It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Roland Elter, CCO and MD S&M, Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH, interviewed by David Kong

• David Kong

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In our conversation, Roland Elter shares powerful insights from his journey:

✨ "People are individuals—there’s no one-size-fits-all approach."
✨ "No vision = no success." People need to understand their purpose.

We explore the value of building strong habits. For Roland, that means staying curious and actively engaging with others.

He also reminds us that effective communication starts with listening and truly understanding the other side and being relevant to your audience.

And don’t miss his thoughtful advice to his younger self—practical, grounded, and worth hearing.

David Kong:

Greeting. I'm David, the founder and principle of its personal stories. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering personal success. Today. We are delighted and welcome Roland Elta. He is the Chief Commercial Officer and managing director of sales marketing at Maritime Hotels in Germany. That's a delight to welcome you, Roland.

Roland Elter:

Hi, David. Thank you. Thanks for having me here.

David Kong:

You're welcome. I followed your career journey for a while. You spent 20 some years in this industry and you've worked for some very well known hotel companies. It's indeed a very interesting journey. Would you mind to share some highlights and describe some of the factors that contributed to your success?

Roland Elter:

It sounds a little bit old school maybe. I just always try to do the best in my job. I can from this things appeared. People came over and asked me, Hey Roland, you are the one. We need to do this and this. Why don't you come over? Extra mile was never a problem. Looking back, I was part of rebranding team when my former employer, NHO, TES took over a big German company and it was an effort to bring a new brand into a totally new market. There was another very remarkable situation. I was in this team when we brought two different hotel companies, one from Russia and one from Europe to make a pan-European company out of that. That was a restructuring process. The third thing was my current role to restructure the whole commercial. Operations to organize the transformation to a more digital setup. That was great and unfortunately, resources. We went through the Covid crisis quite well, had all these problems somehow solved on our still family owned company. That was something. So that's probably the highlight I can mention.

David Kong:

That's not one. No wonder you've done so well. You have some amazing experiences restructuring, rebranding. Overcoming severe challenges like that, it's no wonder you've done very well. Now, given all that experience, what is the most important lesson that you've learned on your journey?

Roland Elter:

People are very individual and it is not one size fits all. What I took with me over the years is when you want to build great teams to achieve big goals, you need to be very detailed and understand who is with you there. There's a second thing I took with me. No vision, no success. People need to know what they're working for and what is a goal. If you don't have an idea, people are not going to follow. That is probably the most very important.

David Kong:

Yeah, so true. People have individual needs and as leaders, we need to recognize them. But like what you said about vision, because people need to come to work with a purpose and know what they're supposed to accomplish. Thanks for sharing that. And along the same lines, what is the best advice that you've ever received?

Roland Elter:

I was honored to work with quite a lot of good people and very successful people. Not in this industry only, but in other industries as well. There was, there was one thing I really like, and this is lets the client have the freedom to choose, and that's what I got from a TU tour from the Isic Business School in Spain. Javier always said, well, and the client has the freedom to choose. That is one very important thing. And the second one was my father giving me, and he said, Hey boy. Don't give promises. Don't give promises you can't keep on Europe. That is always in my mind when, uh, I have to make decisions every day and I have to give solutions. I have to give ideas. I need to give perspectives and all this kind of stuff, but I always have to be very careful. We need to be able to reach what we like to do here, right?

David Kong:

That is such good advice, especially like the advice that your father gave. Don't over promise. People don't like disappointments. I like that. Now you've experienced a lot of challenges and disappointments in your career journey. What is the general approach to facing challenges and how do you overcome disappointment?

Roland Elter:

Very honestly speaking, that's very hard for me. I, I struggled with setbacks and, uh, it was disappointments. That is, for me, really challenging my approach is trying to find a view on this challenge to understand what happened here, to understand where I made something wrong or what kind of influence was the reason for this in order to not do one mistake two times, right? And so from there to, to come back in a mode, what is solution orientated? And again, trying to make. Out of these kind of opportunity to grow. But that is very hard for me. It's very hard because I have to overcome my emotional situation here. But yeah. I think mindset is important, and that's where it starts and where it ends. When something is happening and you have a setback and you are very disappointed, I need to take a breath and try to find the settings, try to find a perspective from where I can look on it, and hopefully find and analyze so that things are not happening The second time. It's That's a little bit, yeah.

