BEHIND THE SCENES:
YVO VAN DER TOL
Marriott International Global Sales

By Frans Rombouts

Yvo van der Tol (33) is the Account Director Benelux for Marriott Global Sales. When he was still a kid of about 9 years old, he read ‘Otje’, a book by Annie M.G. Schmidt, about a girl who lived in the hotel where her dad was the chef. From that moment on Yvo was interested in the hotel world.

Dutch-born in the province of Brabant, Yvo has been living and working in Belgium since 1999. Apart from working with Marriott International, Yvo is the new President of MPI Belgium and he enjoys the Belgian good life.

In 1996 Yvo van der Tol studied at the Secondary Hotel School “De Rooi Pannen” in Tilburg, and he went to work as a trainee with the Banqueting Department of the Philips Football Stadium.

“I quickly realised that serving dishes and running up and down between the kitchen and the guests was not the life that I wanted”. So, he went to the International Hotel Management School in The Hague and got his Bachelor’s degree. Being passionate about wines he planned to go to London and work in the wine importing business. However, this project never got started. Instead, a job was offered with Swissôtel in Brussels. “At that time my girlfriend –now the mother of our child- was working as a trainee at the Brussels Hilton, so I didn’t need one moment to think about it” says Yvo. After a period of three months I was promoted to Conference Manager. His biggest challenge there was to turn a reactive sales system into a proactive one.”

Swissôtel was taken over by Marriott after one year in this job, so he got himself into the Marriott chain. After being part of the opening team as Sales Manager of the Marriott Brussels, and gaining some experiences outside of Marriott, Yvo is now responsible for all the outgoing group, leisure and airlines business from the Benelux region.

YVO VAN DER TOL ON…

Books & C°
“Although I am not really into books, I’m going to buy Annie M.G. Schmidt’s books and read these to my son. Just because one of her books changed my own life.”

At present he is reading Long Way Round; about two men who travelled around the world on a motorbike.

“When it comes to music I love jazz, which I got to know thanks to my father-in-law. Each week I drive into the Netherlands and then it’s jazz time in the car: Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Count Basie, and their likes.”

Biking
Yvo is passionated about motorbikes and he rides a Kawasaki 600cc . His ultimate dream bike is a Ducati motor. “I know a lot of people have a negative attitude towards bikers and the risks they take. And I agree, on the bike you have to realise very well what you are doing. It all starts with good riding instruction, and I must say that the riding courses in Holland were excellent. Also, you should be aware that you can always improve your riding skills. Therefore I regularly take training sessions like the ones organised by VOC in Brugge”.

As a student at the Hotel Management School in The Hague, he sold his old Renault 5 to get some money and took a night job at the casino in order to purchase a Suzuki 500cc. Together with a friend of him, who had also just bought a motorbike, they took the impulsive decision to get experience on the road. So they drove off to visit my brother who studied in Grenoble at that time.

“The nicest moment I experienced on my bike was while riding on the Alpe d’Huez. The feeling of freedom you have is just perfect.”

Since two years his first motorbike is replaced by a more powerful Kawasaki. Now he putted aside his first old Suzuki motorbike, and this will be the birthday present for the 18 th anniversary of my son –in 17 years!

“On top of my wish list is a long trip with my motorbike, like the Route 66 in the States.”

Family & social life
“My girlfriend changed from the hotel business to work in a law firm, so she doesn’t have to work evenings and weekends anymore. I greatly appreciate this, because this enables our son to enjoy a regular family life.”
After all, the family is the boat that carries you through life. It is of the utmost importance that this forms a solid base to support your professional life. In my work environment I stress the importance to live a valuable social life. Your social life should not become your professional life and vice versa. Make sure that you have friends outside of the industry and enjoy what is really important in life. It broadens your scope and teaches you how to interact with all kinds of different people.

“In my free time I play tennis and go for a spin with some of my friends on the Sunday mornings. All my friends around me are getting children as well, and it is interesting to see how this new social phase is changing all our lives. We used to get away on the bikes for the whole day or weekend, now we try to back around lunchtime so we can spend some time as well with our families.”

Brussels & the Belgians
Brussels is a transient city. Because there are so many multinational companies and international organisations, people come and go. This doesn’t make it easy to ‘invest’ in making long-term friends. Because the ‘turnover’ of people goes so quickly, you have to keep investing in your friends. The positive effect, of course, is that you know people all over the world.

I find the Belgians pleasant to work with, although at first when I was in Belgium, I had the impression that too many Belgians think too long before they act. I think that problems need to be solved, no matter what caused them. The client comes first. “Ce n’est pas mon boulot – this is not my job, and I’ll report this to my trade union” were remarks that I never heard before I came to Brussels. This is still a very sensitive subject within all Belgian industries but in the hospitality industry it is everyone’s job to help the client you are facing. Don’t get me wrong, unions did important things for the right of the employees, but the timing of discussion is sometimes a challenge in our industry.

Efficiency & passion at work
There is much more in life than work. There is a widespread prejudices that, if you take your job seriously and you want to make promotion, you have to work long hours and take your work home. I do not believe this. I think that this is strange even. Why would you promote someone who works almost around the clock and not someone else who is able to do his job well during the office hours? In my opinion a lot of people confuse motivation with regular long working hours. It is a question of efficiency. ‘Being there’ is not at all the same as ‘being available’ or ‘being productive’. A nine to five mentality will not make your career in the hospitality industry either, but I strongly believe that you need a solid social and family life in order to do your job well. Only then, I am convinced, you can put passion in your job. This is the driving force to get results. And then you will enjoy your professional success. Personally I have a strong focus on reaching my professional goals while keeping in mind my personal objectives in life as well.

Representing 2.800 Hotels worldwide is a job that makes every day an interesting day to go to work. Yvo is the main contact for several Airline, Leisure and MICE accounts in the Benelux. Requests for the different hotels are send to his sales office. “The Global Sales Office offers the world of Marriott to the clients” says Yvo. “We are discussing the different destinations with the clients and placing the requests at the different Marriott hotels. It gives great satisfaction when we discuss with the clients their needs and we are able to find the right destination, right hotel at the right price for them.”

Communication
“The people who reach their goals in an honest way, and leaving everyone in their own value and dignity, without any hidden agendas are highly admired by me”. This also implies that you can have your say without hurting the others.
Here, you can see a difference between the Dutch and the Belgians, who are often reluctant to speak up because they want to ‘keep the peace’, and only react when it is too late to prevent a problem from happening. In my experience the Dutch speak up more quickly, and I must admit that sometimes they do this by being a bit too direct with others. I think I found a nice balance between the two ways after working in Belgium for more than 7 years.  

The good cause
Everyone is talking about ‘saving the world’ and ‘helping the others’, but who really does something?

Yvo van der Tol: “It is not by donating some euros twice a year that you will better the world. The only thing you do, is hushing up your own conscience. So, I quite talk with my girlfriend about taking a career break and go and help a good cause. I think I can say that I have good organisational or facility management These skills could be useful for certain good causes.”

Yvo Van Der tol
Marriott International Hotels and Resorts - Global Sales Benelux
Yvo.vandertol@marriott.com

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