PV resort manager sets goals

Name: Valeriano Antonioli.

Title: Managing director.

Name of business: InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa.

Age: 41.

What I do: Have fun! I love what I do and am passionate about creating a sense of fun.

My day-to-day work as managing director of the soon-to-open InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa involves overseeing the details and planning required to launch a successful luxury resort.

My major focus is to plan the launch and set in motion operations to provide our future guests and the community with experiences that will create lasting memories and perfect moments.

In resort communities like Paradise Valley and Scottsdale, there are many beautiful properties, so we strive to create a unique set of experiences that will provide rejuvenation and retreat, fulfilling the dreams and fantasies of guests (if they are legal and moral, of course).

Our primary goal is to create a profitable, desirable, sustainable resort and spa that will become a well-loved and admired jewel in the crown of a great tourism destination.

About my business: InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa will open later this summer as a signature property for the InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's largest hotel group.

Set on the north side of Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley, the resort features 293 hotel rooms of which 40 are suites including two 3,000 square-foot presidential suites, a signature restaurant, destination bar, a 31,000 square-foot spa conceived by world-renowned spa designer Sylvia Sepielli, a full-service salon, indoor and outdoor meeting space, a wedding chapel, an assortment of boutiques and a café.

The spa is Moroccan-themed. The spa experience will focus on the cleansing and renewing power of rituals and journeys, including the signature Hammam Therapy, an ancient bathhouse ritual designed to prepare the mind and body for the spa experience.

Our spa suites have outdoor whirlpools, private patios with breathtaking views. Our Grand Spa Suite allows guests to relax in 850 square feet of privacy, complete with a queen-size daybed, oversized bathtub, indoor whirlpool, fireplace, treatment tables and floor-to-ceiling doors opening up to a private outdoor seating area and the pool deck.

We'll also have a professional full-service salon, a fitness center with personal training, yoga and fitness classes.

What I've learned in business: I have been fortunate in my career to have the opportunity to operate hotels in five countries on two continents and in four different languages, and along the way I have met and worked with many interesting and talented individuals who showed me insights about life and work.

A few that I always come back to are:

• Great ideas and the capacity to realize them count much more than money.

• Creating a win-win situation for everyone involved is necessary for maximum success.

• At the end of the day, you work for people, not organizations, so being able to motivate and create passion is the only way to accomplish greatness.

Goals: We are striving to be successful as both a preferred and desired resort for neighbors, locals and out-of-town guests, and a profitable enterprise for owner Crown Realty & Development, operator InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Paradise Valley.

We work every day to build a resort where the expectations of the guests are exceeded with service rarely seen before in an environment where guests and employees alike can realize their dreams.

What community I live in: I live in north-central Phoenix, work in Paradise Valley and play in Scottsdale. I have been amazed at the entire Valley - people are welcoming and friendly, the grass is green and birds are chirping in neighborhoods and minutes away you can find citrus trees, cacti, challenging hiking trails, spectacular views and of course the famous sunsets. The people here are easy-going yet sophisticated and seeking cultural contact, a bit of glamour and the resort lifestyle the Valley offers.

Affiliations and volunteer work: When I'm not working, I have served as the assistant coach of my daughter's soccer team at St. Thomas School and I am a former member of the board of the Italian American Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles.

Also, our entire family hikes Camelback Mountain, visits local cultural attractions like Paolo Soleri's Cosanti Foundation in Paradise Valley, and we all attend Tai Kwan Do three times a week.

Where I grew up: I grew up in Bormio, Italy, known as "La Cittadino delle Alpi" or "The Small Town in the Alps." I grew up among some of the most spectacular mountains and glaciers in Europe, hot springs, breathtaking views, and of course a lot of skiing which is still one of my major passions.

Family: We are quite an intercontinental family. I am Italian, and I have a lovely wife Karin who is German, and two daughters with Russian names, Jana and Julia. At home we speak German, Italian and English, and both children are learning Spanish in school.

Favorite Film: The first Matrix film. I'm captivated by the idea of a different vision of the world. I liked it so much I saw it eight times in three languages.

Favorite Book: The Harry Potter books.

First concert: One of my first English-language concerts was seeing Pink Floyd in the Olympia Stadium in Munich, Germany, but I grew up seeing live music like Vasco Rossi in Italy.

Company Web site: montelucia.com.

Address: 4949 E. Lincoln Drive, Paradise Valley.

Phone: 480-627-3200.

If you want your business profiled in the Scottsdale Republic, contact news@scottsdalerepublic.com or 602-444-6869.

Valeriano Antonioli