Welcome to the 8th Edition of Leader!

‘Lucky 8’ in China, and good news is so important when there’s been a terrible amount of the opposite. Our hearts go out to the Japanese people who have shown such dignity and courage in this time of hardship and uncertainty. We were relieved to hear that Profile’s many friends in Tokyo are well and itching to get back to normal business. Bravery is not a word that many people instantly associate with our business, but recently I’ve heard some amazing stories first-hand to be convinced that things do happen to test the character and resilience of our hospitality colleagues, especially those caught up in troubled areas, particularly Cairo and North Africa.

Generally, however, we’ve found the start of 2011 as busy as I can ever recall, and I am delighted to report that this bullish mood is shared by my colleagues in the US, France and Asia. We’ve also been busy travelling ourselves and it was a particular pleasure for Liz Hartstone, Mandy Colley and me to re-visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi earlier in the year. As we go to press, Liz and Naomi Crossley have also completed a heavy schedule visiting Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok so there's been plenty of catching up going on in our  lives!

I also wanted to let you know that following five years of extraordinary hard work setting up our Shanghai office from scratch, Winnie Chiu will be taking time out in Vancouver on sabbatical. We hugely appreciate Winnie's commitment and she will be greatly missed, the only compensation being our high hopes for Iris Wong who takes over the reins in Shanghai as our new Managing Partner. I will also be updating you shortly about further developments for Profile in Southeast Asia so please watch this space!

Enough of us for the moment, Leader is really for you and here in London there's great excitement about several new hotel openings:  Corinthia, with London's new ESPA Spa a few minutes’ walk from our office, 45 Park Lane, a new member of The Dorchester Collection (which, trust me, is going to be a fabulous hotel) and in the 1,016-foot Shard of Glass which already dominates a chunk of our skyline, Shangri-La's second hotel in Europe. As a symbol of sheer ambition and optimism, it’s a sight that’s hard to beat!

So to this issue -- we’re showcasing an interesting array of stories, from Paul Kerr’s take on twenty years of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, to our interview with the three top chefs of the new Four Seasons, including head chef Adriano Cavagnini. Our regular ‘At Ease’ column captures a relaxed Hans Olbertz at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi and sales and marketing guru Peter Bates outlines the new imperatives in luxury travel. We also have some outstanding contributions from Arnaud Bouvier, President of ESHotel Paris and Carl Weldon, CEO of the British Association of Hospitality Accountants. We learn about Springboard FutureChef 2011 before wrapping things up with a review of Tanya Rose’s Travel Secrets and our Editor Gina McAdam’s account of her whirlwind tour of Manila hotels.

I sincerely hope you’ll find there's something in Leader that's of particular interest to you!  May Spring this year bring you success and good fortune in the meantime. 

Warm regards

Mark

Mark Norris, Chief Executive