Global Expertise, Local Solutions: An Interview with Sertifi’s New International Sales Lead on 25 Years of Helping Hotels Find and Implement the Right Tech

The more secure you can make guests and clients feel, the more at ease they will be when working or staying with you.

Introducing Thomas Simons, Sertifi's new Senior Director of Strategic Sales and International Sales Lead. With over 25 years of experience in international hotel management and hospitality technology, Thomas’ career has taken him across the globe. In this interview covering everything from secure digital transaction management to becoming a nomadic hospitality expert, Thomas shares what he has learned about international hotel management, and which challenges every hotel has in common.  

Mimi McNulty: So Thomas – where did you get your start? 

Thomas Simons: I studied international hospitality management at Hotelschool The Hague and have been in the hospitality industry for the past 25 years. I started in hotels and have worked with many across the world, including Le Meridien in Boston, Carlton InterContinental in Cannes, Radisson SAS in London, and Four Seasons George V in Paris, followed by the IHG Head Office in Windsor/UK. From there, I transitioned into hospitality technology and worked with Newmarket International and then Amadeus for most of my career, followed by Mews and IDeaS. So far, my roles have included training management, business consulting, and project management, as well as sales and strategic account management, so I have developed a pretty thorough and well-rounded understanding of these crucial departments and how they can drive success and adoption of SaaS solutions. 

MM: What made you want to go into hospitality? 

TS: For me, hospitality has always been an exciting space to work in. It’s an industry that lets you meet people from different cultures and nationalities, and I’ve always enjoyed the travel aspect of it. Around the time I was deciding what I wanted to study, I was a bit annoyed with myself for not having studied abroad in high school and missing out on that opportunity, so I think that's a big reason I decided to leave Germany and study hotel management. 

MM: Have you gotten to travel a lot? 

TS: I've definitely caught up! Over the last 25 years, I’ve often had two or three flights a week – some of them to places that I would have never seen if it weren’t for work. I’m a bit of a nomad now – in a good way. Thinking about it, I’ve worked in over 50 countries! 

MM: What has been your favorite trip so far? 

TS: I would say my favorite trip was a consolidated trip that I did when I was still with Amadeus. I was looking after a global account and planned a trip across Europe and Asia over a two-week period to convince some of their flagship properties to join our solution. I went from London to Venice, Berlin, Munich, Spain and then to Jakarta, Beijing, Bangkok, and Shanghai. Culturally, it was very enriching, especially gaining an appreciation of the discrepancies between China and Thailand, which are direct neighbors but have very little in common with regard to the level of trust afforded to foreign visitors or how business is conducted.   

MM: Wow! It's like you went on a world tour! 

TS: Yes! It was an incredibly rich experience packed into 14 days of traveling. Working in hospitality on an international scale, all those differences in cultures, personalities, communication styles, preferences, and the way you do business just come with the territory. You need to be flexible in the way you do work and adjust yourself to local customs. I find that very interesting and rewarding. 

MM: So, you’ve been all around the world. What brings you to Sertifi? 

TS: Having worked in various sectors of hospitality management, ranging from Sales & Event Management to PMS and Revenue Management solutions, I saw a lot of potential in exploring the adjacent areas of digital transaction management and revenue acceleration technology. 

MM: What do you think Sertifi brings to the table? 

TS: At a time when credit card fraud is always on the increase, people have less and less time on their hands and are always on the go, identifying safe and PCI-compliant financial technology solutions for electronic authorizations and payment processing makes perfect sense to me. 

I also think Sertifi delivers another level of convenience and security not only to our customers’ clients but to those directly licensing Sertifi, helping to ensure they can streamline their operations, receive money in their bank accounts significantly faster and avoid chargebacks. It's a win-win for both sides and there’s so much opportunity for hotels to take better advantage of it. 

MM: Having worked in so many different countries over the course of your career, what is something that every hotel could benefit from? 

TS: I think that security is high on everyone’s agenda. If you're not feeling secure, then you can't really relax and focus on any of the creative parts of your job or your travels.  

With more and more merchants conducting business online, credit cards are less often present when transactions are made, and people are understandably nervous about it. I know I'm nervous about it, and I don’t fault people for being a little paranoid about that. This is very sensitive information. So, the more secure you can make guests and clients feel, the more at ease they will be when working or staying with you. That ease will turn into loyalty, and they become repeat customers because you’re supplying them with what they really value: safety in their payments and transactions. 

At the same time, with everyone having more and more constraints on their time, if you can streamline any process like, let’s say, contract signatures, and get around printing and scanning, it makes the journey much more comfortable for everyone, right? Oftentimes we think technology should make things easier for clients – and while that’s an important consideration, technology should also make things easier for your team. Your goal is to remove redundant and repetitive administrative tasks, enabling your team to focus more on the enjoyable and value-adding interactions with guests. Remember - these are the types of experiences that many of your staff are passionate about and that made them want to work in hospitality in the first place.  

MM: The staff turnover rate in the hospitality industry in the US is quite high. Is that a concern internationally, too? 

TS: Yes, and solutions like Sertifi – ones that are so easy to use that you can learn them completely and onboard staff members within a few hours – are exactly what we need in the hotel industry. Turnover is notoriously high and prevents a lot of change from happening. Staff and department heads are always worried about the operational impact change in hardware or software entails, but if you make it very smooth and low impact on operations teams, then change can happen more easily, and people are much more open to it.  

MM: Let’s close with one last personal anecdote. What makes your job worthwhile? 

TS: What gets me excited about my job is when I get to help prospects identify pain points that they weren't even aware of, and then figuring out how our solutions can help them transform their business into a more effective, sustainable one. For me, it’s all about being able to bring customers solutions to problems they hadn’t even noticed yet. That leads to great communication and discussions internally on their side, which is vital for companies to continuously improve in today’s highly competitive marketplace. 

MM: Thank you so much for your insight, Thomas! 

TS: Thank you for having me!