othertitles praisefor; diplomats&doormats; ….… · forarya&jahan...

Praise for;Diplomats & Doormats;An Hoteliers Odyssey

...A memoir/biography of a globetrotting hotelier

“Good stories and Characters told with lots of humorand plenty of life lessons to ponder”

Jonathan Wishere, Shanghai Business Review

“Reading this was like collecting shells on a beach– I wanted to press on that bit further to encounter

the next delight. Like the reader, Alatsas is a page-turner;turning pages in the way an artisan turns wood”

George Walmsley, Key Media

“I love the way it is written in a simple way,yet, strung together in an elegant fashion,and the philosophy is quite profound...”

Jennifer Yan, Private equity consultant/MBA Harvard

“The thoughtful perspectivesof a ‘global Citizen’ required reading!”

Dieter R. Klostermann, Chairman,Palmerston Hotels & Resorts & CCA International

“Each of the stories is like dimsum – wrapped with insights and learning”

Dr. Robert Don. MD

About the Author

Globetrotting hotelier,Peter Alatsas was born inGreece, raised in Aus-tralia, and educated inCanada and cyberspace.Thanks to his life’s work– managing luxury hotels–Alatsas has lived all over

the world from Jeddah to Japan, Thailand,Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Greece, Fra-nce, Australia, China, the USA, UAE andCanada.

About the Book

A veteran hotelier with over 25 years expe-rience in the hotel and tourism industry,Peter Alatsas, has travelled to some of themost exotic locations in the world. And itwas during these travels that he delved intoworld philosophies, and world culture.In this his latest book, Diplomats andDoormats, he has selected a collection ofessays and think-pieces and intertwineshis unique world perspective with philos-ophy and management theories. In so do-ing, he makes this book not only an enjoy-able read but also a must-have for businessmanagers.

OTHER TITLES

Coffee Table Books

▪ Greece, Star & Secret Islands(bilingual, hardcover), 2nd edition

▪ Magical Greece (bilingual, hardcover), 2nd edition▪ Mikis Theodorakis. My posters (bilingual)▪ Mikis Theodorakis. My posters

(bilingual, collector’s edition, hardcover)Modern Greek Culture, Living & Health

▪ Mikis Theodorakis. Finding Greece in his music▪ Cretan Music. Unraveling Ariadne’s thread▪ Cretan Healthy Diet. Truths & secretsNarratives

▪ The story of Minos Zombanakis.Banking Without Borders

▪ Chronicle of a life in shippingEconomy, Finance & Business Guides

▪ Managing employment relations in Greece▪ The Business of Olympic Games Sponsorship▪ Following the Nereids: Sea routes and maritime business▪ Minos Zombanakis and the Birth of the Euroloan MarketFiction

▪ A Likely Impossibility

www.economia.gr

VOVOLINIArchives

The Vovolini Archives constitutes a keysource of information on economic andgeneral Greek history, reflecting an en-tire era of approximately 150 years, andshedding light on unknown aspects ofthe formation of the Greek state.

Diplomats& Doormats

Diplomats & Doormats:Layout 1 12/14/11 4:25 PM Page 3

ISBN: 978-960-9490-14-6

©Copyright: KERKYRA Publications S. A. - Economia PUBLISHING1st edition, January 2012

Author: Peter Alatsas

Production: KERKYRA Publications - Economia PUBLISHINGPublication Coordinator: Fani KarafylliEditing:Mike HatzidakisLayout: Atelier KERKYRA

Cover: Eleni TsakmakiAuthor’s photograph: Penelope Masouri

Distribution

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Diplomats& Doormats

An Hotelier’s Odyey


For Arya & Jahan

“Nurture your mind with great thoughts,for you will never go any higher than you think”

Isaiah 40.8

“Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave,for knowledge is what draws us closer to God”

The Prophet Muhammad


CONTENTSForeword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Rounder Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35A Good Seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Security in Insecurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Like Ducks to Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Testosterone on Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Accentuating the Positive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Perspectives on Luxury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Five Star Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Modern Oases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Fortress Manila . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Perception is Illusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Lessons on Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Teachings of Budapest Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Sailing the Avant-garde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87In-SPA-ration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Going Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Leadership and Management and the Tip of the Iceberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Notions of Assertiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109


