Dale Simpson, Radisson RED Cape Town's fearless curator

Dale Simpson, Curator, Radisson RED Cape Town

What is the difference between a traditional GM and the role you’ll be filling as Radisson RED’s curator?

The key difference is that the curator, along with the rest of the hotel team, will curate the hotel while creating the best guest experience path. The look and feel of Radisson RED, as well as the vibrancy required throughout the hotel, requires proper curation and not just management.

What will your day-to-day duties look like?

Everything! Perhaps I’ll start early morning as a barista for those early rising guests. Then I can offer arriving guests my recommendations on what to do in Cape Town. I’ll also be holding strategy sessions with my team of creatives, host clients, check on our events schedule, carry luggage up to the guest’s rooms and maybe I’ll finish off by parking a few cars - or motorbikes, I don’t mind!

How do you personally relate to the brand?

I genuinely love connecting with people. RED is all about connections and genuine connections at that. We do that through really caring about our service delivery, through our people, through our technology, and through our vibrancy. We really trust our people to be themselves. This really matters to me.

What lessons have you learned during your 15 years in the hospitality industry that will help you manage what is to be Cape Town trendiest hotel?

Never fear doing something. The moment you fear is the moment that you’ll never know how good something could really be.

Tell us about the team that you’ll be in charge of and how they’ll be driving the REDvolution

They are passionate, honest and genuine people that really care. The team will bring lots of fun and creativity to the hotel but they’ll get the naughty stuff done too. And like me, they love guests! The team are leaders too. Perhaps they need occasional management but mostly they demand a following.

SA in for REDvolution with first Radisson RED Hotel opening in Cape Town

11 Apr 2017

What is the RED guest experience?

The RED guest experience is all about feeling looked after, feeling liked you’ve arrived somewhere, feeling like you don’t want to leave and feeling like you have just met your new best friend.

What do you hope to achieve in your first year of managing Radisson RED?

I hope to deliver a fresh and exciting guest experience and then for those guests to walk away and go, “Do you know what, I really love that hotel.”