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THE Dutch might not have such a high profile in the hotel business as the Swiss, the Germans or the French, but there are still a significant number working in prominent positions in Hongkong.

  Mr Ike Perguin, general manager of the newly opened Regal Hongkong Hotel in Causeway Bay, previously occupied a similar position with the Regal Airport Hotel.

  He trained in the Hotere Hotel School in Maastricht, but admits that, during a 25-year career in the hotel industry, he has never worked in his own country.

  Mr Willem Pentermann, banquet manager of the Hotel Furama Kempinski, agreed.

  ''Holland is a small country, and many of those who graduate from the hotel schools there tend to go overseas,'' he said.

  Mr Pentermann is a graduate of the Hague School of Hospitality Management, where he took a degree in hotel administration.

  He has several former classmates in the Grand Hyatt, where there are at least three Dutch people working.

  Director of food and beverage is Mr Rogier Verhoeven, who also graduated from the Hague School, and who began his career with Hyatt International in Chicago in 1985.

  Ms Danielle van der Loos, director of rooms, is also a graduate of the Hague, and she has worked for the same company in London, Chicago, Sanctuary Cove, in Queensland, Melbourne and Bangkok.

  Assistant front office manager Mr Robert van der Ham, meanwhile, began his career with Hyatt as a corporate trainee at the Hyatt Regency Hongkong in 1988, and went on to become one of Hongkong's best-known concierges when he moved to the Grand Hyatt six months later.

  A man who followed the classic route of Dutch graduates is Mr Marcel van Mierlo, now director of food and beverage at the Island Shangri-La, but who, initially, went to London after graduating and ended up with a stint at the Dorchester.

  Mr van Mierlo, who graduated from Heerlen Hotel and Catering College, said he enjoyed working in Europe, but that he saw his move to this part of the world as ''a natural''.

  Dutch national Mr Onno Poortier, president of the Peninsula Group, is a man who has reached the top of his profession.

  Having been with the group since 1979, initially in an operational capacity, he has seen some profound changes taking place in Asia, and has been fortunate enough to participate in some of them.



Hospitality Dutch style