaders interview: Joao Trindade Marques

Tell us a little about yourself and your business.

Hi. I’m João Trindade Marques. Currently I’m the Operations and Development Director at Oasis Atlantico Hotel Group. A Portuguese Hotel Company managing Assets in Cape Verde, Brazil and Morocco.

Our main goals are guest satisfaction, embrace local culture and community and develop strong hospitality concepts on Food and Beverage.

We manage more than 1500 Room Keys and with focus on the future in Portugal and Africa.

What motivates you in your work and what do you find most fulfilling about being a business leader?

People. Our Guests and our people. Have the opportunity to work and interact with different cultures and societies, engaging our team to develop skills and to share with others. 

How did you develop your leadership skills and how would you define your leadership style?

I’m glad to have had the opportunity to grow with great leaders that showed me the way with guidance and hands on style. My background was fulfilled with teams that all together realized the importance of the word “team”. 

My style is being on the operation side. Cook, taste, feel. Try every second to understand each college and at the same time, do everything to achieve better guest satisfaction.

Innovating is crucial in our very diverse industry. How do you stay ahead of trends and incorporate them into your global strategy?

I study a lot. Most of the time I try to read and feel what’s happening on our sector and learn with the big and small brands, but most important, learn with our teams. 

What do you consider to be the key component(s) of effective business operational development?

The process and the goal. We should understand the goals and do everything to create or manage the process to achieve it. 

How do you approach identifying areas for improvement within a company's operations?

First of all, it’s important to understand the company culture. If the goal is GOP I will deal on one way. If the goal is guest satisfaction I will change the motivation. 

In the end, improvement is part of our day-to-day activity and it’s important to be resilient to understand that we can do always more.

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

Nothing is impossible. Try to learn with each obstacle and do everything to stay committed with my personal values, as well the brand values and culture.

How did you identify and seize opportunities for advancement in your career?

I try all times to learn more and to develop myself. So, when someone approaches me, I try to understand if I will need to get out of the comfort zone and how it will help me to evaluate and grow as a person and professional.

Have you achieved everything you wanted in your career so far?

Not at all. I want to expand my actual brand and the managed assets. And want to work at EMEA and probably in ten years have a corporate position on a multi brand company.

How important is personal development to your success, and how do you approach it?

Always reading and searching what’s happening around me. Always do my best to do a post-graduation or an online course to achieve higher scores and achievements.

How do you prioritise tasks when everything feels like a priority?

Guest first. If on my to do list there are several tasks related or that could have impact on guest satisfaction that is my priority.

But I try to run my priorities with times and team work. My team should work and act with all the same information as I do.

What steps do you take to measure your own performance?

I measure my performance with KPI’s. If the GOP is achieved, the ADR is on track and guest satisfaction is on an excellent level, my job is almost done. 

I try to do a balance each month and change goals and priorities according to the company’s needs.

What does success mean for you as a business leader?

I’m not a lover of the word success. I truly believe that we need to prove each day and work hard to keep the good results and motivate our teams. It’s like a marathon and I should stay focused on the goals and guest (internal\external) to keep the good results.

Success is to change the world around us and do it for good. Touch the small details.