Dan Benzaquen’s return to Pullman Jakarta Indonesia was more than another hotel appointment. He had already led the property from 2019 to 2022 before working in Greater Montreal, and came back with an outside perspective on a hotel and city he knew well.
The return was professional, but also personal. Benzaquen had remained closely connected to the hotel, its people, and the relationships he had built in Jakarta. When the opportunity came to help shape Pullman Jakarta Indonesia’s next chapter, he found it difficult to resist.
The hotel was familiar, but the city around it had moved forward. Guests were placing more value on digital convenience, wellness, dining, and experiences that felt connected to the destination. Jakarta itself had become more ambitious and better connected. Benzaquen returned with fresh ideas from Canada and a clearer sense of how the hotel could respond.
“Jakarta is not always a city people understand immediately,” he says. “It reveals itself gradually through its people, its neighbourhoods, its food and its extraordinary energy.”
That connection runs deeper than business. Benzaquen and his family built an important part of their lives in Jakarta, where professional relationships grew into genuine friendships. The city’s intensity is part of its appeal. There is always something changing, moving, or being created. Returning to Pullman was also a return to a community that had become part of his life.
A Front-Row Seat for Jakarta’s Next Chapter
Jakarta’s 500th anniversary in June 2027 offers the city a chance to show visitors a side that is often missed. Beyond its scale and commercial importance, Benzaquen hopes the celebrations will bring greater attention to Jakarta’s history, Betawi traditions, art, food, and creative communities.
Pullman Jakarta Indonesia is well placed to be part of that story. The hotel overlooks Bundaran HI, one of the capital’s most recognizable landmarks, and is exploring Jakarta-inspired dining experiences, work with local artists and producers, themed stays, and city itineraries. Benzaquen also wants the hotel’s team to serve as knowledgeable city ambassadors, helping guests understand what lies behind the modern skyline.
Improved public transport should make that exploration easier. The planned underground connections around Bundaran HI are expected to link the MRT more directly with nearby hotels, offices, shopping centers, and dining areas. For visitors, that means less dependence on cars and a safer, more comfortable way to move around the Thamrin district, especially during heavy traffic, rain, or midday heat.
In Benzaquen’s view, the change could help Thamrin feel less like a group of separate buildings and more like a connected, walkable part of the city.
What Golf Groups Need from a City Hotel
For traveling golfers, location matters, but operations matter just as much. Early tee times, golf bags, group transfers, and different evening plans can quickly become a problem when a hotel does not understand golf travel.
With 427 rooms, extensive dining and meeting facilities, and a central location, Pullman Jakarta Indonesia can accommodate larger groups while still adjusting the stay around individual needs. The team can arrange early breakfasts or takeaway breakfast boxes, coordinate transport schedules, handle golf clubs, organize group check-ins, and help with post-round plans.
After golf, guests can use the spa, fitness center, and swimming pool, or choose between several dining and entertainment options. The setup also works well for couples and mixed groups. While golfers are out on the course, non-playing guests are close to Plaza Indonesia, Grand Indonesia, the MRT, and many of Central Jakarta’s main attractions.
For a first dinner, Benzaquen recommends Kahyangan, one of Jakarta’s established Japanese restaurants. His choice would be the premium beef shabu-shabu, a social meal with a sense of occasion. Guests looking for more theater can choose teppanyaki, with seasonal seafood and Japanese fried rice prepared in front of them. Sana Sini is his alternative for groups that prefer a wider choice of cuisines in one place.
The Jakarta Visitors Often Miss
Asked where he would send someone who had already seen Jakarta’s familiar landmarks, Benzaquen chooses Setu Babakan in South Jakarta. The area offers a closer look at living Betawi culture through traditional architecture, music, performances, and food.
He recommends visiting with a local guide and trying dishes such as soto Betawi and kerak telor, along with bir pletok, a traditional spiced drink. The stories behind the houses, customs, and recipes show Jakarta as a place with its own identity, rather than only a modern megacity.
Leadership Learned from the Ground Up
Benzaquen grew up around hotels and started with summer jobs at resorts. Those early experiences taught him that no operational role is insignificant and no task should be beneath a leader. A guest’s stay is shaped by hundreds of small details, many delivered by people who receive little public recognition.
His time in Canada reinforced another lesson: teams work better when people can speak honestly, question decisions, and offer solutions. In a hotel, the employees closest to the guest often recognize a problem first. Benzaquen sees a leader’s job as creating enough trust for that information to move quickly through the organization.
That means staying visible, listening to the team, and looking at the hotel from both the guest’s and the employee’s point of view. Respect comes from understanding the work, rather than holding the most senior position.
Sport has shaped that approach too. Benzaquen plays golf occasionally, but rugby remains his favorite sport. He sees a clear connection between rugby and hotel leadership: people with different roles and strengths must trust one another, make decisions under pressure, and recover quickly when things go wrong.
You will not win every week in sport or business. What matters is understanding what happened, adjusting, and returning with the same commitment.
For golfers still unsure whether Jakarta belongs in their travel plans, Benzaquen keeps his closing argument simple:
“Come to Jakarta for distinctive golf courses within reach of a five-star urban base, and stay for the food, energy and warmth of a city that offers far more than any scorecard can capture.”
Experience Indonesia’s capital from Pullman Jakarta Indonesia Thamrin CBD as part of a tailor-made Jakarta golf holiday. Golfasian can combine the hotel with Sedayu Indo Golf and other leading Jakarta golf courses, private transfers, and time to explore the city. Contact our team to create an itinerary around your preferred courses, dates, and pace.
