Meet
the Staff - Charles Szlapak, Managing Director
 "I
came for three months and stayed a little longer", could be the understatement
of the century. But it is typical of the modesty of Charles Szlapak to underplay
his part in making the Fairview the hotel that it is today. Always a gentleman,
underneath Charles' unassuming and courteous nature is a stickler for detail who
knows regular guests by name and personally answers every completed guest questionnaire.
The Szlapak family arrived in Kenya from Poland
in 1938 and almost immediately Charles' father
set about establishing himself in business. The
Parklands Private Hotel was Mr Szlapak's first
acquisition in 1940, followed in the next ten
years by the Caledonian, the Kisumu, the Hurlingham,
the Fairview, the Manor and Westfield hotels in
Mombasa and finally in 1964, the Gaylord. Charles
meanwhile, attended the Prince of Wales School
in Nairobi, before embarking on a voyage to agriculture
college in New Zealand.
Always keen to farm, Charles set off for college
in Palmerston North. Stopping off in South Africa
to visit family, Charles discovered problems with
his onward ticket, and rather than go back to
Kenya he enrolled in agriculture at the University
of Natal instead. Sadly, Charles' father became
ill so he returned to Nairobi to help with the
business.
By then the Mau Mau rebellion had broken out
and Charles decided that farming was no longer
a secure occupation for a European in Kenya. Thinking
that law might be a suitable alternative Charles
took up employment with a local law firm but after
two years his father became ill again and Charles
returned to the business. That was 1 March 1955.
Since then he's never looked back.
Charles learns his most important lesson in
business
Learning the business 'on the job' so to speak,
stood Charles in good stead for the future. He
learned from good managers, and sometimes bad
ones, but probably his most important lesson was
from a manager who consistently reported high
gross income.
Realising that despite this 'high ' income the
bank balance was not increasing, for the first
time Charles understood the difference between
turnover and income.
"That was one of my big lessons", he says, "that
there is an enormous difference between what you
bill and what you receive".
Needless to say, that manager didn't last long
after that.
Seeing the 'writing on the wall'
Gradually, as Charles got to grips with the
mechanics of the hotel business he made changes,
including the abolition of the 'chit' system for
guests. Credit, he decided, had to go. Many told
him that the hotel wouldn't survive this change,
but as we all know, the Fairview's still here
and growing.
Other changes included selling off all the other
hotels, and when finally, Charles had sold the
Manor Hotel in 1988, he used the profits to improve
the Fairview.
"I saw the writing on the wall", says Charles
"with the result that I put in boreholes, water
storage, generators and all those things that
would make the Fairview more self sufficient."
Great support from the family
Throughout this time Charles was consolidating,
not only the business, but the rest of his life
and in 1966 he married Marian Elliot, granddaughter
of Col Ewart Grogan, a famous character of settler
history who walked from Cape to Cairo. Sadly Marian
died in 1984 and Charles was left with three young
children to bring up - another good reason to
confine his life to Nairobi.
The rest , as they say, is history. The children
grew up and Charles' daughter Eliana, a graduate
of a Swiss hotel school, became both Director
and Executive Housekeeper. Her husband Mark is
also a 'hands on' Director and both give Charles
strong support in managing the hotel.
En suite bathrooms, TVs and telephones were added,
conference facilities were built and a heated
outdoor swimming pool was installed.
Yet, despite the growth, the Fairview, is in
some ways still a small hotel, still family owned
and managed and Charles is still personally answering
the questionnaires. And of course, it is this
personal service and attention to detail that
makes the Fairview what it is.
From three months to 47 years certainly is 'a
little longer'. We look forward to making
it longer still.
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