The Business Travel Magazine December/January 2018/19

DEPARTURES
On the road with Michael Struck
Ruby Hotels founder and CEO Michael Patrick Struck
might have a sweet spot for Sugarloaf, but it certainly
doesn't run to chicken feet...
day encompasses totally
different places and settings.
RIO'S
Recently my day started
SUGARLOAF
with a very early morning
IS A SWEET
run through the sleeping
SPOT
streets of Mayfair and closed
with a walk along the warm seaside
in bustling Barcelona.
Worst business travel experience:
Has to be a business dinner in
Guangzhou which involved eating
chicken feet and other ‘interesting’
specialities, to be polite.
DETAILS
Name: Michael Patrick Struck
Position & Company: Founder and
CEO of Ruby Hotels. We operate
five properties at the moment and
we have a further nine under
construction or in the planning
stages. We've also just started
Ruby Works, which offers flexible
work spaces.
Based in: Munich, Germany.
Business trips per year: 50.
Estimated annual mileage:
100,000.
Regular destinations: London,
Paris, Milan, Copenhagen.
Most recent trip: Tokyo.
Next trip: New York.
GOOD & BAD
Best business travel
experience: This is pretty hard to
call. I particularly like it when one
ALL ABOUT
THE BLUE SKY
THINKING
SUPPLIERS
Preferred airline or hotel and
why: Emirates, simply for its
consistently excellent onboard
service quality.
Loyalty points – obsessive
collector or not bothered?
Honestly, I'm not bothered. I think
these things tend to take care of
themselves.
Favourite loyalty scheme:
None in particular.
STEPPING ONBOARD
Flights: work, rest or play?
Work. I find being literally
above it all is helpful with
certain tasks.
Onboard connectivity –
take it or leave it? I like having
this new option for emergencies ,
but am too much of a savings fox
to use it while prices for it
remain so high.
Onboard habits: I loosen my
shoe laces, put on some noisecancelling
earphones and sit
back to enjoy take-off.
DESTINATIONS
Happy never to go
back to: Helsinki. My
last experience
involved being there during a
serious snow storm.
Send me back to: Rome, anytime.
Top overseas landmark: Sugarloaf
Mountain, Rio de Janeiro.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
One thing that would improve
business travel: Wifi on the tube
in London would be really great, as
would a Ruby hotel in every major
city, obviously!
Biggest business travel
irritation: Business
hotels that are run of
the mill, soulless and
unnecessarily expensive.
In fact, that is part of the
reason we started Ruby
Hotels, since we do the opposite.
DO AS I SAY...
AND AS I DO!
TAKING IT
IN MY STRIDE
Pack light or go
prepared? I’d like to
say both, but since I don’t
do much in the way of travel
preparations, I guess it will have
to be ‘light’.
Never leave home without: My
running shoes.
TRAVEL POLICY
Stick to the travel policy or a bit
of a maverick? Our business is
about offering lean luxury to
guests so I always follow the
policy. For me, it’s a role
model thing.
If you could change one
thing about your travel
policy... Nothing, or else I
would have done it already!
96 THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.COM