David Kong:

It so true, right? Especially when you're facing challenges and disappointments. It's difficult not to be angry or say, why? Why is it me and why do I have to deal with this? It's very natural, but your advice about staying calm and looking at the situation in analytical way is very good advice. Thank you. Now a lot of companies and individuals have guiding principles that help them with decision making. Curious, do you have a personal mantra, and if so, what if

Roland Elter:

I would probably say be yourself and just do it. Don't wait for others. You have to take decision. No one is doing your job. No one is helping you to be where you are. You have to find that out, and you have to be able and capable to do things, to execute things. Just do it. That is something what always comes up. Yeah,

David Kong:

that's good. Yourself. Now, you said earlier that you believe in working hard and doing a good job. You've done very well because of that, because people have recognized. Achievements and have given you new opportunities. But a lot of people find it difficult, especially in big organizations, to be noticed and and recognized for their good work. What is your advice on self-advocacy? Because it's a very difficult thing to do, want to promote yourself, but you don't wanna seem ful, but at the same time, you wanna make known your achievements. So what is your advice on self-efficacy? It is very difficult.

Roland Elter:

Generally speaking, the right answer is probably you have to quantify and display everything you do, but you have to have an audience for it. And then there's always these risk if you go everywhere and say, oh, how great I am, these show off, these type of thing. Nobody wants to see that my recommendation or my personal experience was. I try to find sounding boards to reflect things I want to do to let other people be involved and say, yeah, he's asking me for my opinion. And so I understand the purpose. And so people are more aiming to follow you, what you are doing, and when you're successful you can go back and say, you remember I was asking you this in this, and involved in the plans I had. So the concept was shared. I probably took the one or the other recommendation from you. So that makes sure that these people are interested in what's going, coming out of it. And difficult is when you do it. When you do it on your level, it won't help these people up above you needs to understand, right? If you want to be identified, those people needs to have it. That is also to, I don't wanna say you have to do an elevator pitch every time you see someone, but uh, just to make sure the one of the other head of department or C level executive or whatever you feel, oh, mayor, I can ask you. I just want to be reflected on this, and so on. People understands what you are doing and then they're interested what, what comes out of it. So that's a little bit my experience. I did it from the very first beginning, not on purpose. It was just a part of myself, and people came up to me from the C level or from the board and say, Hey. What happened with this and this what you told, right? And so will it help to be recognized? And then of course you need to be prepared and new show results and measure results, KPIs, right? And that helps from my point of view. But you need to have a stage, need to let the people know what are you aiming for, and then afterwards telling them you remember, now it's you. That is a success, was very great.

David Kong:

I love that. That is so smart. You ask for advice from more senior position people, and then you inform them of the results because they are engaged now. They gave you advice. Of course, they want to know what happened. Very smart. I love that. Now a different subject. I believe that good leaders have good habits and some people are in a continuous learning mode, and some people think win-win, and some people believe in being proactive. What are some of your habits

Roland Elter:

in general? I would say I'm always curious. I want to improve things. I, I love to get insights from other people in this business, from different parties to understand, okay, what they're working on. I'm so curious. And out of this, and that is probably, if you would ask my team here, my direct reporters, they always shake their heads that, oh God, Roland is coming up again because I'm trying to give impulses, but I want to challenge people to think about it. That is a typical habit for me. I'm looking everywhere. I get my ideas. I need to be creative here, and then out of the creation. I love to give these inputs to my people. Then I challenge them to think, and we have a very open feedback culture here in the company. My direct reporter appreciate because we brought up quite a lot of good things here in this company. That is probably the very typical habits. I always looking for something new.

David Kong:

That's great to have it, to be curious and ask questions and involve a lot of people. That's a great thing to do,

Roland Elter:

but it creates workload at the same time and so not everybody is happy about it.

David Kong:

Of course. Now, you alluded to this earlier, you said you work for some amazing leaders. What are some of the most admired leadership traits that you've from them?

Roland Elter:

First of all, we were very different to each other. So lucky me. I met so many great people. They have a couple of things in common, but they were so individually and I would say I met admire leaders most who are visionary and inspiring to me, who were able to bring potential, what I have never not seen before out of me. And uh, that is one thing what I really admire. And the second thing is my former bosses who were leading by example, I love this. When I started here, I. I had from my diary reporters, they gave me a coffee mug. Unfortunately I don't have it here. There was a kind of thing stated, seven rules being a boss. And that was also these kind of leading by example things, doing these extra mile and listen and all this kind of stuff. That is what I think is very important. Be there, be reachable for these people. And I worked for who, I really have this visionary, this inspiring thing, and. Let me say enabled my potential and I was motivated to do, not only because I wanted to follow something, but also they were giving a very good example to me how they can work. So that is thing that is something I really admire most.

