by Dr. Iain
Corness
The general manager of the new Hard Rock Hotel is
Andrew Khoo. He is descended from an influential Chinese family in Penang,
is a Singaporean by birth, but truly “international” in outlook.
His family is Hokkien Chinese, which settled in Penang,
founding the Khoo Kongsi, a religious site which is today a tourist
attraction. His grandfather was the governor and as the eldest grandchild
Andrew should have been destined for riches, but this was not to be.
Andrew’s father defied the close-knit Chinese family to go and become
somewhat of a freedom fighter in India, Burma and Malaya against the
threat of Communism.
His
mother went to Singapore for his birth, but with his father’s return to
a jungle lifestyle, Andrew was partly raised by a childless Eurasian
couple in Singapore who became his foster parents. They were Catholic
Portuguese Goans and young Andrew was enrolled in St. Patrick’s
Christian Brother’s School.
He was an average student, but a good all-rounder,
being proficient at all sports. Initially he wanted to be a singer in a
band, but when his voice broke that ambition fell through. His next
thoughts were to be a doctor, but his grades were not good enough, so he
then toyed with being a Christian Brother, but the calling was not there.
When he left school, he was due for National Service in
6 months, so it was difficult to get a job, so he took the position as a
hotel bellboy. This was his first taste of the hotel industry, and even at
the lowest rung, he found he enjoyed it.
The next two years were the army experience. Andrew
said that physically it made him tough, and mentally very strong. “It
taught me team work before self.” He was also thrown into a racial
melting pot and began to understand the need to overcome racial
discrimination if the team were to survive.
After National Service he gravitated back to the
hospitality industry but wanted overseas training and applied for a hotel
school in England. His father was not all that convinced, but gave him a
one-way ticket and the admonishment, “Don’t come back without the
diploma!”
Andrew completed his 4 year training and graduated with
the letters MHCIMA after his name. The diploma was his, and he is proud of
it. After this he did the usual round of different hotel chains, moving
steadily up the ladder, through food and beverage and management postings.
Altogether he spent 13 years working in the UK and Europe, but family duty
was to change his life’s direction. His father rang to say he was
retiring and Andrew was told to return to Singapore and take over the
family responsibilities, as he was the eldest child. “I had a duty and
an obligation, so I went back.”
Fortunately, when he returned to Singapore the hotel
industry was expanding and there was a demand for people with
international experience. He took several managerial postings, including
the opening of the new Raffles. This in turn led to being involved with
the renovation of the famous Galle Face in Sri Lanka and even a short
stint in Myanmar. It was there that Andrew came in close contact with
Buddhism, and immediately felt being “at one” with it. Since then he
has adopted Buddhism, with meditation being part of his daily ritual.
His introduction to Pattaya was the opportunity of the
placement here to take over the final 6 months of the Hotel Merlin on
Beach Road. This was the basis for the yet to be opened Hard Rock Hotel.
While the renovations and new building took place, Andrew went to Bali for
the Hard Rock Hotel there, returning to Pattaya 9 months ago for the
pre-opening, recruitment and now the opening of Pattaya’s own Hard Rock
Hotel.
Hobbies? “I haven’t got the time. I’d like to
take up golf again, but there’s no chance right now.” He expanded
further on this, and the reason why there is no real time for hobbies.
“It’s a passion you feel for your profession. Treat it as a 9-5 job
and your hotel is doomed to failure. It teaches you to be humble as you
depend on human beings to do the job that you trained them for.”
So what type of music does the GM of the Hard Rock
Hotel enjoy? “I’m a real rocker,” was the answer. His favourite
groups include Queen, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Yes, he is a real
rocker!
Ambitions? He would like to retire early, but,
“I’ll go and teach. There’s so much to share.” When I asked what
his advice would be to a young aspirant to the hotel industry brought the
response, “Go and be an orthopaedic surgeon! Are you sure you want to be
a hotelier? It is just so demanding on your personal life that you must be
passionate about people (to survive).”
For Andrew Khoo, success is, “At the end of the day
there is personal happiness in what you are doing. That’s all.”
For a man from a close Chinese family background what
influences had expanded and ‘internationalised’ Andrew Khoo? He cited
his foster parents who were community workers, his schooling which was
again community driven, his 13 years overseas and even Singaporean
President Lee Kwan Yu whose dictum was community before self in his
principles of nationhood.
It is that kind of thinking that has produced today’s
Andrew Khoo, a Buddhist who speaks Hokkien Chinese, Bahasa Melayu/Indonesia
and thinks in English. A man who states that it is important to understand
the problems that arise out of human misery such as corruption, greed and
egos. A man who describes the futility of war and the pain it creates.
Behind the glasses and the Hard Rock insignia there is a deep thinking
individual. One Hard Rock slogan is “Love all-Serve all.” Andrew Khoo
fits it perfectly.
