From a childhood in Darwin and a prolonged period working in hotels, Lisa Pile’s career has taken her almost everywhere – from China to Tanzania. Here, she shares with Karryon Luxury why she loves her position in cruising and what it takes to excel in sales.
Many in the travel industry will be familiar with Lisa Pile. Her broad smile, energy, impeccable style and poised presentation skills are signature trademarks of her working life.
Karryon Luxury sat down with Lisa in Sydney to better understand the person behind the professional persona – discovering Lisa’s genuine love of her industry, relentless curiosity and quest for self-development, and sincere gratitude for her family and her multiple career highlights.
An upbringing in the Northern Territory
“I had an incredible childhood growing up in Darwin in the north of Australia, and I think it did have a really big influence on why I chose to go into hospitality and travel,” says Lisa.
As a young woman, she’d gaze at beautiful Darwin sunsets and think about the big world beyond that beckoned. Living in the Northern Territory at that time felt isolating, and she always felt more like she was part of Asia than the rest of Australia.
Her parents took her and her sister on local camping trips and sometimes to Bali at a time when there was little more than a single dirt track leading into an untouched Kuta.
“I remember my parents told my sister and I that if we graduated from year 12, we’d get a trip to Europe. So when I graduated, my parents bought me a Contiki tour… I think it was called the 23-night, 9-country camping trip. I remember on that trip going past these beautiful hotels and thinking, ‘one day I’m going to work in hotels,’ ” she said.
Her journey into a career in travel
Her first job after leaving school at age 18 was running the dispatch and sales for AAT Kings.
“It was absolutely fantastic. I loved every minute of that job. I used to open the office before 6am. I got to meet so many amazing people because they were all foreign and all going out to Kakadu and different parts of the Northern Territory. That was a really enjoyable job for 18,” she says.
Lisa went on to study a Bachelor Degree at the University of Southern Queensland, majoring in marketing and international relations.
“At that stage, I wanted to go and live overseas. I was very fortunate that I was invited to attend a government trade delegation to China in 1994 – and I never looked back. China was my thing. I went back to live permanently in 1999, taking my first international hotel role,” said Lisa.
Between 1999 and 2004, she lived in China and worked with Kempinski Hotels, progressing to the role of Director of Sales & Marketing. She arrived at a time when people still wore Mao suits and “everything was grey.” Apart from hotel staff and diplomats in the foreign corps, very few foreigners lived in China.
“It was an incredible time because I was there as they were opening up to the world,” she says.
In 2004, she moved to Tanzania to take up the role of Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for Kempinski Hotel and later to Thailand for an Executive Director of Sales and Marketing position.
It was her role with Raffles Hotels & Resorts that saw her move from on-property hotel positions to a corporate role as Executive Director of Brand, Marketing, and Sales.
Eventually, she felt called to return to Australia to be closer to her ageing parents, her sister, and two young nieces.
All aboard: joining the cruise industry
“I do have to credit Steve Odell. We go back many years. I’d returned to Australia in 2015 and reached out to him just to let him know I was back,” she says. Not long after, she was approached by a headhunter for a role at Regent.
“I said to Steve at the time, ‘I’m just not too sure about cruising. I am so used to being in beautiful hotels,'” she recalls. Odell told her that he wanted her to go and experience a cruise.
“That changed everything,” she says. “I travelled from Puerto Rico to Miami on Seven Seas Mariner. I absolutely got what it was all about. By then, I’d gone from being on property in numerous countries to being in corporate roles, and then coming to floating hotels – because that’s what cruise ships are,” says Lisa.
“Steve threw me in the deep end and it was the best thing that could have happened, because the only things I really had to learn were the further complexities of how cruising operates – and also a new language. In the beginning, people were talking about shakedown cruises, and I was just looking and pretending that I knew what they were talking about, but I had absolutely no idea! The cruise industry has its own language,” she says.
In October 2015, she was appointed Vice President of Sales for Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, staying in that role for just over 18 months. When the company split the brands, she moved exclusively to Regent in May 2017.
What it takes to excel in sales in the travel industry
Lisa’s advice to anyone currently in sales or considering a career change into sales is to build a strong foundation and network.
“Your network is the most important thing – and your integrity. When somebody is employing a salesperson, they’re employing you for your network, your know-how, and your integrity. They’re probably the three things that I would instil in anybody,” she says.