David Kong:

I totally agree with you. These two happen to be my favorite leadership traits. One is the ability to formulate a vision and to communicate it in such a way that it's powerful, it's finding it's inspirational. I like that very much. The second one is about leading by example. Totally agree with you. The whole company takes after you the way that you model yourself. It's very powerful. Related to that question. When you interview high level candidates, what are the qualities

Roland Elter:

that you look for? First of all, before I go to qualities and then competence and skills and this kind of stuff, I first of all try to verify if the person I'm talking to really understood what we are aiming for by trying to give an overview where we are and where we want to be. In between this person plays a certain role, right? And to understand the goal, I think it's the most important. Leadership skills are very important. As I just mentioned. You have to be someone who can lead by example, who does not take something special only for him. The other very important thing is how to communicate in, in different directions, and I try to challenge those people as well. I'm trying to give also some scenarios so when someone needs to be very, uh, confident. With what he knows and what he can do. And then what I really much like in terms of qualities I'm looking for is the ability to use different methodologies because people are different. Business scenarios are different. We are challenged with so many different cases every day. You need to be able to adapt to the situations and you need to have a variety of methodologies in your pocket, and you need to know, okay, when I can use which one to achieve my goal, that is probably, I'm looking at.

David Kong:

That last point is so true. We live in a fast changing world and being flexible and having all the tools, it's important. Now let's talk about work life harmony. You have a very demanding job and I was curious as to how you balance the needs at work versus your personal life.

Roland Elter:

That is a very good question. That is sometimes challenging, but lucky me, I have a wonderful family and I'm grateful for my family. I have a daughter and my wife is supporting me. It's great and she helps me when it is getting to Disbalanced. She helps me to find these family only time slots, right when it really comes to the situation that my head seems to be overloaded. I'm a simple person. I just go out walking in nature, that's what I do. I switch off my phone, be an afternoon away, or on the weekend. In former days, I used to play golf, but I don't have the time for it, so I, I really enjoy being out in nature for half an hour or whatever. I don't have a dog or something like this. It's just me. So that is how I try to balance it out. I'm happy that I have someone at home who sometimes say, Hey, my friend. Be careful. We need to find the opportunity for us here, and that's where I'm very thankful for

David Kong:

having a supportive understanding. Family is so important to our career, and I like that you always take some time to yourself and walk in the park or in the forest over there. It's a good thing to do. We all need some quiet time. I've seen you in action. You are very thoughtful and well spoken. Would you mind to share your advice on how we can improve our communications skills

Roland Elter:

in German? Maybe in English. Obviously I'm not a native speaker and sometimes I'm challenging with my English, but general speaking, the better you listen. Celeste, you need to say that is something I was thought, but also very good. Friend and and mentor of mine who unfortunately passed away a couple of weeks ago, but he always said, listen, if you want to be a good sales person, you would first of all need to learn to listen before you start talking. I do think it's important to understand in which situation I'm talking to, what kind of person and what is he. There's a quite interesting concept, what Harvard concept, we want to get a win-win situation. There a little bit described how you have to communicate with each other and how you have to listen to understand. I think that is a very important thing because there you have a chance when you understand this, to understand how you have to address your topics, how you need to behave with this person or with the audience in front of you, right? And I think the most important thing is you want that the consignee of your message understand the message, right? So it means be polite. Show respect. Listen to people, understand who's in front of you. And it doesn't matter if you're talking to each other or you are writing to each other, if you do a text message or whatever, people like and respectful, that is the number one. Right? And that is something I would recommend to everybody out there.

David Kong:

Yeah, I totally agree with you. Communication scales, it's not just about talking, it's about listening. I think the vast majority of people. Get so busy talking, they felt to listen. And one of the seven habits of highly effective people is seek first to understand which involves active listening. Very good advice. Thank you. Now, some people say your network is your network worth, and it certainly is true with you. You have done very well because of your network. Can you advise us on networking?

