Niklaus Leuenberger has experience at all levels of the hospitality industry. This experience gives him the ability to observe daily operations to generate financial results that lead to success. Many of his accomplishments have been with hotels in states of intensive remodeling, which shows that he can focus his attention on success even under difficult circumstances.
Getting an Education in Hospitality
As a young man in Switzerland Leuenberger completed a 10-month cooking internship at Hotel de Bergues in Geneva and a 10-month service internship at Hotel La Palma au Lac in Lucerne. During this time, he earned his diploma from Hotel Management School Lucerne. This education immediately lead to the position of assistant front office manager and chief cashier at Hotel International Basel, a position that he held from 1977 to 1979 before taking a significant step in his career as a manager.
Niklaus Leuenberger's Early Management Experience
Niklaus Leuenberger left Switzerland in 1980 to take the food and beverage manager position at the Peninsula Hotel in Manila, Philippines. This step was important because it introduced him to more management responsibilities within the international luxury hotel industry. Traveling to new lands helped Leuenberger discover what clients want from their hotels and gave him the experience needed to run large organizations with a multicultural perspective.
Management Opportunities in Asia
In 1981, Leuenberger had the opportunity to move to Asia, where he took the pre-opening resident manager position at the Marco Polo Hotel in Hong Kong. This opened a new door for Leuenberger's career, and he remained in Asia for most of the 1980s.
After the Marco Polo Hotel opened, Leuenberger moved to the Jianguo Hotel in Beijing, China. This was the first joint venture hotel in China, and they wanted Leuenberger to act as the deputy general manager during the opening. The success of the hotel showed investors that such a joint venture hotel could generate profits in China.
A few years later, Leuenberger earned the general manager title at the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou, China. The Garden Hotel was the largest hotel structure in China. It consisted of 13 restaurants with a total of 3,000 seats between them, 1,300 suites and rooms, 160 apartments, and 330 offices. The hotel structure was so large that it required a staff of 3,200 employees. As the youngest general manager in the company's history, Leuenberger had quite a challenge ahead of him.
Regardless of his youth, Niklaus Leuenberger knew how to apply his experience from other luxury hotels to the new challenge. Under his leadership, the hotel became profitable within six months.
Leuenberger's Management Experience in the Americas
Leuenberger left China at the end of the 1980s to take over the Kowloon Hotel, then also a member of the Peninsula Hotel Group. Soon after, he took the general manager position at the Peninsula Manila. His success earned him more responsibilities, though, and he was quickly relocated to New York City, where he oversaw the Peninsula New York. His focus on client services and finances soon earned him the regional general manager position. By 2004, he had become the senior vice president for all of the Peninsula Hotels in the Americas.