Nicholas Fernandez, Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Media City

About Nicholas
Nicholas Fernandez joined the Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Media City in 2006 and climbed up the career ladder quickly due to his passion, hard work and commitment. He was promoted within six months of joining the hotel to the position of engineering supervisor and again in 2007 to the post of assistant chief engineer. He became chief engineer in 2008. One of his earliest challenges was the opening of the hotel’s East Tower, an additional 125 rooms added to the existing 121rooms of the property. His contribution being part of the task force helped in this transition. He is a great inspiration to his team and is very well respected by all his team members. Nicholas has motivated and trained several of his staff members and contributed greatly to their career growth within the department. This also reflects in the company’s annual employee survey, known as Climate Analysis. Nicholas’ departmental score showed high results at 90.8% for the year 2011, clearly highlighting his leadership qualities in managing and motivating his team. The Engineering department is now one the hotels department with minimum staff turnover of 0.43%.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
Nicholas has developed the hotel’s roundabout, a onetime investment with zero utility cost. With the help of solar lighting and condensate water the roundabout is one of the first eco-friendly areas around. This is one of the leading examples of the hotel’s Responsible Business activities. Nicholas designed a simple system by which the Engineering Department is able to collect the condensate water from the hotels large air-conditioning units. The water collected is not only being used for the roundabout but also for the hotel’s water features and lobby fountains. Due to the large amounts of water being collected in the summer months he has had the water chemically tested and passed so that it can be diverted to the hotels tanks for further use. It was Nicholas’s initiative to coordinate and execute an annual visit to an autism centre as a part of the hotel’s various RB activities. Along with his entire engineering team they serviced the air-conditioning units and helped with any technical assistance needed – all free of charge. He is one of the pioneers of a special campaign called The Box Appeal which provides Dubai’s construction sector workers. This program now runs successfully and annually for the Rezidor Hotel Group ever since it was initiated in 2009. The campaign has exceeded its expectation with over Dh 2 million worth of donation collected which was just the start. Nicholas has been instrumental in our community and environment efforts which are a part of our annual Responsible Business campaign. His ability to inspire teams and constantly lead new ideas has worked very well within the last years. Several path-breaking decisions and initiatives are led by Nicholas and impact of these decisions is far reaching.

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Testimonial for Nicholas
“Nicholas has been instrumental in driving our community and environmental efforts which are an important part of our annual Responsible Business Plan. His ability to inspire his team and come up with new ideas has lead to some great initiatives over the years.” Francois Galoisy, hotel general manager.