Mohamed Shehata. Mohamed Shehata.

These five finalists will compete for the Unsung Hero of the Year 2012 title in the Hotelier Middle East Awards to be held on October 31 at The Ritz-Carlton DIFC.

Below you will find extracts and testimonials from the shortlisted nominations for each of the five candidates...

Mohamed Shehata, Hilton Alexandria Green Plaza

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About Mohamed
Mohamed joined Hilton Alexandria Green Plaza with the opening of the hotel in late 2002 as the hotels’ tailor. Before that he had owned a small tailor shop, which did not go very well. Mohamed’s main role is to help in maintaining guest room furnishing, fixing depleted curtains; ensuring guests’ cloths are fixed if needed and more. In February he underwent a project of replacing the hotels’ bed skirtings. If the hotel had bought new skirtings from a supplier outside, it would have cost us 25,900.00 EGP. Instead, he made the effort to buy the material and tailor the skirtings internally, thus saving the hotel the amount of 20,500.00 EGP. (A saving of 80%) In June and as the summer was approaching we wanted to refurbish our standing pool umbrellas. To do so, we got many quotations for new covers and found that the suitable ones would cost 3300 EGP. Mohamed then suggested that instead of using an outside supplier, we could buy the material and make it in house. He refurbished 70 umbrellas with the cost of 350 EGP thus saving the hotel 2950 EGP (A saving of 89%) On another note, our colleagues in the Kitchen had a challenge with a suitable cover for their food trolleys that they use to cover the food from our Banquet Kitchen to the Main Kitchen. They used to use plastic wrap to cover the trolley, which could only be used once and was thrown away afterwards. Mohamed decided to make thick plastic covers that can be used regularly and would be easily washed and reused. This not only saved the hotel 2300 EGP per months, but also is a more practical & effective tool to be used.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
Mohamed goes above and beyond duty all the time. Mohamed voluntarily works extra hours just to make sure that any project at hand is done in minimal time. He volunteers to replace our Uniform attendants whenever there is a need. This happens at least once a month. Also, in every event we organized that was specifically themed and needed special costumes for the service team, he made the costumes from scratch (Oldies Night, Greek Night, Pharaonic Night, and more) Above all that, Mohamed creates an atmosphere of celebration on each and every occasion/event that we celebrate. He does this by transforming the hotel premises into the theme that is celebrated. During Ramadan for example, all the lobby, corridors, main restaurant and lobby bar where decorated with colorful fabric, lanterns and lights. Earlier this year, when celebrating Chirstmas, he decorated the hotel with bells, ribbons and a huge Santa Clause with deers. Those are only a couple of examples of the great work he does. He is simply a true example of how a team member can impact the spirit of guests and team members by simply working hard and doing it from the heart.

Testimonials for Mohamed
“Mohamed not only helps around the hotel, but also helps with personal things as well. He helped Aya’s brother buy a needed uniform and fixed her curtain at home. Mai says whenever she needs to fix a piece of clothing, Mohamed is always there for the rescue.” Aya Helmy, executive secretary, and Mai Hassouna, training manager.

“I was staying at the hotel on business and had an important business meeting in 15 minutes. While I was putting on my suit I found out that one of the buttons was missing. I had bought the suit from Italy and was extremely alarmed to notice the button missing! How would I replace it in such short time and be at my meeting on time. Mohamed the tailor miraculously replaced the button in less than 7 minutes with one very similar to an extent that it did not show and my business meeting was saved.” Mr. Mohamed Awad.

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