By V. Sivaji
The general manager of the soon to be opened Mercure Miri City Centre, Todd W Williams, managed to complete his Master of Business Administration with the Rushford Business School, Geneva during the Covid-19 lockdown.
He completed the course in December 2021. Using the pandemic to his advantage and picking up new skills is a worthy virtue.
His career in the hospitality industry started at a tender age of 15 when he worked in Sydney, Australia with the Accor Group for over two decades.
Since then, there has been no turning back for Williams who hails from Australia has been involved in the opening of two brand new hotels in China and Russia as a division head.
With these credentials in hand, Williams is well versed working in the Asian region and combined exposure with Accor in five continents.
Moreover, his background as a trained qualified chef and food and beverage department saw him involved in the Winter Olympics, G20, APEC to offer hospitality to VVIP events and heads of state.
Being an accomplished international hotelier both in the luxury 5-star hotel and resort industry, this opportunity offers Williams the chance to showcase his hospitality and service to Miri, Sarawak.
He is no stranger to this part of the world as he had also worked in Osaka in Japan too.
Williams is known to be a successful people manager, skilled in engaging and empowering team members to perform at their peak, through passion, positive attitude, leadership and inspiration.
Focused on achieving optimum profit and sales while maintaining consistency, service excellence & creating exciting, market driven hospitality experiences for guests.
He will be assisted by his HOD team consisting of Jeremy Liew ( IT Manager) Simon Lo (Financial Controller), Shan Ravendren (Executive Assistant Manager Rooms), Chew Pei Pei (Assistant Talent & Culture Manager, Jalaludeen Ariff (Director of Sales), Awangku Sazali (Chief Engineer), Clifford Cheah (Director of Culinary) and Jagjit Singh (Front Office Manager).
The Mercure Miri City Centre is expected to open its doors as of Q3 of this year.
There are some 172 tastefully equipped rooms with facilities like all day dining, ballroom with daylight, rooftop bar and restaurant (on 15th floor) with pool and gym.
They offer their co-working space which can accommodate 80 to 100 people and is available for daily, weekly, monthly or yearly packages.