Edvinas Biša: From Hotel Revival to People-Centred Leadership 

Reviving Mabre Residence taught him that lasting hospitality excellence depends as much on trusting people as it does on getting every detail right. 

A successful hotel stay often comes down to things guests may never notice. From making sure arrivals go smoothly to keeping rooms ready and staff working in sync, every detail plays a part in the guest experience. Getting these details right takes more than good service. It requires strong leadership, careful planning and an understanding of how a hotel works behind the scenes. 

Edvinas Biša began learning these lessons at just twelve, when he started working during the summer season. Over the next ten summers, he gained hands-on experience in guest service and hotel operations, building a practical understanding of what it takes to run a hotel. He later joined Hotel Invest Group, UAB, taking the next step in his hospitality career. 

A year later, he joined Mabre Residence at a crucial point in the hotel’s journey, as it prepared to resume operations. The role gave him the opportunity to put his experience into practice, take on greater responsibility and develop a leadership approach in which attention to detail, employee accountability and genuine care for guests remain central to the way he works. 

Who are you? Could you please brief us about yourself? 

I have been in hospitality for more than a decade, although I started much earlier than I could have imagined. At the age of twelve, I began spending my summers working at a summer holiday resort. What started as a summer job gradually became the foundation of my understanding of hospitality. Over ten summer seasons, I learned the basics of guest service, accommodation and day-to-day operations. 

At twenty-one, I joined one of the hotels managed by Hotel Invest Group, UAB. A year later, I became involved with Mabre Residence, at a time when the hotel was not operating and had to be brought back to life. 

Today, I lead Mabre Residence as its General Manager. What makes this role particularly meaningful to me is that I have been involved in the hotel from a very early stage. Every detail, every corner and every decision has gone through my review. In many ways, the hotel became a place where I had the opportunity to put everything I had learned into practice. 

Before we talk about your role as a General Manager, what first drew you to hospitality, and what problem, opportunity, or personal motivation made you want to build your career in an industry where the quality of someone’s experience often comes down to details that guests may never see? 

Interestingly, I did not initially have a grand plan to build a career in hospitality. I simply started working during my summers. 

That first experience at a summer holiday resort introduced me to the very basics of the industry. I learned how much happens behind a guest’s experience that the guest never actually sees. A smooth arrival, a clean room, the way a problem is handled, the way employees communicate with each other — all of these small things eventually become one experience for the guest. 

Over time, I became increasingly interested in how all these elements connect. Hospitality is not one big action. It is thousands of small actions happening correctly, often at the same time. 

When I later had the opportunity to become involved with Mabre Residence, the challenge was completely different. This was not simply about running an existing hotel. The hotel was not operating, and I had the opportunity to be involved in bringing it back into operation. 

That changed my perspective. I realised that I enjoyed not only serving guests, but also creating the environment and systems that allow other people to serve them well. 

Looking back at the different stages of your career, which experiences have most shaped the kind of hospitality leader you have become today? 

The most important experiences were the ones that forced me to learn by doing. 

My first ten summer seasons at a holiday resort gave me the foundation. They taught me the basics of hospitality and showed me what the industry looks like from the operational side. 

Joining Hotel Invest Group, UAB later gave me a different perspective. And Mabre Residence was the point where everything became much more demanding. When I joined the hotel, it was not operating. I was involved in bringing it into operation and eventually found myself responsible for situations that had no ready-made answer. 

When I was Front Office Manager, there was no General Manager at the hotel. Because of that, I inevitably performed many of the functions of a General Manager, while working under the owner’s supervision. It became a real opportunity to test whether I could actually carry that responsibility. 

What shaped me most was not one particular situation, but the accumulation of thousands of decisions. 

Mabre was new territory for me. Contracts, layouts, materials, processes, operational decisions and countless details all had to be considered. Everything was reviewed through my perspective. 

But there was another lesson that became just as important: I had to learn to let other people fly. 

When you are responsible for the whole picture, it is very easy to intervene in everything. You see a mistake before someone else does, and your instinct is to correct it immediately. But people cannot truly grow if you never allow them to make mistakes. 

I had to learn to sometimes close my eyes and let people learn why one small mistake can affect the entire picture. 

That changed me as a leader. I understood that every person in a hotel is an essential part of the final guest experience. What may look like a small task to one employee can have a much bigger impact on the whole operation. Without that person and their contribution, the picture is incomplete. 

The role of a General Manager demands much more than managing day-to-day operations. How has your understanding of leadership evolved as you have taken on greater responsibility? 

Earlier in my career, I believed that being responsible meant knowing what was happening and making sure things were done correctly. 

Today, I understand leadership differently. 

A General Manager cannot personally control every detail. The bigger the responsibility becomes, the more important it is to build people who can take responsibility themselves. 

One of the hardest things I have had to learn is to step back. 

I have a very strong eye for details, and I naturally notice when something is not right. But noticing everything does not mean that I need to fix everything myself. 

Sometimes I need to allow a person to make a mistake so they can understand its consequences. Sometimes I need to give someone responsibility and trust them enough to make their own decisions. 

That does not mean lowering standards. It means helping people understand why the standards exist in the first place. 

