Marcus Niszow is Chief Executive Officer at the Pacific Resort Hotel Group (PRHG). He is a Cornell University and Harvard Business School educated Australian expat based in the Cook Islands.
PRHG is a boutique resort company in the Cook Islands operating the Pacific Resort Rarotonga, the Pacific Resort Aitutaki, Te Manava Luxury Villas, and the Little Polynesian Resort.
Marcus has over 25 years in the global hospitality industry, twenty of those years in the Cook Islands.
Marcus takes a keen interest in music and travelling. He is a Cook Islands Permanent Resident with Chilean heritage and bilingual English/Spanish.
His father was from the Ukraine, his mother from Chile. Marcus parents married and settled in Chatswood, Sydney.
In his late teens Marcus was an under-21, 400m sprinter at national level with unfulfilled aspirations to qualify for the Olympics. He spent six months at the Institute of Sport in Canberra.
Marcus is a classically trained pianist who had ambitions to become a career musician.
“Between 14 and 18, I was in various bands playing keyboard, making music, recording demos and trying different styles.
“My biggest passion project was a little electronic music trio. I used to rap, and a South African fellow had a drum machine and synthesizer; we added an English girl who did vocals.
“With both my music and sports projects, I set timelines. If didn't make it by 20, I would walk away and focus on a day job.”
Having said that, Marcus added he is proud to have played openings for big acts in Sydney at the Entertainment Centre, and in Chile.
“I never managed to break through at the level that I needed it to. I had set a very high bar”.
Giving up music as a profession, Marcus knew it was time: “… to grind it hard on a day job and maybe one day circle back to music or sports and do it as a passion”.
Marcus studied for his Bachelor of Business at UTS Sydney, majoring in management and marketing. His first job was as an auditor for a hotel in Sydney.
Marcus moved to Chile for a year working at the Intercontinental Santiago as a duty manger.
On his return, Marcus spent the next five years in the Constellation Hotel Group in roles including Financial Controller, General Manager, Group Business Analyst and Asset Manager.
In the early two-thousands Marcus, unhappy with high tax rates and governments, jumped on Seek, put a filter on for ‘overseas only’ and hit search for hotel management hospitality jobs.
“One job that came up was for a financial controller at a Cook Islands resort. I applied and got an interview in Auckland. I was in Sydney at the time.”
Marcus flew over for the day and met up with the new CEO of the PRHG, Greg Stanaway.
“Greg ended up offering me the job. The salary was lower than I was earning in Australia, but I was moving for a ‘sea change’. I was on a three-year contract. My objective was to be an expat for the next ten years at least. I was thirty!
“I arrived in Rarotonga and hit the ground running. I hadn’t been to the Cooks before, but what I know about myself is I can live and work anywhere as long as I'm engaged and enjoying what I'm doing, working with good people and building good things.”
Marcus arrived on the island with his first wife and their two children.
“My daughter was eight and my son six. After two years they relocated to Chile with my now ex-wife, but they have been back every year since.
“I remarried during COVID.”
During his time with PRHG Marcus has held various positions starting with the job that brought him to the islands, Chief Financial Officer /Asset Manager, then Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Operating Officer (COO). In January 2018 he moved to the top job, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) replacing his mentor, Greg Stanaway.
Soon after his arrival Marcus discovered the vibrant local music scene, connecting with Damon Anoka, a Cook Islander, now his best friend. The friendship began with their shared interests in music.
“Damon is a DJ and music producer. We have similar background with electronic music. It’s so much easier today to make music on a computer than back in the eighties when you had to go into a studio and record.
“We began making and playing house music on the Rarotonga radio station 88FM on Saturday nights from 9pm to midnight. We also started up a special club night at Rehab, which still runs to this day at the nightclub.
Marcus calls house music ‘disco’s revenge.’
“When disco died in the early eighties, house was born out of the disco ashes. They are very similar.
“Right from day one Damon and I came up with the name Coco House Bros.”
But it wasn’t until the pandemic, when the island was in lockdown, that Coco House Bros saw an opportunity to expand their audience.
“The resorts were closed. We thought it would be cool to open up one of the resorts and invite the whole island around for a party. Maybe they might book rooms, and they'll drink and eat, generating some income for the resort.
“Importantly for us, it gave us a captive audience. We played our music and got the audience into something different; a different sound.”
The Coco House Bros parties began at the Crown Beach Resort.
“The first one we did, sold out. All the rooms in the resort were booked out. The bar and restaurant turned over thousands.
“House music played over an eight hour set. Different styles: disco, tech house, progressives and techno. We incorporated classic remixes with the likes of the Beatles, Prince, Michael Jackson and the Stones.
“From there, the momentum really built, and we've maintained it to this day. Coco House Bros parties are always free. We all have very comfortable day jobs!”
As CEO of the PRHG, Marcus is interested in all aspects of tourism, the biggest contributor to Cook Islands’ GDP. The future of the Cook Islands is important to PRHG, especially as the country is so dependent on visitors to the economy.
“If there isn't another significant economic generator for the Cooks… in fifty years’ time this place will look very different if it solely depends on tourism.
“If tourism remains the biggest income earner, visitor numbers will inevitably grow. The harm that will do to the land-based environment will be quite significant. I think seabed mining, if it can be done sustainably, and it's structured correctly, can be an economic opportunity.”
In the meantime, Marcus wants Cook Islands’ businesses to have a ‘best in class’ mindset.
“Whatever business, whatever industry, business owners should strive to be the ‘best in class’ in what they do in their business.
“What I see in the future of the Cook Islands is that everything we do here, whether it's a cafe, a hairdresser, a backpacker hostel, a luxury resort, a budget resort, every business that exists being ‘best in class.
“We have a very high proportion of owner-operated businesses. And people care about their businesses”.
What about Marcus and his future?
“I'm here for life. I've married a Cook Islander; we have a home here. I love what I do. After 20 years, there's no better place in the world to live and work than the Cook Island. So, I won't be going anywhere!”