Thoughts and Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Universal Truths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Today’s Stupidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Mystical Bali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Fusion and Preservation in Kyoto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Poetry of Vino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Meet me in Cyberspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Rosemary’s Sphinx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Escape from Milan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Lost in Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Whirling in Istanbul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Browsing in Brugge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Wanting and Waiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Short Breaks and Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Greatness Stilled in Infamy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Going Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Finding Mystras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Sleepless in Santorini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Jaded Traveler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Mockba Then and Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Walking Kiev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185The Elixir of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Everything Comes to Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Tid-bits of Wisdom or Folly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199


Order and Disorder in the Town Square . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201The People you Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Parts Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Journey Within . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Home and Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Encounter with Nostalgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Nothing and Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225My Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Linked in Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Odyssey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

FOOD FOR THOUGHTLife’s wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Quotable Quotes and Ideas of Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311


“W ords create worlds.” How true. Thisparticular quotation leapt off the pageas I readDiplomats and Doormats. ForI too was on the move, seeking inspi-ration in a new place. Nanjing is not acity mentioned in the book, but it was

during my train journeys to and from China’s former capitalthat I was glad to have such a perceptive and curious travelingcompanion.

Peter is a traveler who pays the greatest courtesy to everycountry, region, city and site of interest that he visits; he thinksrelentlessly about its past, present and future, its cultures, ar-chitectures and cuisines. He searches for meanings in a place’sexistence, its peoples’ lives and their work, and he questions thepurposes of his own thoughts and impressions. The result is acollection of taut essays that are never simply of a place in time

FOREWORD

13


14

D I P L O M AT S & D O O R M AT S

nor framed in a casual snapshot. Each is carefully crafted andinspired by the swarm of thoughts that fill the mind on each ar-rival, stay and departure from an unfamiliar destination.

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it,” wroteConfucius. We all miss elements of beauty during our travels, orlong for the embrace of beauties yet to be encountered. For thisreason we are always glad when others capture and illuminatean undiscovered beauty for us. En route to Nanjing, as I passedlandscapes of mud-choked canals and fields of lemon-yellowrapeseed, I found myself simultaneously traveling throughTehran, Kyoto and Brussels. On the way home, I stopped brieflyto admire Lake Maggiore, Sanya Bay and Mount Athos before re-turning to Shanghai and falling sleepless in Santorini.

To reference Peter’s travels as purely physical would bewrong. A profession that has enabled him to travel the world,also gave geographic freedom to a restive mind, and enabledhim to craft his own philosophical approach to life and work.Drifting through the continents, he sought out some of history’smost challenging thinkers, and this book serves as a treasury ofchoice quotations, ranging from Aristotle, Confucius and Camusto Einstein, Picasso and Darwin.

My favorite quote in the book is “Home is not where you livebut where they understand you.” As a thinking traveler’s trav-eler, Peter chose to leave behind that comfort zone, to escapefrom where he is understood and where he understands. As hesays, “Much of life is what we make it.” Reading this book it isclear that Peter’s journey of discovery has many more rivers tocross, valleys to walk and cities to explore. As life continuesthere will definitely be more chapters for Peter to write. Fornow, we can be grateful that this book offers new perspectivesand creates new questions for us to take on our own journeythrough words and worlds.

Gary Bowerman


35

L iving and studying the classics in Greece as ateenager was indeed a happy time. Yet I had toleave beloved places and friends to realize mydream, which at the time was to become a world-class architect. I left Greece, in search of my“rounder moon” as the Chinese proverb goes,

only to find that my destiny was not to be a world-class archi-tect, but a world-class (traveling) hotelier.

The moon as we know is the same everywhere. What mightmake it different are our notions, perceptions, ambitions anddreams. There are, I would suppose, as many moons as thereare people with dreams. Traveling in its simplest manifestationis an opportunity for discovery but it can also be a test of one’spowers of imagination and inspiration. I will always continuetesting myself, my imagination and my abilities; my search fora rounder moon is ongoing.

A ROUNDERMOON

“Never tie a ship to a single anchoror life to a single hope”

Epictetus


36


While visiting Melbourne recently, I was told the true storyof a 16-year old Greek girl who came to Australia unescorted inthe early 1950s. She was a ‘mail-order bride’ in search of a newlife; mail-order bride being a label that was applied to womenwho published their intent to marry someone from another –usually more financially developed – country. Mail-order mar-riages were a common practice in the Americas and Australia af-ter the end of both world wars.