Roland Elter:

Yeah. And first of all, I think network is not only what you have on social media, right? That maybe needs to be taken into consideration here. I have the feeling that nowadays network is only happening online. I met quite a lot of people. I. For those I met, it is not that I need to call them every week or left a message on regular basis or whatever. No, I know who they are, what they did when we met, and at a certain moment when they are approaching me or asking me for something, I'm here and happy to help. Sometimes I have to say no because I have nothing to give. I have no additional value for those people, but. If I have, I'm happy to help. And from my point of view, my network is not there to bring me my business or to give me my business. My network is there to help me in situations. Sounding board is a bullet point here. Reflections is a bullet point. Sometimes I need to have an advice so I know who I can talk to in certain circumstances. That is my interpretation of network, but what you want to take out of it, you need to be prepared to put it in as well, right? That is how a network is working and, and that is somehow, by the way, how I get my jobs. I never applied for a job, honestly speaking. In the network, people were talking about me and I was invited to get to know the one or the other project or opportunity, and I was invited for talks. Right? Or people were recommending me because they know me because we got to know each other on an event or somewhere, and the people talk with them, Hey, this guy. He's a smart one. He was respectful and polite and he had some very good answers and ideas on certain things. And I looked at him, he had a, I don't know what kind of track record, so this is the person you should talk to. So network helps to get recommendations. Networks help to get feedbacks. Network does not automatically mean they bring you business. And I think at least that's the way I try to handle my network. And uh, for me that is a way to do it. I don't know. How other people do that. Sometimes I'm approached and people say, oh, can you do me this favor? And I say, it's not about doing favors. I'm working in hospitality industry. People calling me up and say, Hey, I want to have special prices on accommodation somewhere. And I say, Hey, wow, I earning my money with it. What do you think I could do here? That is not the idea. The idea is, can we help each other in our. Growth in our building, our mindset. Can you give me an advice before I step somewhere into a situation where I look like a dumb person or whatever, that that is my interpretation of network. And for me, when you handle it like this, then it could be a net worth because you are getting better. That's a little bit my idea. That's how I elaborate it.

David Kong:

I agree with you. The network is only your net worth if you are not transactional, if you're not trying to sell something or trying to get something out of relationship, but rather it's helping one another. I like that very much. Yeah.

Roland Elter:

Excuse me. Maybe I can edit this. Imagine someone is in a situation and there could be, they have the business opportunity. You said, I can't do it. It's not my business, but I know someone and I really much like him and I know it's a reliable person. It's a trust person and so on. And I just match those people together and when they find a way, find a solution to make business with each other. Wonderful. I. That's something I wanted to add. Sorry I was interrupting.

David Kong:

No, you're absolutely right. In fact, chip Conley, who's very well known in the industry here, he also said the same thing. He said he likes to bring people together where they can help one another. So we're tapping into our network to help. As well. Now we're coming to the end of the end interview. I have two more questions for you. Given all that you have learned and experienced, what is the advice that you would give to your younger self?

Roland Elter:

That is a good question. My younger one, I would probably say never stop learning because I was, I. I thought too early. I'm already prepared and done to go out and conquer the world. Nowadays, I would say take more time. Never stop learning and listen to people with experience. Listen to people with experiences. They are not trying to show off and tell you. They know everything better. They just have experience. You can make an advantage out of it to understand what they went through. And I probably would say, Roland, you often have to hold on, you are temper. But when I was younger, I was sometimes with a big temper. And nowadays I would say, Hey, that is important that you have this. You have to hold temper. It is always good to be respectful to each other and don't get out of you. This is not good. And probably the next, or the last thing I will tell myself, my younger self is trust in you. Trust in you.

David Kong:

So true, especially the last one, trust in you. It cannot be overstated.'cause a lot of times we second guess ourselves, our intuition actually is something that we can always rely on. Thanks for sharing that advice. Our show is about self-empowerment. So would you mind to give your final advice on self-empowerment?

Roland Elter:

Uh, we have to make decisions,

David Kong:

right?

Roland Elter:

It is something what belongs to our daily work. We have to do it. We shouldn't be afraid of it. But I think it would be good, first of all to understand yourself. Who are you? When you look into the mirror, what do you see? Uh, what do you want to see, but understand? What do you see? That is a kind of starting point again for me from there. Everything starts your ambitions, your goals, the way how life should treat you, right? That starts from there and believe in yourself, accept you matter. It's you to initiate. It's you to do the things. It is you who can make a difference. You don't have to wait for any other, you have to do it on your own and believe in you, help others along the way and. Karma is with you.

David Kong:

I love that because I've been long a believer that we are the masters of our own destiny. It's within our control, so we need to believe in ourselves. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today, Roland. I know it's late over there in Germany and I appreciate you giving us the time.

Roland Elter:

David, thank you very much for having me. It was

David Kong:

well,

Roland Elter:

time was flying. So again, thanks for having me and all the best.

David Kong:

Oh, thank you Roland. And for the audience that tune in, I appreciate your taking the time to join us today. And if you like this interview, I hope you would join us on our website, get personal stories.com. We hope to see you there. Thank you.