For someone who's been in the business for 300 years, Franz Donhauser sure looks in great shape -

The day I met him at the Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney, he was bouncing like a kid who's just found a candy store. Something good had happened – a difficult 'people' issue had been resolved – and Donhauser is feeling on top of the world.

Donhauser (right) is a born hotelier or rather, he was born into the business. He traces his hotel roots back three centuries when his ancestors ran the 'Hotel to the 1000 year old Linden Tree' in Kirchberg am Wechsel, Austria.

His parents owned another small hotel named 'Kaiser von Oesterreich' which he sold and which has been converted into a bank.

'I was child labour in my parent's hotel,' he said.

So with Donhauser, the conversation is always around people – staff and customers. Never mind how the industry has changed and all that, for him, the simple truth is, if you take care of people, everything will be fine.

It's something he learnt from Robert Kuok, the owner of Shangri-La Hotels and Resortrs. 'When I was interviewed by him, he said to me, if you work for me, you have a very easy job, only two tasks – look after the customer and look after the staff.'

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