Ayana Resort and Spa Bali Appoints New GM; Director of F&B

Ayana Resort and Spa Bali has appointed Roger Habermacher as General Manager.

Roger will oversee the continued evolution of the resort as well as its new sister hotel Rimba Jimbaran Bali.

Roger has over 20 years of hospitality and hotel management experience. His career started in the kitchen as a chef in his native Switzerland, before he joined the Hyatt Group where he spent 16 years working his way up through the ranks of senior management positions from Dubai and Jakarta to Mumbai and Jeju Island in South Korea. Most recently, he was General Manager of Park Hyatt Beijing before moving to Bali for his new role.

Roger’s appointment at Ayana comes as the resort opens another 5-star hotel, Rimba Jimbaran Bali, within the 77-hectare property above Jimbaran Bay.

Like Ayana, Rimba is managed by Capella Hotel Group, and offers 290 rooms and suites and 78 private villas, traditional Balinese design, 12 world-class dining venues including the iconic Rock Bar, and a Thermes Marins Bali Spa.

Rimba is a modern 282-room hotel with avant-garde decor, lush forest setting, six swimming pools each with their own stylish design, and new dining concepts including Indonesia’s largest Ah Yat Abalone Seafood Restaurant and Unique Rooftop Bar for stunning sunsets.

“Rimba and Ayana truly offer the best of both worlds, from the forest to the sea,” said Roger. “It is such an honor and a privilege to be joining this team at this exciting time in the evolution of Ayana. Rimba offers a new, different experience from Ayana, based on the same three pillars of success: guest satisfaction, with caring and timely service that anticipates unspoken needs of guests; employee satisfaction: we all know the saying, happy employees equal happy guests, and I have not seen a sad face since I’ve arrived! Ayana also enjoys continued investment by an owner who is a true visionary.”

In another appointment, Manik Sudarsana has returned to the resort as Director of Food & Beverage.

Manik previously held the position of Food & Beverage Manager when the resort was known as The Ritz-Carlton Bali Resort & Spa. When the resort’s owner made the decision to rebrand to Ayana Resort and Spa Bali in April 2009, under new management of Capella Hotel Group, Manik left Bali for a new role as Food & Beverage Director at The Ritz-Carlton Jakarta.

During his tenure with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, he was also appointed a Food & Beverage Hotel Trainer for the openings of hotels in Dubai International Financial Center and Krabi, Thailand. He returned to Bali last year before rejoining the team at Ayana, where he has been warmly welcomed back home.

Manik will oversee the service across Ayana’s 12 dining venues including the Miele Guide-listed Dava, beach-front seafood restaurant Kisik, and the famous Rock Bar. He will also be responsible for banquet service, a key area considering Ayana’s newly-launched MICE facilities and strong wedding market.

“I have received such a warm welcome since coming back to Ayana, it really feels like home,” said Manik. “There are many new faces, but also many people I worked with in the past who I will have the pleasure of working with again. The team here just gets stronger and stronger and I am glad to be a part of it.”