From the beginning, The Dharmawangsa Jakarta has maintained its reputation as a premium 5-star luxury hotel which continues to uphold such high standards in terms of service and product quality. Having been known as a hotel that embodies modern Indonesian design and culture, The Dharmawangsa Jakarta has successfully put forward subtle sophistication and elegant intimacy in every aspect of the hotel, which allures loyal customers to return and enjoy their time in a peaceful oasis with lush garden amidst the busy Jakarta.
This year, the hotel is celebrating its 20 year since they first opened their doors to the public on December 1, 1997, and we recently sat down with its Managing Director, Mr. Alexander Nayoan to talk about The Dharmawangsa brand, and to get to know his personal side.
Hi Pak Alex, thanks for having What’s New Jakarta in your beautiful hotel. Why not start by telling our readers a little bit about yourself.
It’s my pleasure having you! My name is Alexander Nayoan and I have been a hotelier for over 30 years, with around 20 of it spent in Bali, before moving to Jakarta. I actually didn’t go to hotelier school, and took economics in Parahyangan Bandung, but at one point i decided to get into the tourism world. At that time, there was an opening for a post graduate management trainee with Oberoi in India which I quickly went for, as it was a great opportunity for me to gain a great deal of knowledge about hospitality business, beyond my scope of educational background at that time. So I spent 2 years in Oberoi India for that. And since then, I have gone working for multiple luxury hotels in and outside of Indonesia.
Why did you decide to be in this industry?
Since I was young, my family spent a great deal of time traveling and moving from one place to another, as they worked for an airline company. And that had made me want the same kind of life too. Second, I like making other people happy. Why do I like making other people happy? I am now a muslim, but I was raised catholic and at 19 even was even thinking of choosing a path to be a priest. This until I met a relative that was already a priest that asked me “Why do you want to be a priest?”, To make other people happy, I said. Well, you don’t need to be a priest for that, he said. There are other ways, better ways that not only make other people happy, but also that utilize your many skills. So I choose the hospitality industry. It’s that simple.
In your opinion, what are Dharmawangsa’s strong points?
First, from the ‘human’ side, our culture of personalized services everything we do, we do it to be the best. From the product itself, as you can see for yourself, even other hotels can admit how different our brand is compared to other 5 star hotels in Jakarta. We owe this uniqueness from the architecture, the Indonesian feel. Not to be mistaken with ‘traditional’ because we are not, but we have a very stronger Indonesian feel in every aspects that really sets us apart. In addition to that, we are located in a residential area that’s both incredibly green and vast; combined with the residential, we are sitting in a 4,5 ha property. The hotel and club itself occupies 1,5 ha of it. In Jakarta, only a few others have this much ground space.
Plans for other properties?
The soonest project would be the development of an office tower and an ultra-luxury apartment. Like our current existing apartment, we only have two types. The penthouses, and the ‘regular’ the 4 bedroom apartments that average around 300 to 390 sqm per apartment, with only 4 units per floor, which all have tall ceilings, that we can say the highest in jakarta. On the second tower, is an office building that has a completely different concept. Each floor will be occupied by only one person that will centralize all of his or her businesses from one location. The office will have several different meeting rooms, a staff room, multiple assistants, and even a bedroom and a kitchen for the service staffs. You can say it’s a VIP executive office space, just around 30 to 35 in total.
What about in other locations?
We already have the land to build in Belitung, which will have multiple hotels in addition to Dharmawangsa, as well as Bali, where we plan to have a hotel.
What excite you the most about your job right now?
To see my guests enjoying themselves and everything that all of us have been working hard for. To see our employees enjoying what their do, and our owners satisfied with our results. To achieve all this obviously takes up a lot of hard work and creativity. I think this applies for any line of work. We all need to find something that motivates us, and always see everything in a positive side.
What do you do in your free time?
I am a multitasking person. I am used to doing several things at one go. I like to do lots of things on weekends. I have several hobbies: I have a stamp collection that I have collected since I was a 8 years old. I also read, as I am a fast-reader. Or, I do what whatever my wife and kids want. Take them around, pick them up, or anything. If they happen to do their own thing, me and my wife would try to visit and hang out with our friends and family that live in the city, as much as possible. I guess this is also my way of making other people happy.
Do you ever feel the need to have a me time?
I never really thought about it, but no not really. I spend long hours at work, so when I do have time off, I want to spend it with my family. That’s why I pick those that don’t really take my time away from my family. But I do like cars, and going really fast up to 150km/hour in it. I think that would be one. I like revving up my car and going really fast in the toll road, in a way it’s my me time.
Five words that describe you the best!
Best – I always try and to be the best, and I also push and expect those around me to be the same. And of course, the place I am.
Heart – Everything should be done from the heart. Anything that’s done with heart, will have more impact and yield better results.
Focus – Focused in each and every possible aspect.
Eye for detail – Being a perfectionist is definitely very essential, especially in my field of work.
Share – I try to share everything with each other; especially with my time and knowledge.
Thank you for your time once again Pak Alex, and best of luck in this very important year for Dharmawangsa!
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