My heroine was one of the many mail-order brides comingfrom various parts of war and poverty ravaged Europe to findtheir rounder moon. Finally, after many months at sea in lessthan 5 star conditions the ship approached Victoria’s Port Mel-bourne. Her first task was to locate her new husband of whomshe had only a fading photograph with which to identify him.

As the huge ship sails closer to the shore she clutches the pic-ture in one hand and her meager belongings in the other, waitinganxiously to dock. Disembarking, she finds herself just oneamongst hundreds of expectant men and women, all with pho-tographs in hand, all searching desperately to find their dream.The young girl wanders through the crowd in vain. The crowd be-gins to thin and after closer inspection of her photograph she re-alizes that a well-dressed, middle-aged and mustached man (whoshe has already passed several times) is the aging reality of theyouthful man in her photograph. Her romantic dreams aredashed. Though penniless and demoralized she is unwilling to ac-cept this older version of the younger man in her photograph. Shedecides to return home on the same ship. She pleads with the Cap-tain, convincing him to take her back from whence she came.

Dreams and new husbands aside, a voyage is a complicatedexperience. At the micro level, it is a journey of discovery withtwo main dimensions: discovering a new place, and in theprocess, discovering oneself.

You cannot be taught everything in life. Some things youhave to go through.


37

A R O U N D E R M O O N

As Paul B. Pedersen says, “There is no substitute for expe-rience.” Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University, Pedersen isan expert on American and corporate culture, the author of 45books, and boasts a wealth of experience himself – he has spentover 40 years in his field. Pedersen tells a fascinating story ofshipboard learning.

In 1877 an eccentric visionary, James O. Woodruff had thenotion of creating a University on a ship. What an idea! But itwas not until 1926 that shipboard education became a reality,thanks to James E. Lough, Dean of New York University. Stu-dents earned full degrees on the ship, while traveling the world.As with most who are ahead of their time, Lough had his shareof detractors, and he was eventually fired after 27 years of serv-ice as Dean of New York University. The precedent had been sethowever, and adventurous education was now on the drawingboard.

More recently, the late shipping magnate Chao-Yung Tungagain embraced the idea of shipboard education with vision andvigor. Tung, who started out as a shipping clerk in Shanghai, es-tablished a floating university on the RMSQueen Elizabeth I incollaboration with the Seawise Foundation. His motto was “thegreatest ship is friendship.” Fate intervened. After several mil-lion dollars had been invested in the project, the ship caught fireand sank in Hong Kong but this catastrophe did not deterTung. He purchased the SSUniversewhich, in time, became theworld’s prime university ship. Tung passed away in 1982, buthis eldest son has taken the helm to ensure that the SSUniversesails on.

“Each spring and fall semester since 1981, approximately400 University of Pittsburgh college students have the rare op-portunity to learn about their world directly from the people ofthe world,” Professor Pedersen further enlightens me. Appar-ently the students appreciate the experience as much as theiradventurous professors, one student observing, “the decks are


38


a backdrop for a personal voyage of self- discovery and forbringing the peoples of the world closer.”

As for our would-be bride’s adventure of discovery...months later she returns on the same ship to Australia, pre-sumably a less trustful, but just as hopeful young woman. Thistime she finds her rounder moon and discovers the man of herdreams. He matches the image of the young man that is on hernew photograph and is the appropriate partner to the womanshe has become.

John Amatt the organizer of the first successful Canadian ex-pedition to the summit of Mount Everest said; “It isn’t hangingon a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitudethat we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life – facingnew challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our re-sources against the unknown and in the process discovering ourown unique potential.”

Discovery is not the sole domain of scientists and explorers.It is also the reward of the brave and the creative. Inner strengthcomes from hardships, struggle and endurance, not when weare free of problems. According to Nobel Prize-winner AlbertSzent Gyorgi, discovery is “seeing what everyone else has seenand thinking what no one else has thought,” whether it be a newhusband, a new world or a new opportunity in life. It is en-lightenment for travelers and moon-gazers alike.


