Stephan Schupbach, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray
About Stephan
Stephan Schupbach joined Jumeirah in May 2006 in the capacity of Hotel Manager for the region’s leading corporate hotel, Jumeirah Emirates Tower. After two and half years he was subsequently promoted in January 2009 to the position of General Manager in Madinat Jumeirah and was responsible for two hotels, Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf. His commitment, passion and inspirational leadership with Jumeirah was rewarded with his appointment as a pre- opening General Manger for the opulent and luxurious, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in June 2010. With over 20 years of international hotel experience, Stephan has a Degree in Industrial Studies from his home town of Aarau, Switzerland. He embarked his career as Sous Chef at The Regent Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong in 1992. He came to the region in 1996 and worked for Al Bustan Rotana Hotel as Executive Sous Chef for two years. Prior to joining Jumeirah, he worked as Resident Manager for One and Only Resorts in Dubai and Maldives. His professional experience also includes prestigious Ritz Carlton hotel Bachelor Gulch in Colorado, San Juan in Puerto Rico and Wolfsburg in Germany. During his career, Stephan has attended several professional development programs to further hone his analytical and strategic skills in association with Cornell University. He has recently attended the program from Institute of Directors in UK and awaiting his certification in November with specialization in Governance, Finance, Strategy and Leadership. Under Stephan’s leadership, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray was bestowed with UAE's Leading Spa Resort for 2011 & 2012, World’s Leading Spa Resort for 2011, by World Travel Award.
Above and beyond the call of duty…
Since its inception, Stephan has ensured that Jumeirah Zabeel Saray achieves local and international recognition, positioning the hotel as an opulent and luxury resort. During the opening of Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, Stephan ensured that the entire Executive team synergized to pave path for the successful opening of the hotel. To strengthen bonds, he organised several activities like Beach Volley ball, swimming competition in main pool of the hotel & Lawn tennis sessions. He personally ensured his presence for all these activities to energize his colleagues and create an enthusiasm and energy that unturned all the stones to achieve the vision of the hotel. Under his leadership, the leaders of the team attended a retreat every quarter reflecting the success achieved in the past and aligning the strategies to achieve the goal and long-term vision. Last quarter the team had the opportunity to experience competition and stay in different hotels in Abu Dhabi with their families. This allowed all the colleagues to not only understand the competition but also have the time to spend some great moments with families. In each retreat, he wrote handwritten personalized thank you cards for the colleagues highlighting their success and achievements which raised their motivation further to outperform themselves. He is also conscious of his social responsibility towards the community. His swift action and passion has our team and Zabeel Saray up front and center on several community and corporate responsibility programs. Children of the Mountain is a program that works to provide safe and secure schools, identify children not attending school and support them to gain an education in Nepal. Stephan has leaded the way and ensured we play a role in any way possible, even making COTM programs a key charitable focus for our property. Working with the JZS team with plans and hopes to raise awareness, raise funds and support the foundation not just for a one off event or fundraiser, however building a long term plan that can see our efforts and continues sustained in order to “make a real difference”. Stephan leaves no stone unturned when it comes to ‘getting involved his team involved” more recently he supported our property to enter a team into the Global Corporate challenge – providing a measurable benefit to increase the health and wellbeing of the team members and foster a work force with improved spirit and morale. Emiratization has been one of Stephan’s key Human Resources strategies.
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Testimonials for Stephan
“Mr Stephan Schupabch is the most amazing person one could meet. As a Hotel Manager he is unbelievable . . . He is everywhere, misses nothing big or small. Every detail is spotted, supervised, and followed through to a successful conclusion, for his guests. He manages to create a very friendly, warm atmosphere among his staff, while at the same time earning enormous respect from them all. In all a great man that does a fabulous job. One in a Million.” Diana Roche, regular guest of Jumeirah.
“An inspiration for leadership, success and completion for Hospitality Industry- Stephan Schupbach has hereby reached top class Management. This lasting and standing impression Stephan has left on my family and myself is why I recommend him for the prestigious General Manager Award of the year 2012. The responsiveness and feeling that I can always be assured that I’ve made the right choice selecting Stephan's hotel makes him the right candidate. The Opening of Jumeirah Zabeel Saray sets an example to the extraordinary- nothing is impossible! Stephan reaches out to the guests in a different level- he reads the wishes off guests lips- provides high understanding not only of the core in his hotel, but has proven daily that he knows every single facette of the game, may it be the culinary or the entertainment front.” Dr. De Brabandt, regular guest.
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