“Initially I Did Not Want to Go to Sochi,” Story of Development Director at Krasnaya Polyana Gambling Zone Dmitry Anfinogenov

He was not planning to move to the small resort from his hometown, but his career went up rapidly namely in Sochi – currently, Dmitry Anfinogenov holds the position of Development Director at Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone.

We talked to Dmitry to find out where he started his job in Novosibirsk, how he made his way in the tourism industry, and what skills helped him to grow into a successful executive.

“I thought up my first business project at the age of 21, or to be more precise, it was offered to me”

The start of my career is closely connected to hockey. One resulted from another. I can say with certainty that I would not have got myself involved in business if I had not been playing hockey. Thanks to the game, I acquired friends and acquaintances in different towns in our country. Being competitors on the ice, we became friends and partners. I thought up my first business project at the age of 21, or to be more precise, it was offered to me.

My friend’s parents were looking for a person that would help them with wood supply to Novosibirsk. They were from the Irkutsk region and were afraid to enter our market on their own – they were concerned that they could be cheated, so they were looking for partners in Novosibirsk among their acquaintances.

Things worked well from the start – we successfully negotiated about timber sale. By the way, inspired by the film The Turkish Gambit, I named my first company Gambit.

“Initially I did not want to go to Sochi”

I was working at Marins Group Union and was sent to Sochi in 2012 as a crisis manager to boost the activities of the hotel that was a member of the Union’s hotel chain. This transfer became, perhaps, one of the key moments that influenced my further career. Frankly speaking, I did not want to go to Sochi at first. I had been there before in 2004, and as I grew up in the city with a million-plus population, it seemed to me that it was a big village near the sea. However, my management made me choose – I go to Sochi or they fire me. Of course, I chose to work.

This story resembles a film scene: it was in the evening of 2013, I was having dinner at my hotel’s café. A couple was sitting near the next table, it started to rain heavily and their table was not protected from the rain, so I invited them to sit at my table sheltered under the awning. We were chatting and my new acquaintances complained about some small problems in their room. Being the manager of the hotel, I could not ignore this, so the next day I asked to eliminate the defects in the room where those people stayed.

“Of course, I did not become the first deputy director straightaway”

In several days, we met again and they boasted that the next day after our first meeting all problems were solved. Naturally, they asked me whether I had anything to do with that. I honestly said that it was done according to my instructions, as I was the manager of that hotel. And on that very day, they offered me a job at Center Omega (one of the largest companies in the Krasnodar region that has constructed and successfully exploits facilities for the Olympics).

Of course, I did not become the first deputy director straightaway; I was working as a manager of one of the directions at Omega at first. And almost before the start of the Olympics, I was appointed the first deputy director at one of the meetings. It was a fun time. Despite the general hysteria, facilities constructed by Omega were loaded by 85% in the first summer after the Olympics, without the participation of big tourism operators. I am proud of this result.

After those crazy years when we were preparing for the Olympics, a year at the position of the brand manager was a kind of a vacation for me. My main task was the promotion of the Golden Tulip hotel brand. I had to travel a lot, meet different people and all of it undoubtedly helped me in the future.

“I had to learn the basics of snowboarding; otherwise, I would not be able to attend the brief meeting”

In October of 2015, I became a commercial director of Gorky Gorod resort. My main task was to bring the resort to a positive financial result, which we successfully achieved. In 2015, we reduced the operating losses of the resort by more than twofold. And in 2016, we brought the losses to the minimum and reached the level of self-repayment. Taking into account the strong competitor, the Rosa Khutor resort, I believe this result is truly decent.

There were many interesting cases. One of them happened at the very start of my work there, when the management gathered all employees for a brief meeting at the highest point of our resort – yes, exactly on a peak. On that day, I had to learn the basics of snowboarding; otherwise, I would not be able to attend the brief meeting – there were no alternative ways of transportation. I did not have a ski outfit either, so I was sliding in my jeans. However, I have never given up on snowboarding since that time.

“Ability to communicate and come to an understanding with people is one of the most important skills for the manager”

Ability to communicate and come to an understanding with people is one of the most important skills for the manager. My whole life journey has been helping me to develop this skill. I learned something new and developed new contacts at each of my new positions, and by the time of my appointment as a deputy general manager at Sochi Casino, I had a store of knowledge and loads of contacts with needed people, which greatly helps me in my daily work.

Our ambitious goal is to achieve a ratio of 50%of foreign tourists in the total number of guests within five years. We are gradually bringing it to life. Today foreign guests account for 16%and we are planning to reach 25%in 2019. By the way, you can congratulate us, as we are launching direct flights Sochi-Dubai on June 7, which will allow us to attract up to 15,000Arabic tourists by the end of the year.

Dmitry Anfinogenov will act as a speaker at the industry-specific Russian Gaming Week 2019 exhibition-forum. He will tell the guests of the event how Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone has changed over the last two years, report the latest figures, and explain how they managed to achieve such results.

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