A hotel is a complete picture. The guest may only see the final result, but that result is created by dozens of people. A receptionist, housekeeper, maintenance employee, restaurant employee or manager may each influence one small part of the experience. Those parts eventually become one picture. 

My role is increasingly about making sure people understand the importance of their part in that picture — and then giving them enough trust to do it themselves. 

Hospitality is ultimately about making people feel cared for. What have you learned about human behaviour, expectations, and emotions that has changed the way you approach a guest experience? 

I have learned that guests do not always remember exactly what happened. They remember how they felt. 

People arrive with different expectations, different moods and different reasons for travelling. The same situation can therefore affect two guests completely differently. 

That is why hospitality cannot be reduced to a checklist. 

Processes and standards are essential, but they are only the foundation. Employees also need the ability to understand the person in front of them. 

Sometimes a guest needs efficiency. Sometimes they need patience. Sometimes they simply want to feel that somebody is listening. 

I have also learned that many problems become much bigger when people feel ignored. A relatively small issue can become a serious complaint if the guest feels that nobody cares. 

For me, good hospitality means recognising the human being behind the reservation. 

Every hospitality leader eventually faces moments when the right decision is not necessarily the easiest one. Can you share a challenging leadership decision that taught you something lasting about judgment and responsibility? 

The most challenging decisions have often been the ones where there is no perfect answer. 

As a General Manager, you constantly balance different interests: the guest, the employee, the business and the long-term reputation of the hotel. 

I have learned that avoiding a difficult decision is also a decision. 

There have been situations where the easiest option would have been to solve the immediate problem and move on. But sometimes the correct decision is the one that addresses the underlying issue, even when it creates discomfort in the short term. 

Those situations taught me that responsibility is not about making everyone happy. It is about being able to stand behind your decision and understand its consequences. 

What principles do you personally refuse to compromise on when it comes to delivering excellence, and how have those principles influenced the way you lead? 

For me, excellence comes from consistency. 

A hotel cannot provide an excellent experience only when the General Manager is watching. The standard has to exist even when nobody is watching. 

That is why I care so much about details. Not because every detail needs to be perfect for the sake of perfection, but because small details collectively create the experience. 

I also believe that leadership has to be based on responsibility. If something is important, someone needs to own it. 

At the same time, high standards cannot exist without people. You cannot expect excellence from employees if you do not give them the tools, clarity and trust to achieve it. 

A strong hospitality leader has to bring together high standards with empathy for the people delivering them. How do you motivate and develop people while creating an environment where excellence does not come at the cost of wellbeing? 

I believe people perform best when they understand that their work matters. 

In a hotel, it can be easy for someone to think, “I am only doing this one small task.” My responsibility is to help them see what that task contributes to. 

If a housekeeper does not notice one detail, if a receptionist misses one piece of information, or if a maintenance issue is ignored, the final guest experience can change. 

When people understand that their contribution is genuinely important, their relationship with the work changes. 

I also believe that development requires trust. If we never allow people to make mistakes, we never give them the opportunity to become stronger. 

High standards and empathy are not opposites. You can expect a lot from people while still understanding that they are human. 

The expectations of both guests and employees are changing quickly in 2026. What changes in the way hospitality leaders think, lead, and serve do you believe are now essential? 

Hospitality is becoming increasingly transparent. 

Guests compare experiences instantly. Employees also have much stronger expectations about how they want to work, develop and be treated. 

For leaders, this means that simply maintaining old ways of doing things is no longer enough. 

Technology will continue to change the industry, but I do not believe technology replaces hospitality. It should remove unnecessary friction and allow people to focus on the parts of the experience where human interaction matters most. 

Leaders also need to be adaptable. What worked five years ago may not work today. 

The strongest hotels will be those that combine operational discipline with the ability to understand changing expectations. 

What is one lesson from your career that came only through experience, something you could not have learned from a textbook, training programme, or leadership theory? 

You can prepare for responsibility, but you cannot fully learn responsibility until you actually have it. 

There is a difference between knowing what should be done and being the person who has to make the decision. 

Experience taught me that there will always be situations where nobody gives you the answer. You have to assess what you know, make a decision and take responsibility for the outcome. 

I was often taught by being thrown into situations and having to find my way through them. 

It taught me something simple: I may not always know the answer immediately, but I know I will find a way forward. 

When you think about the kind of General Manager you want to be remembered as, what do you hope your journey will have changed, not only in the way hospitality is experienced, but also in the way future hospitality leaders approach their own careers? 

I would like to be remembered as someone who understood that a hotel is much more than a building. 

It is a living system made up of people, details, decisions and emotions. Every person contributes something to the final experience. 

I also want to show that age does not have to determine the level of responsibility you can take. What matters is what you are willing to learn, how much responsibility you are prepared to carry and whether you can create results. 

My journey started with a summer job at twelve years old. It continued through different operational roles, eventually leading me to take responsibility for a hotel that had to be brought back to life. 

If there is one thing I hope future hospitality leaders take from that, it is that you do not always need to wait until you feel completely ready. 

Sometimes you have to step into the situation, take responsibility, learn, adapt — and then let the people around you fly as well. 

That, for me, is what leadership ultimately means: creating something bigger than yourself, and making sure every person who contributes to it understands that their part matters.