International Tourism and Luxury Expert.
Born & Bred.
Leon’s love of hospitality is partly born and partly bred. Even as a small child he lived in some of the most beautiful and remote parts of the world. Travelling with his chef father, Leon raced hermits crabs on the beaches of Cocos Island.
During boarding school he travelled in between Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea cementing his love of travel, culture and ability to make a genuine connection with just about anyone.
Then his professional hospitality career began. In his first role he fell in love with the teamwork and camaraderie of the hospitality industry. He was inspired by the detail Anouska Hempel put into every space in her hotels when he worked at The Hempel and Blakes Hotel (now The Dylan Hotel).
Ian Schrager and Phillippe Stark’s innovative design and phenomenal buzz taught him about the hip world of boutique hotels. Together these three inspirations generate a lifelong love of the industry. From there it was red sandy deserts and remote palm-covered islands.
Leon has opened iconic properties such as Blakes Hotel in Amsterdam and Elements of Byron in Byron Bay, Australia. Positions in ultra luxury properties such as One&Only Reethi Rah Maldives have allowed him to truly refine his sense of opulent service.
Managing the challenges of remote living such as building culture and motivating a live-in employee base, has allowed Leon to cultivate unique leadership skills that prompt team members to follow his example and create cultures of fulfilment and success.
A Student
of Change.
At a time when the hospitality and tourism industry is undergoing the most significant re-calibration in its history, Leon’s recent journey in recognising the power of lifelong learning has been instrumental in preparing for the current climate of change.
After being a reluctant student through his school years, Leon dove into podcasts and discovered some key mentors who highly influenced his approach to development. Today, Leon spends between 90 and 120 minutes per day learning.
Whether the topic is leadership, service, fitness, wellness, mindfulness or something else, Leon attributes his commitment to lifelong learning as being instrumental in improving all areas of his life.
In striving to optimise his life, Leon has learned the unrivalled value of adaptive innovation. Leon has learned how to increase creativity and teach others how to do the same. He combines this with high-empathy emotional intelligence.
Leon is confident that in the current tourism industry landscape as operators build a ‘new normal’, flexibility, creativity and emotional intelligence are integral to successfully re-calibrating an industry built on emotional connection.
Energy
for Life.
For many people the journey to improved wellness is spurred by a catalyst. For Leon, it was becoming a father. Before this, his life was unbalanced. He was stressed, overwhelmed and didn’t really feel present in any aspect of his life.
Becoming a father exacerbated these feelings. He knew something had to change. His journey to wellness was varied and taken one step at a time. It included copious amounts of reading, consulting with various practitioners and the creation of new habits.
Prioritizing sleep became a trigger for weight management and a foundation for setting up the day for good or bad habits. He learned to use daily journaling to set goals and fuel creativity in all aspects of his life.
He uses technology on a daily basis to track aspects of his health and fitness and dives into philosophy and mindfulness through meditation and reading. He optimises his life by focusing in any given moment on three key areas: energy, work and love.
Since the beginning of his wellness journey Leon has made incredible strides. He continues to educate himself and adapt his habits to improve his health and wellbeing, ultimately aiming to only get more stronger, fitter and healthier with age.
