Gordon MacKenzie, GM of the Ramada Plaza Doha hotel, is finalising the rebranding of the hotel to the Radisson Blu flag. At the same time, he has an even bigger task ahead of him: finalising a man-made beach hotel in Doha city centre. Shane McGinley reports
Gordon MacKenzie, general manager of the Ramada Plaza Doha hotel, is a big fan of meteors and geology, evident from the extensive collection of colourful rocks on display in his office at the hotel.
As we finish the formal business of the interview, he shows me some meteorological charts and gives a monologue of how the planets are part of a vast solar system and the Earth is just one small grain of sand on the shoreline that is the galaxy.
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It seems his strive to understand the extent of the universe we live in is beaten only by his desire to make an impact on the Gulf state he has called home for nearly a quarter of a century.
As manager of Doha’s largest food and beverage hotel venue, he is set to turn the hospitality market in Qatar upside down as he manages his owner’s latest ambitious and headline grabbing project: a man-made beach resort right in the middle of Doha’s skyscraper laden city centre.
“We don’t have a beach [at Ramada Plaza Doha], but we are going to rectify that with our new hotel. We are having a beach there in the middle of the city centre. We are having a wave pool and it’s going to be absolutely magic,” he says excitedly of the project being developed by Ghanem Al Thani Holdings.
“It will be a water-themed hotel, with water at the front and a river running all the way through reception [under a] glass floor, all the way out the back, to culminate in a waterfall and a wave pool.
“It will be absolutely magic. It will be a man-made beach… It is going to be fun, it will be challenging and it will be an attraction,” he adds.
With 365 rooms and banqueting for 2500 people, MacKenzie is also planning another forward-thinking element for the project: golf. “It will also have an 18-hole putting green. The majority of hotels (have) nine holes, but we are going the full 18.”
The grand opening is scheduled for around August or September next year, but he is reluctant to reveal yet who the hotel operator will be, with around three potential partners currently in the loop.
“It is quite a tender subject but at the same time you have to think about your owner and the consequences of joining a particular company, so we are in the throes of negotiations at the moment,” he explains.
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