AAbrahamson, Eric 103Adams, John 284Aesop 307Agathon 163, 297Agra 151Alborn, Mitch 204Alcott, A.B. 287Ali, Muhammad 294Allen, James L. 135, 188, 301Allenbaugh, Eric 260Amatt, John 38Amiel, Henri-Frederic 287Angelou, Maya 242, 278Aristotle 113, 201, 209,

255, 259, 260,262, 270, 274,275, 283, 286,289, 293, 306

Art of Travel 80Art of War 105Athens 201, 202Attitude 20Aurelius, Marcus 195, 261, 297Axial period 26-27

BBagehot, Walter 257, 279Bali 123-125Bangkok 39-40Barday, William 288Baruch, Bernard 270Barychnikov, Mikhail 258Bates, Norman 265Beauvoir, Simone de 303Beckett, Samuel 298Behavior 21, 24-25Beijing 144Bell, Alexander 270Bell, Graham 278Benarente, Jacinto 293Benn, Ernest 304Berkeley,Bishop George 297

Berle, Milton 304Berra, Yogi 274Billings, Josh 258Bittsu, Ni 120, 259Blake, William 131, 297Boffon, Georges De 274Bolshoi Theatre 176, 179

INDEX

311


312


Bonaparte, Napoleon 284, 285, 286Bono, Edward de 91, 261, 278Botton, Alain de 80, 94, 164Brown, H. Jackson 268, 277Brown, Les 301Browning, Robert 271, 293Brugge 149Brunei 40Buck, Pearl S. 276Budapest 85Buddha 189, 275, 286Buddhism 39, 65, 120,

128, 148Burke, Edmond 270Byzantine 166

CCameron, Hugh 203, 263Camus, Albert 288Carlyle, Thomas 300Carman's Club 219-223Carnegie, Dale 277Cavafy, Constantine 211, 212,

240, 241Cervantes, Miguel 272, 274Chang, Richard 293China 29Choices 17Chuang-Tzu 274, 275Churchill, Winston 225, 262, 267,

269, 288Cicero 281, 305CNN 196Cocteau, Jean 293

Coleridge, Samuel 285Colonel Sanders 306Colton, Charles 265Communication 21, 22-23Confucius 28, 55, 143,

169, 185, 255,256, 259, 262,266, 267, 270,271, 277, 278,281, 292, 297,299, 303, 305,307

Crosby, Bill 266Cousins, Norman 307Crawford, Joan 292Csikszentmihaly,Mihaly 53

Curie, Marie 289

DDa Vinci, Leonardo 123, 306, 308Dalai Lama 282Darwin, Charles 261Dean, Jimmy 262Delis, Dimitri 303Democritus 263, 267, 274Desire 21, 22Destiny 17Deval, Jacques 294Dewar, Sir James 279Dickinson, Emily 286Diogenes 133, 262Diplomat 30Discipline 21, 25-26


313

I N D E X

Disney, Walt 279Disraeli, Benjamin 26, 263, 295, 300Dnieper 188Drucker, Peter 103, 268, 270Dubai 73, 171, 193,

194

EEdison, Thomas 278Ego Check 44Einstein, Albert 89, 165, 261,

269, 273, 278,279, 280, 297,302, 308, 309

Eisenhower, Dwight 267Elgin Marbles 159Eliot, T.S. 279, 299Elizabeth II, Queen 115, 260Emerson,Ralph Waldo 139, 264, 269,

277, 293, 295Epictetus 35, 79, 193, 255,

256, 267, 277Epicurus 98Erasmus, Desiderius 276Esslin, Martin 309Euripides 265, 267, 309

FFan Ye 291Feather, William 288Fermor, Patrick Leigh 205Feynman, Richard 298Fitzwater, P.B 264

Five-fold path 20-26Fodor's Travel 95Fontain, Margot 271Forbes, Malcolm 279Ford, Henry 258, 269, 272,

295, 302Formula One 51-53Four Season Hotel 86Franklin, Benjamin 301Freedman, David 103Freynman, Richard 141Friedman, Milton 266Frost, Robert 262, 268, 299Fudan University 63Fuller,Buckminster 87, 280

Fuller, Thomas 304

GGagarin, Yuri 178Galileo 227, 271, 308Gandhi, Mahatma 204, 276, 290Garoufalis 17Gibran, Kahlil 257, 264, 269,

273, 280, 287,290, 298, 308

Goethe, Johann 51, 257, 258,271, 272, 273,284, 287, 309

Goldsmith, Oliver 285Graham, Martha 273Grande Bretagne 180Gretsky, Wayne 270Gritti, Sacha 294


314


Grove, Andy 44Growing up 18-20Gyorgi, Albert Szent 38Gytheon 237

HHannibal 282Happiness 53Hayward, Mathew 44Hemingway, Ernest 260Heraclitus 149, 260, 262,

