Pelling's pre-opening diary
St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort GM John Pelling has been busy recruiting staff, entertaining press and bonding with the team, who he hopes will forgive a small ‘white lie’
We are into July and things are getting hot in more than one sense. We’ve had our first recruitment day; a job well done.
We sent a direct mail to a large local database and asked interested candidates to apply by first answering a few position-relevant questions online. We received several hundred CVs and asked those we were interested in to attend interviews.
A few years ago, Abu Dhabi was, perhaps, considered a second choice behind Dubai as a desirable place to work, but, encouragingly, it seems the tide has turned and people now view Abu Dhabi with much excitement.
The candidates were also impressed with the excellent accommodation that TDIC is providing, some of the best I have seen in the UAE. A good result with many people hired. Next stop Asia, then Russia and Latin America, for our recruitment trips.
TDIC hosted a press event to launch the St. Regis-branded villas. These villas are for sale at between AED 22 million (US $6m) and AED 25 million ($6.8m), and the service that St. Regis will offer will hopefully add value to these beautiful homes.
We were asked to provide an elegant St. Regis experience for the press in the show villa, with sophisticated food served by the renowned St. Regis butlers. Not as easy as it might sound considering we don’t yet have a single piece of equipment, uniform or, indeed, butler! What was pleasing for me was the creativity, resourcefulness and teamwork of the senior managers.
They put together a fantastic opening event. The owner was happy and we got tremendous coverage.
We have also held a St. Regis immersion for the team. We are very proud of the St. Regis name, so it is essential that everyone fully understands the history, values and style of the brand.
This was also an opportunity for us to enjoy a team dinner, our first real chance to do this. In the sincere interests of team bonding, I’m ashamed to reveal that I told the team a small “white lie”.
They were led to believe that it was a recently established tradition at the hotel for newly arrived executives to sing a song in their mother tongue to their colleagues at the first possible social gathering.
I have a team consisting of people from Albania, Holland, Portugal, Lebanon and India to name just a few, and I can confirm that the Eurovision Song Contest is like an amateur night compared to the talents of the St. Regis management.