Pascal Gadet shares a joke with the management team, all of whom have been working at Hotel Missoni Kuwait for two years. Pascal Gadet shares a joke with the management team, all of whom have been working at Hotel Missoni Kuwait for two years.

Meet the team: Sales, HR and Rooms

Katrin Kuhn
Director of human resources
Hotel Missoni is the biggest employer of Italians in Kuwait. To entice them to move from their home country to Kuwait, Katrin Kuhn says it was “about creating an exciting platform for getting an extraordinary experience and exposure”. They will be motivated to stay, she adds, “by our ‘VITA’ way of life that we practice every day”.

“Furthermore we provide excellent, close-by, top quality, full-service accommodation, English classes and further development programmes. We also work together with Italian hotel schools which provide us with trainees — a first in Kuwait.” says Kuhn.

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When asked about the costs of recruiting European staff, Kuhn adds: “It is all relative and we do not look at it from a pure cost point of view, but more from a USP and revenue-generating angle. In addition, having a large contingency of young Italians adds to the authenticity of this exciting new hotel brand”.

Hilal Saadé
Director of sales and marketing
The man responsible for promoting Hotel Missoni to the market is focused on driving sales through a variety of avenues.

The brand exhibits at all the international trade fairs — including this month’s ATM — is tied up with a variety of trade partners, such as XO Private Collection, Kiwi Collection and JG Black Book, and also focuses heavily on direct business in the local Kuwait market. Online is also a powerful tool for the hotel, says Saadé.

“The targeted online business so far is 35%. But as a new brand in the Middle East as well as a new hotel in Kuwait, our strategy is to first position the hotel for the niche market, volume will come later. Seeing is believing,” says Saadé.

Elsa Lahoude, director of rooms
For Elsa Lahoude, the priority is ensuring that, just as with all other areas of service, housekeeping “happens seamlessly in our hotel”. Like Gadet, she says “we’re off our trolley”, but won’t be drawn as to the secrets of Missoni’s luxury service.

When it comes to her favourite features of the hotel, Lahoude says: “There are too many to mention, I would say the clever usage of the space and, of course, ‘The Cappuccino Bed’, which ensures a soft landing followed by a guaranteed solid sleep, including pleasant dreams...”