275, 292Herbert, George 284Herodotus 286Heyerdahl, Thor 302Holiday Inn 47-49Holmes,Oliver Wendell 280, 299, 308

Homer 16, 17, 268Hong Kong 37Horace 131, 255, 258,

298,Hubbard, Elbert 301Hughes, Howard 300Hugo, Victor 288Huxley, Aldus 272

IIbrahim, Anwar 272Ikebana 135Ikkyu 271Inamori, Kazuo 128Indonesia 123Inspiration 39

Irwin, Bill 260Ithaca 17

JJames, William 256, 273Jeans, Sir James 304Jeddah 205Jefferson, Thomas 272, 273, 285Johnson, Samuel 273, 299Jonathan Swift 30Julius Caesar 283

KKalifatidis,Theodoros 277

Kanfer, Stefan 298Kant, Emmanuel 308Karrass, Chester 284Kazantzakis, Nikos 175, 237, 258,

268, 294, 303Kellaway, Lucy 196Keller, Helen 301Kennedy, J.F. 271Keynes, J.M 269Khayyam, Omar 129, 274Khrushchev, Nikita 178Kiev 185Kipling, Rudyard 268Kirkegaard, Soren 16, 285, 287Korbman, Jeff 284Kundera, Milan 307Kyocera, 128Kyoto 41, 127-129,

152


315

I N D E X

LLao Tzu 27, 278, 281,

282Lee, Bruce 257Lee, Robert E. 268Lemon, Jack 302Leningrad 176Lewis, Richard 111Lincoln, Abraham 264, 265, 273,

309Longfellow, Henry 284Lough, James E 37Lowell, James Russell 171, 306Luxury 59-65

MMacao 163Machiavelli 285MacIness. Helen 256Mackay, Harry 269Mahfouz, Naguid 308Mailer, Norman 294Management 55Manolikakis, Andreas 304Marchant 301Marquez,Gabriel Garcia 264, 291, 296

Marriot, Bill 90Martin, Abe 276Marx, Groucho 264Marx, Karl 279, 281Maslow, Abraham 64-65, 196Maugham, Somerset 291Maxwell, John 283

McGannon, Donald 285McKinsey 57Melbourne 36, 136-137Menandros 302Mencius 265Mencken, H.L. 291Merleau-Ponty,Maurice 298

Metropole 179Michaelangelo 30, 280Miss World 81-82Moliere 257Montagne, Michel de 281, 308Montreal 132, 175Morgenstern,Christian 215, 266

Moscow 175, 177Mostar, Bridge of 85Mount Athos 185, 213,

231-235Musial, Stan 284Mystras 165-168

NNeruda, Pablo 291New Delhi 151New York University 37Newton, Isaac 40, 257Nidetch, Jean 39, 267Nietzsche, Friedrich 120, 279,

290, 291, 309Nihon Keizai Shimbun 127Nin, Anais 289Nisargadatta 307


316


Nobel Prize 31, 38Nusa Dua 123

OObama 31, 228Odyssey 16, 239, 240Onassis, Aristotle 294, 305Oster, Sir William 278

PPasternak, Boris 97, 276Pasteur, Louis 261, 263, 293Patton, George 268Paz, Octavio 205, 264Pederson, Paul B. 37-38Persepolis 144Peter, Laurence 271, 296Picasso, Pablo 59, 64, 273, 295Pitakos 282Plato 55, 160, 226,

234, 258, 259,263, 275, 277,282, 298

Plutarch 59, 275, 306Poe, Edgar Allan 299Powell, Colin 300Publilius Syrus 283Pushkin 181, 187Puzo, Mario 280Pythagoras 256, 275

RRaffles 32Relationships 40

Renard, Jules 151, 287Richter, Jean Paul 119, 263, 295Ritsos, Giannis 238Robbins, Anthony 300Rocco, Mario 295Rochefoucauld,Francois 299

Roethke, Theodore 258Rooney, Andy 292Rooney, Mickey 294Roosevelt, Eleanor 260Roosevelt,

Theodore 257Roppongi Hills 71Rose, Aaron 258Rosten, Leo 305Rowland, Helen 81, 296Royal York Hotel 43Rumi 148, 303Russell, Bertrand 272, 279, 287,

295, 298, 303

SSaint Augustine 303Santorini 169-170Sanya 153Sartre, Jean Paul 292Savarin, Anthelme 276Savarin, Jean 304Schwab, Charles 300Schwartz, John 80Schwarzkopf,Norman 285

