Four months into his new job as the general manager of Grand Hyatt Incheon, Adam Myott is trying to learn everything he can about Korea -- its language, people, food.

Coming to Korea for the first time from Australia, the 51-year-old Hyatt executive said it was always a challenge when relocating to a new place with a different culture, people and business climate.

“Although it is challenging to learn about different culture, that’s what makes this job fun,” said Myott in an interview at the hotel near the Incheon International Airport.

“As we are in a ‘business of people,’ trying to understand different and new culture like Korean food and people is very important for us in this business.”

This year, Grand Hyatt Incheon’s business will remain the same -- aim to provide the best hospitality service to corporate guests of meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE), families with kids and couples.

“Our business strategy this year will really be the extension of what we have already established in those three segments over the past 13 years -- continue to focus on being the best MICE hotel in Korea, and a leisure hotel for families and couples,” the general manager said.

“But I would say that we are going to attract more local leisure guests during weekends with room promotions and enhanced dining offerings.”

For instance, at the hotel’s Deli of Restaurant 8, its pastry team will be introducing special items for kids every month. February’s item is “Monkey Choux” -- monkey-shaped chocolate. Guests can dine or stay at the hotel with their Gold Passport points and SKYPASS mileage programs.

And it will seek to host a lot of large international events and conferences by promoting its location and facilities, and plan for more customized MICE events.

“We can provide a large number of guest rooms and events. This is the unique characteristic of our hotel, which differentiates our hotel from others,” he said.

With two connected buildings and more than 1,000 guest rooms, Grand Hyatt Incheon is not only bigger than other four Hyatt hotels in Korea, including Park Hyatt Busan and Hyatt Regency Jeju, but also the biggest Hyatt hotel in the world, excluding the U.S. market.

Grand Hyatt Incheon seeks to ultimately position itself as a “weekend leisure destination with great food and beverage facilities for our guests,” Myott said.

Myott has been with Hyatt over the last 23 years, beginning his Hyatt career in Sydney then working in various overseas locations including Malaysia and Thailand.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)