She also suggests that people don’t rush to discount a career in sales. It took another colleague to suggest that she move from marketing into sales. She hasn’t looked back.
“I meet a lot of young people in our industry, and a lot of them want to go into marketing or PR. Not one person has ever said to me that they’d like to go into sales. You do need a thick skin – you’re going to get lots of knock backs. But my goodness, it’s rewarding. So if you’ve got a bit of get up and go, you’re a self starter, you love people and striving to hit targets, and you can take the odd knock back… then it’s the perfect opportunity for someone,” she says.
Mentors and prioritising self-development
Lisa says she’s very fortunate to have had a number of mentors and the opportunity to work with some “amazing” people.
“From a cruise perspective, I would say, Steve Odell, hands down, has been the best mentor I’ve ever had. From a hotel perspective, it was Australian Jennifer Fox, who was the President of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. Both of these people are outstanding,” she said.
She also credits mentors outside of the industry who have been guiding lights, as well as executive coaches that Regent has supported her to work with.
“All these things help along the pathway. At the end of the day, you’ve got to have your own inner scorecard. You’ve got to stay in your own lane and be curious, and you’ve just got to want to be the best that you can be in your industry,” she says.
When COVID hit, Lisa said to herself, “I’m not sitting on any couch getting fat”. Instead, she completed an MBA at the Australian Institute of Management.
“I would say to anybody that when you get your bonuses or your salary, put some money aside, not to waste it but to invest in yourself and your education. I have taken myself off now on four occasions to Northwestern University in Chicago, to the Kellogg School of Management because they run incredible executive programs. There are so many opportunities out there now to expand your knowledge, including through industry associations like CLIA – but you’ve got to want it,” she says.
Passion and drive
There’s not a day that goes by, she says, that she doesn’t want to jump out of bed each morning. While some days can be harder than others, Lisa loves her work and acknowledges she isn’t cut out to work from home.
“I’m useless at working from home. I must get up every morning, put my face on, do my hair, put my dress on, and go to work.
“There’s no such thing as a boring day. Every day has new opportunities and its challenges, but every day is exciting. You know, the biggest challenge I have? Not enough hours in the day – and I do need sleep!” she says.
For downtime, Lisa cherishes spending time with her parents, her sister and nieces, and her girlfriends.
“I’ve still got my parents who are alive, and I’ve just come back from spending a couple of days with them in Noosa. They keep me fully entertained. I like exercising, and I’m a swimmer. My sister and I grew up as competitive swimmers. We train in the swimming pool, but we also love ocean swims at Sydney’s Balmoral Beach,” she says.
The dynamic and changing cruise industry
Lisa Pile says the cruise industry is experiencing an exciting time of growth, with new players coming online, new destinations opening, and more people becoming curious about cruising.
“If you look at the total leisure travel industry, cruise represents less than five per cent of that. So you can see where the opportunity is,” she says.
“Once upon a time, hoteliers would never want to go into cruising. But now, they’re looking at cruising as a lucrative and interesting market. For an example, I’ll use The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, part of Marriott Hotels as the largest hotel company in the world. With that comes a big database. They have the ability to introduce a lot of new-to-cruise clientele. I think that’s where a huge opportunity is coming,” she said.
Brand innovation and looking to the future
Lisa says that she’s always been drawn to work with brands that have a strong heritage.
She says that Regent’s ability to innovate is evident in its continued evolution from its launch proposition of offering the world’s first luxury all-suite and all-balcony ships to expanding its highly curated onboard art collection.
“We’re still the only luxury cruise line in the world to have an all inclusive proposition which has evolved over time too, because we’ve added more and more,” she says.
“Behind the scenes, there are daily conversations about how we can better ourselves, the guest experience and the selling journey for our travel advisors. We really listen to our guests too. We just launched the 26/27 season, and of the 16 new ports of call, we’ve got six new ports of call in Japan, which came as a result of direct feedback from our guests,” she says.
“I feel grateful every day. I’ve had some hard times, and there’ve certainly been some very lonely times when I lived overseas, but there was never a day when I thought I had chosen the wrong vocation. I love going to work. Travel is a very exciting industry – we sell happiness,” she says.