Schweitzer, Albert 219, 288


317

I N D E X

Scully, John 269Seawise Foundation 37Seneca 127, 282,

283, 289Shakespeare 246, 290Shanghai 51-52, 139,

153, 191, 197Shaw,

George Bernard 257, 274, 291Sinatra, Frank 289Skinner, B.F. 309Socrates 147, 159, 160,

259, 286, 289,290, 297, 305,306

Sophocles 101, 160, 267,282, 283, 286,306

Spinoza 309Stein, Gertrude 298Steve Renard

International 29Stone, Clement 234Stresa 141-142Sufism 148Sweetland, Ben 299SydneyOpera House 87-89

Synergy 114Syracuse University 37

TTacitus 283Taj Mahal 152

Tamils 27Tea Ceremony 128Tehran 143, 145, 147Thailand 39Themistocles 307Thoreau, Henry 292Thoughts 21, 23-24,Tokyo 72, 195, 248Tolstoy, Leo 262Toronto 43, 219Travel PlanInsights 247

Truman, Harry S. 261, 273Trump, Donald 293Tung, Chao-Yung 37Turkey 79Twain, Mark 264, 266, 280,

292, 300Tzu, Sun 105

UUkraine 185-188Utzon, Jorn 88, 89

VVenizelos, Eleftherios 281Voltaire 296

WWard, William 266Warhol, Andy 292Washington, Booker 263Weng, Lu Xiong 63Whitehead, Alfred 289


Wilde, Oscar 85, 93, 155,265, 272, 276,279, 287, 292

Wilson, Charles 47-49, 162,261

Wittgenstein, Ludwig 278Wooden, John 309Woodruff, James O. 37Wordsworth, William 299Wriston, Walter 288

XXi'an 189

ZZakynthos 222Zerlanti, Paul 293Zint, Andre 281Zorba 155

Food for ThoughtLiving Life 251Working Life 252Conventional Wisdom 254

Quotable Quotesand Ideas of NoteAttitude 255Behavior 258Change 260Character/Personality 262Children 265Culture 266Destiny 267

Decisions 268Experience/Work 270Happiness 274Ideas/Creativity 277Integrity/Truth 280Kindness 281Leadership/Management 282

Life/Death 286Love 290Luck 292Marriage/Memory 293Money 295Past/Present/Future 297Philosophy 297Poetry 298Success/Failure 299Time 302Travel/Leisure 303Wealth 305Wisdom/Knowledge 306

Poems by the AuthorAwaken to Dream 77One by One 83Time 95Thinking @60 121Bend in the Wind 125At Times 130Forever 153Wanting and Waiting 157Mystras 168Self 223To Love 235

318


Praise for;Diplomats & Doormats;An Hoteliers Odyssey

...A memoir/biography of a globetrotting hotelier

“Good stories and Characters told with lots of humorand plenty of life lessons to ponder”

Jonathan Wishere, Shanghai Business Review

“Reading this was like collecting shells on a beach– I wanted to press on that bit further to encounter

the next delight. Like the reader, Alatsas is a page-turner;turning pages in the way an artisan turns wood”

George Walmsley, Key Media

“I love the way it is written in a simple way,yet, strung together in an elegant fashion,and the philosophy is quite profound...”

Jennifer Yan, Private equity consultant/MBA Harvard

“The thoughtful perspectivesof a ‘global Citizen’ required reading!”

Dieter R. Klostermann, Chairman,Palmerston Hotels & Resorts & CCA International

“Each of the stories is like dimsum – wrapped with insights and learning”

Dr. Robert Don. MD

About the Author

Globetrotting hotelier,Peter Alatsas was born inGreece, raised in Aus-tralia, and educated inCanada and cyberspace.Thanks to his life’s work– managing luxury hotels–Alatsas has lived all over

the world from Jeddah to Japan, Thailand,Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Greece, Fra-nce, Australia, China, the USA, UAE andCanada.

About the Book

A veteran hotelier with over 25 years expe-rience in the hotel and tourism industry,Peter Alatsas, has travelled to some of themost exotic locations in the world. And itwas during these travels that he delved intoworld philosophies, and world culture.In this his latest book, Diplomats andDoormats, he has selected a collection ofessays and think-pieces and intertwineshis unique world perspective with philos-ophy and management theories. In so do-ing, he makes this book not only an enjoy-able read but also a must-have for businessmanagers.

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