The Adelaide Marriott Hotel is about to interview over 800 people for a select number of jobs as it prepares to open in September - and applicants had better think fast.

The 5-star hotel is looking to fill over 130 positions, with the hotel’s general manager Paul Gallop telling CityMag 850 people would be fighting it out for a job.

“We’ve got 250 people on a waitlist, and if someone cancels you see the space get taken immediately,” Paul says.

“It’s pretty brutal. You’ll come into the hotel, you’ll have three initial questions, and just dependant on how you answer those questions, then you’ll proceed through to the next round, which will be a maximum 10-minute interview.

“If you’re successful in that interview, then you’ll have a final interview with the department head relevant to the area you’re looking at.”

For those in attendance, don’t lose hope if you don’t leave tomorrow with a job offer. Paul says those unsuccessful will be added to a shortlist for later review.

“When you’re doing 850 people through, you’ve got to find a way to get to the very best as quick as you can, but still brutal at the same time,” he says.

“We’ve got a job to do and that’s to find the very, very best people.”

Paul says attitude is everything as he heads into the recruitment drive.

“We would always be searching for attitude over any experience.

“Hotels really are just four walls, and it’s the people inside those four walls that make it what it is. People don’t remember the hotel room. People remember the people and the experiences that they had.”

The hospitality industry is an undeniably difficult place to be in right now, with closures being announced what feels like daily. But Paul says he is confident the new hotel will not fall victim to the crisis.

“We are very optimistic. First of all we have a product that has just exceeded my expectations no end, every time I go into that hotel it gets better and better. So from a product perspective, we’re certainly going to have one of the very best hotels in South Australia,” he says.

“We think that the hotel will, from day one, be very busy. Mr Marriott will often say ‘if you build it, they will come’.

“There’s a lot of growth in South Australia, so we can help fuel that growth at the same time with our network. We’re the largest hospitality company in the world with over 8800 hotels across the world.

“If I have a concern it is that the hotel is so good that it’s on us now to make sure that the people in our hotel are the very best.”

With an open date that keeps coming forward as the hotel progresses (currently set for September), the 15-storey Marriott Hotel will see 285 guestrooms, more than 535 square metres of meeting and event space, and an 18-metre indoor swimming pool.

“When you’re setting up a hotel right from day one you’re very lucky with your culture,” Paul says.

“That first opening culture really sets it for years to come. The beauty about opening a new hotel is you’ve got this excitement, storytelling, and trust comes pretty quickly.”