Life & Work

Well-travelled DusitD2 boss loves entertaining people

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DusitD2 Nairobi GM Michael Metaxas at the hotel. PHOTOS | DIANA NGILA

Fifteen years ago, Metaxas was working at the Nairobi InterContinental before being moved to DusitD2’s chain of outlets across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Since then, he has worked for the Bangkok chain of hotels for over 20 years. He’s a member of the Hotel and Catering Institutional Management Association as well as the Chaine des Rotisseurs in Thailand, Kenya and Greece.

DusitD2 – the fairly new 101-roomed hotel on 14 Riverside – is joining the ranks of boutique hotels in Nairobi with its razzmatazz-ed young and trendy look. And it’s there where we met for this interview a week ago. He’s jocular and funny, and probably gets into my Hall of Fame as the first interviewee to wear suspenders.

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The suspenders. What’s that all about, style? Or today you were in that mood?

I have been wearing suspenders for 25 years now. I enjoy my food and when you enjoy food like I do, belts just get in the way. It’s not an image thing; these suspenders have nothing to do with the whole Wall Street image. It’s about comfort. I have 10 pairs here in Nairobi and about 20 pairs back in Greece. I like to match them with ties and all.

What is your story? How did you end up here in Nairobi?

I was born in Nigeria in 1960, which makes me 55. Parents lived in Nigeria, working for a private firm. That’s where my brother and I were born before we moved to Cyprus. From there, we moved and lived in Ireland then moved to Greece and then the UK where I grew up.

I have been travelling in this business since 1984 — UK, Dubai, Bangkok, Pakistan, Nairobi, Oman, Cyprus, Greece, and Nairobi again. I used to live here 15 years ago, working for the Hotel InterContinental. So it feels great to be back.

What’s your favourite part of this hotel?

What makes this hotel special is that we have a lot of young people working here. As you can see when you look around, the staff is essentially quite young.

Most of our staff didn’t have any experience working in hotels before, so we have had to train them into the culture we want them to embody. They don’t come with a culture from elsewhere. What this means is that starting the hotel with a young team gives you energy; having young people in your team makes me feel young, vibrant and trendy. That, you can say, is my favourite part of the hotel.

You have mentioned your age twice. Do you miss anything in your youth, any hang-ups?

(Chuckles) Oh no, I didn’t notice. I miss nothing. Hang on, I think I miss water skiing which I started when I was five-years-old. I wish I could have done it longer.

Is that part of your regrets?

I don’t know if you could say they are regrets. The opportunity of travelling around keeps life exciting. My wife and I have two kids. I wish I could have had more kids, but travelling makes it difficult. I look forward to tomorrow, though. You don’t achieve anything by regretting. (Pause) But if there is one regret I would say it’s that I didn’t do medicine. I love medicine. When I have spare time, I join my doctor friends in the theatre and watch the operations. Helping people fascinates me, and seeing them help sick people is always great to watch. But I’m into entertaining people which is also about helping them in a way with certain needs.

I love your watch, it’s very prominent...

Thanks, this is a Breitling. When we lived in Oman, my wife bought it for me, a present. Okay, it was a present to me but I bought it. (Laughs) My wife and I decided a long time ago that she would stay at home and take care of our kids, given the amount of moving we were doing. My daughter is 24 and my son is 32 now. My wife is here but my daughter came over recently to visit and we had some fun in the bush.

One advice you would give young fathers?

Spend as much time with your kids. They will grow up quickly and leave. We are always running up and down, working, busy with our careers and we fail to notice these kids grow up. Once they grow up while you work, you will have missed a vital part of their lives, so spend time with them now. It’s precious.

What part of your life do you think was filled with tragedy?

The worst time in my life was in 1974 when I was a child and we were living in Cyprus when the war broke out. Turkey had invaded Cyprus and the war situation was bad with aeroplanes bombing and attacking civilians. Worst time of my life. I remember our car being attacked twice by a plane as our parents sped to seek refuge in a different city. That memory can never be wiped out from my mind, but that’s the sad reality of our lives. We choose to shoot each other because of oil or wealth.

Have you gone through mid-life crisis?

What’s that?

Mid-life crisis...

I’m sorry, I don’t know what you are talking about? (Laughs) Look, I keep myself busy with work and during my spare time, I play golf or enjoy a good movie or play with my little gadgets as much as I can so I don’t need to test anything. Each age has its beauty. You get older, you start being careful. It’s like a good wine, you mature, it all gets better.

How did you meet Mrs Metaxas?

At work, I used to be her boss. (Wink)

Oh, look at you…

(Laughs) She was smart and good-looking but we kept our relationship a secret for three years. Nobody knew, not even her closest friends. We kept it strictly professional at work; we never left together and she had the worst appraisals by me. Nobody had a clue until we made it official.

Now she is the one appraising you. How about that?

(Laughs) Yes, and I hope I’m passing those appraisals.

What’s your one advice about marriage?

Never go to sleep having a bad argument with your wife. Make sure you make up. My dad always told me that. It works for me. I never argue; if it’s my fault I will crack a joke and she will laugh and we will move on but we never sleep angry, we have never slept angry.

What does your name – Metaxas – mean?

It was from one of my great great grandfathers who used to grow silk. He acquired his name from the silk and that’s how the name came about.

Smooth as Metaxas, huh?

(Laughs) I don’t know if you could call me smooth…

Who is the one person you would love to have dinner with?

My daughter, I miss her. I always miss her when she is overseas. Remember that thing I told you about spending enough time with your kids?