From Mr. Fix-its to the department with all the power, engineers explain why their roles have changed over the past 10 years and how they are saving properties more money than any other department.

Hotel engineers cover a multitude of roles — from overseeing the general maintenance of the property, to dealing with emergencies, electricity, plumbing, and even painting.

But despite the level of responsibility involved in the role, chief engineers were, until recently, viewed as the head of a group of ‘Mr. Fix-its’ — handymen who were there to solve problems, but never seen as partners in business.

Story continues below
Advertisement

However, thanks to the development of engineering strategies, the emergence of larger-scale hotel properties and the focus on ‘going green’, engineers have carved out a niche for themselves as multi-tasking colleagues, who are capable of saving the properties they work in serious amounts of money.

During this month’s roundtable, held at the Club Lounge of the InterContinental Dubai Festival City, chief engineers and directors of engineering report that they have seen a shift in power over recent years; making their department one of the few that can impact on the bottom line and implement energy-saving programmes.

The engineers who contributed to the roundtable have a wealth of experience; several of them have been in the field for more than 20 years, and some of them are responsible for the engineering in a cluster of properties.

Joining the roundtable discussion were director of engineering at the Courtyard by Marriott Dubai Green Community and Marriott Executive Apartments Dubai Creek, Wael Farouk — who has been with Marriott for all 14 years of his hotel career; Coral Deira Dubai chief engineer Abraham John — who worked for IHG for 24 years before moving to Coral Deira; Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Media City chief engineer Nicholas Fernandez — who has been in the UAE for the last 12 years working in hotel engineering; Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach director of engineering Srilal Palilhakkara — who is looking after a cluster of hotels including Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait; IHG properties Dubai Festival City’s Gilles Despres — who currently oversees the engineering for more than 1000 rooms; Hyatt Regency Dubai and Park Hyatt Dubai director of engineering Ashroff Shakoor — who has been with Hyatt for more than 20 years; and Sakher Al Karmi, chief engineer for Al Manzil and Qamardeen hotels — who was previously with Marriott for 11 years, and Le Méridien for nine years.

The engineers were joined by representatives from the roundtable sponsor Emerson; Amitesh Singh and K.Jaykumar.