Starwood Hotels & Resorts Southeast Asia has announced the appointment of Thomas Schwall as General Manager of The St. Regis Langkawi.
A French national, Thomas Schwall will oversee all management functions and hotel operations at this new property. He brings a wealth of hospitality industry experience to the position and joins after completing a successful four years tenure in New Caledonia where he opened the Sheraton Deva Golf & Spa Resort in the French Pacific as General Manager.
In this leadership role, he is responsible for all day-to-day operational functions. “I am honoured to be part of the opening team for The St. Regis Langkawi and I look forward to leading the team on a new journey, bringing St Regis’ signature luxury amenities and flawless service to this exciting new destination. I am confident we have a talented group of associates in place to ensure the St. Regis becomes the best address in the region,” commented Thomas Schwall.
Thomas Schwall began his career in hospitality with a culinary arts apprenticeship based in Paris as well as working in various fine dining venues over Europe, some of which with Michelin-awarded chefs, as well as Maître Ds.
An M.B.A graduate in Hospitality Management with Cornell University and ESSEC Business School, he later moved into catering, where he gained insight on operational cost structure planning and restaurants development for the Accounting and Sales departments.
In 2002, Thomas joined Starwood Hotels and Resorts first as a Quality Management Coordinator at the Costa Smeralda Luxury Collection complex of four resorts in Sardinia, Italy, following the Six Sigma projects. He later completed his Executive Management Trainee programme at The Westin Excelsior and The St. Regis Rome, Italy.
Thomas moved to the United States where he then joined the legendary founding St. Regis New York in 2005 for three years where he became Front Office Manager. He then joined the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney, Australia, where he took over the Rooms Division and later ensured the smooth running of the 557 rooms property as Executive Assistant Manager over the course of the three years there.
Thomas had a tenure at The St. Regis Singapore as Hotel Manager before moving to the French Pacific, New Caledonia, in 2011 for the opening of the 180 rooms Sheraton New Caledonia Deva Golf & Spa Resort.
