Fabian Specht Revenue Professional of the Year
The Fabian Specht Award is based on scholarship that was created in memory of EMEA-area vice president of IDeaS Fabian Specht who passed away unexpectedly in December 2019. A passionate and visionary industry leader, Specht was a returning lecturer at EHL, seeking to educate and inspire the next generation of hospitality revenue leaders. The Fabian Specht Future Revenue Innovator Scholarship honors Specht’s memory and legacy of lifelong service to the hospitality industry.
Fabian Specht
Former IDeaS EMEA-area Vice President
Who is Monika Sand?
Monika Sand is a Corporate Revenue Manager at Lindner Hotels & Resorts but that is not all she is. Last month in London at the HSMAI Awards gala, she was awarded the winner of the Fabian Specht Revenue Professional of the Year award. We were so impressed with Monika, we wanted to get to know her even better, so we decided to find out more in a short interview.
Sibylle Luger – IAM team
“Monika Sand has been instrumental and a driving force behind Lindner’s Revenue Management aspirations and success, as well as a great supporter of IDeaS for a long time. This award honors Fabian Specht and recognizes individuals for their amazing contributions to the revenue management industry, and Monika does just that and more. I’ve enjoyed working with her over the years, and I am so proud and excited to celebrate Lindner’s success. I am very fortunate that I have the opportunity to get to know people and their hotel business pretty well, and it has been a pleasure to see Monika apply her strategic thinking skills in her job and see it materialize with Lindner’s success.”
Q: What does it mean for you to receive this Award?
To receive this Award is a very special honour as a) it is dedicated to Fabian who I had the privilege to work with personally and who was a person / personality I greatly appreciated and b) it comes at this particular time as a way of recognition for the work I myself and everyone else in the industry put in to keep everything going through the very tough times of the pandemic.
Q: How would someone who knows you describe you?
Dedicated, hard-working, competitive, loyal, (com)passionate, open for ideas, curious, wanting to learn.
Q: What inspires you?
Dedicated people, caring and passionate about what they do, but also about others. Respect, integrity and creativity. Beauty in little things – there is a lot to be inspired by!
Q: Are there any new skills you have developed or that you want to develop in the future?
The pandemic has certainly taught me not to take anything for granted and to be both strategic, yet very flexible and agile. I would like to work further on the ability to quickly grasp “the big picture” in any given situation and become a better leader.
Q: The entire industry faces the challenge of attracting and retaining talent. Do you have any thoughts on this that you would like to share with us?
There is still a lot the industry needs to adapt in terms of automation and flexibility. How can the operational staff be freed from administrative tasks and actually use their time to serve the guest in front of them? To offer experiences aka do upsells and have a system set-up they can trust with automated processes as their back-up – that should be the goal! And everyone should be an advocate of the advantages of the industry, which is so much more lively, varied and interesting than the “regular office job”
Q: What does your working day consist of?
A lot of communication with all kinds of stakeholders from operations staff to GMs or HQ colleagues. Analysis, market reviews, industry news, strategic planning, brainstorming and then putting plans / projects into action. Putting my finger on any risks or opportunities and being a consultant for any revenue related question.
Q: What is the best thing about your job?
Every day is something else! Always different topics – it never gets boring.
Q: Do you have any nice traditions in the office?
We decorate desks for birthday or anniversaries, while the colleague whose birthday it is brings cake or pastries for everyone. There is also a freezer with ice cream – so we do have options for sugar intake, when brain food is needed. There are also regular team outings for dinner as well as a New Year’s Party at HQ and I always supply my colleagues with homemade cookies before Christmas – greatly anticipated every year.
Q: Is there a book or podcast that recently inspired you and that you would recommend?
I recently read “Lessons in Chemistry”, which I found compelling with regards to the evolvement female scientists and workers overall have managed over the past decades – but also how much there still is to do!
Q: Is there anything else you want to share with us?
Continuing my thoughts from earlier: Tourism is such a vibrant industry, which has so much to offer to both employees and guests. The hardships of the pandemic as well as the current economic and political uncertainties continue to hit the industry hard, however, also open up new chances: to re-think, to re-define and to re-invent together with our guests and to make sure that we continue to spread the passion for offering great experiences. High time to get rid of the image of exploiting employees – yes, there will always be a need for people to work when others enjoy their time off, but that should not be a deterrent when being empowered to make someone’s day (or night).
Cheryl Hawksworth – New Biz team
“Lindner Hotels and Resorts is one of our beloved long-term clients, and we are so happy to celebrate our collaboration over the past 17 years. It has been amazing to see Lindner’s success, growing from optimizing room-by-room sales, to capitalizing on event spaces. Congratulations to Monika – she is more than deserving of the award for her tremendous amount of hard work, dedication, and innovation in the industry.”
Monika Sand
Corporate Revenue Manager at Lindner Hotels & Resorts &
Winner of the Fabian Specht Revenue Professional of the Year Award