A former luxury hotel manager has revealed why he doesn’t miss supplier life since joining a top travel management company earlier this year.
Steven Phillips was appointed Executive Director for Private Clients EMEA at Minerva Private Travel in June, bringing more than 35 years of hospitality experience to the VIP firm.
The industry veteran – who most recently served as General Manager of Finolhu Baa Atoll in the Maldives – will oversee Minerva Private Travel’s client portfolio across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, whilst working alongside founder Amanda Teale to strengthen the brand’s presence in the ultra-luxury market.
Despite loving his time in hotels, Phillips is already reaping the rewards of his career move.
“We used to always joke that going to the agency side of things was ‘the dark side’,” he told TTG. “Everyone says, ‘Oh, you’re going to miss it.’ But I’m actually not.”
Phillips says the remote position gives him the flexibility to prioritise his family, allowing him to support his 91-year-old mother living in Wales, as well as his wife, who recently suffered the loss of her brother.
“My wife has been my right and left arm – she is my everything,” he explained. “When I was opening Joali in the Maldives, she was taking care of her brother in Mauritius. WhatsApp is wonderful, but it can’t give you a hug. So I made a decision to step back, and now I can work closer to my family and more at my own pace.”
Having solidified his reputation as top-class hotelier, Phillips is eager to apply his expertise from a new angle. He believes that his network across the globe, particularly in the Maldives and Mauritius, will be a massive asset to Minerva’s exclusive client base.
Amanda Teale, founder of Minerva Private Travel, has recruited Steven Phillips as Executive Director for Private Clients EMEA
“I will always be able to phone someone up at midnight and speak to a General Manager knowing that they’re going to be awake,” he said. “There’s no apologising – you just get right to it and solve the issue together.”
Phillips is also excited to bring his creative streak to Minerva, having spent decades finding unique ways to wow ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
“Delighting and surprising very wealthy people is extremely difficult,” he reflected. “But we understand that it’s not just about throwing massive amounts of money at them.”
Phillips has instead learned that authentic luxury lies in the minute personal touches, pointing to an anecdote in which a member of his team solved a family crisis at zero financial cost:
“I remember an amazing British guy, very wealthy in tech, who brought his family over. They had two little children, and one of them – an 11-year-old girl – had a bit of an argument in the kids’ club. I got called; the father was fine, but the little girl wasn’t. We took them back to their big villa. She cheered up and was swimming in the pool, but when she went into the bedroom, she came out crying again.
The father goes, ‘Oh, my gosh, what’s happening here?’ It turns out the butler had gone out and created a little wreath for her head from the surroundings. She was crying out of happiness. That cost nothing, but the father booked again – he’s booked twice more since, just through those little things.”
As for the challenges of his new position, Phillips admits he is still getting to grips with the technical realities of the travel trade side:
“I was actually saying to Georgia [Roda] the other day, “How do I load the bloody email onto my iPad?'”
