Ankur Bagga, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai
About Ankur
Ankur Bagga, the Chief Concierge at Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai and Second Vice President, Les Clefs d’Or, in the U.A.E joined Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai on January 8, 2012. Prior to that, he was the Head Concierge at Clontarf Castle Hotel, Dublin, Ireland and Assistant Secretary, Les Clefs d’Or, Ireland. Ankur was welcomed to Atlantis as Chief Concierge after spending almost 9 years in Dublin, Ireland. In Dublin, Ankur worked for the prestigious Clontarf Castle Hotel as Head Concierge from 2008 through to 2011 before which he held the role of the Concierge of Clontarf Castle Hotel from 2006 through to 2008. Ankur’s association and membership with the International Les Clefs d’Or continued on from Dublin to Dubai and he successfully made the transition from Assistant Secretary, les Clefs d’Or, Ireland to 2nd Vice President, Les Clefs d’Or, U.A.E in a very short time span.
Above and beyond…
Upon joining Atlantis, The Palm, Ankur immediately focused on building the Concierge brand and has been instrumental in key Activities including his appointment as the resort’s representative as a World Concierge for Etihad Luxury Holidays’ World Concierge Program. He has been featured in City Tourist Guide a few times, including once with his entire Concierge Team and was also presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from RTA for his team’s continuous support of RTA’s initiatives. Traditionally quarterly Standard Operating Procedures training is conducted on property. However, Ankur utilized his creative skills and local connections to organize the first off property training session for the Concierge Team at Dubai Autodrome. Training took place in the race driver’s meeting room at the pit stop and the day was filled with various team building exercises such as outdoor karting, Audi TT Experience, Laser Tagging and a show around, all courtesy of Dubai Autodrome. Ankur’s next training scheduled in September is themed ‘On The Move’ will be held on a state-of-the-art Mercedes bus equipped with LCD screens, iPads and will involve a Dubai City tour and additional surprises. Training sessions of this nature have really boosted the team’s motivation and given them a sense of being part of a dynamic team. This forms a part of creative thinking to do things differently instead of the usual norm. The S.O.P Training Satisfaction Survey results were entirely positive and the team was clearly motivated to perform to their best ability. In a short period of time, Ankur established key contacts within the industry and U.A.E which have enabled him and his team to exceed the expectations of our guests. This was evident when Ankur effortlessly planned an itinerary for an overnight guest which included a private skydive trip with speedboat pickup, a private Formula 1 Single Seater driving experience at Dubai Autodrome, and Lamborghini rental.
Testimonials
Ankur’s buoyant spirit and positive disposition make him a joy to work with. He is exceptional with guests and has a natural desire to serve. This is evident in the numerous guests correspondence received raving about the outstanding service that he has rendered. An organized methodical thinker with strong administrative and organizational skills, Ankur has made a tremendous contribution to the Department since joining. He has led the team to record results in both JDPowers and Internal Mystery Shops. In a relatively short period of time, he has successfully built great relationships and identified key players within the local community. He has been consistently involved with both the local Concierge Association as well as the Les Clefs d’or UAE chapter and was recently elected 2nd Vice President with Les Clefs d'or. Relentless in his quest to deliver extraordinary service, Ankur ensures that he keeps abreast of industry trends and makes all efforts to maximize the efficiency of his team members. He is focused on their development and consistently utilizes his networking skills, to expose them to all that the exciting city of Dubai has to offer. Ankur also understands the importance of maintaining the team’s morale and ensures that they are consistently recognized for their contributions. Upon joining the Department, one of the team’s concerns was the lack of incentives. Ankur immediately tackled this, which indirectly improved the services offered by the team. He is well respected and truly an inspiration for them. Tenacious, hardworking, innovative and reliable, Ankur is confidently leading the Atlantis the Palm’s Concierge team to success and is strongly recommended for the Hotelier Award.
From Daphne Brookes, Director, Guest Services, Atlantis the Palm
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“When we talk about a lifestyle concierge, we always think of an individual who has spent at least a few years in the same country/city allowing him an opportunity to get to know the area, people, culture etc. What’s extraordinary in this scenario is the fact that Ankur relocated to Dubai and joined Atlantis the Palm Dubai on January 08th 2012 from Dublin (Ireland). We naturally assumed that he would require a great deal of time to familiarize himself with the city of Dubai, UAE’s culture and then slowly assimilate with his multinational team. Ankur however pleasantly surprised everyone at Atlantis the Palm Dubai, and gave the impression that he had done his homework back in Dublin prior to coming to Dubai. In fact he networked with various Chief Concierges in Dubai BEFORE moving here. In a period of 6 months Ankur managed to be elected 2nd vice president of the concierge association in UAE, Les Clefs d'Or. He improved JD power scores in a consistent manner, increasing the YTD to 852 in comparison to the same time period last year of 840 YTD. Ankur fostered team spirit through a various activities and events for all Dubai concierge (chiefs and employees), gaining their trust and full respect which assisted him with his election to 2nd vice president. There are leaders in life who follow other leader’s footsteps and try to achieve the same results. Ankur however has set his own identity and welcomed others to follow in his footsteps. The focus is not ‘what he can do’ but rather “what can be done as a concierge team”. A great example of this is Max Mwangi (concierge agent) who was granted membership to the Dubai Concierge group and is now being prepared by Ankur for the prestigious Clefs d'Or pins. These accomplishments lead me to the words of Steve Jobs “your time is limited, so don’t waste it in living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma –which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary “These words represent Ankur who has made us all proud of a true chief concierge being excellent through serving excellence.
From Mohamed Samir El Sayed, Executive Assistant Manager, Rooms at Atlantis, the Palm
Ankur is an excellent leader to work with. He is straight forward and extremely professional in the way that he interacts with the guests. This is resplendent in the fact that while at the desk, in his absence I have had to contend with numerous guests who have felt compelled to leave him gifts and thank you notes as tokens of appreciation for great service rendered. A true testament of a satisfied guest. As a leader he has displayed a keen ear to the unique needs of his staff and goes the extra mile to meet those needs for every individual which leaves the staff with a great impression that he is considerate. Barely under a year in the Emirate, Ankur is no longer new to Dubai. He is impressive and fun to work with as he has a wealth of knowledge and contacts hence no guest need is ever beyond our reach. My manager Ankur Bagga is respectable and is a leader that I can look up to because he is true to his words and is reliable. For as long as he keeps it up, our team will definitely go a long way.
From Max Mwangi, Concierge, Atlantis the Palm, Dubai
I would like to nominate Ankur Bagga as a stand out performer for Concierge of the year. Since Ankur commenced at the Atlantis the palm, he has made an immediate impact with his can do attitude and pleasant and guest focused approach Ankur is a true professional who strives on over delivering and ensuring that guests expectations are exceeded every time. Ankur is a pleasure to deal with no request too much of an issue. In summary, Ankur is an asset to the hotel in one of the most important and critical positions within the property. I wish him well in the Hotelier Middle East Awards.
From James Wyndham, Vice president of Guest Relations at Atlantis.
As a colleague and Guest Services Manager, I have worked closely with Ankur for over seven months. Ankur is diligent and highly motivated to his work. His solid quest for excellence became apparent when helped to develop and implement several customer services initiates at the Concierge that smoothed out the bottlenecks in service execution enabling team members and stakeholders to do literally twice as much in half the time. His contribution in sprucing the Concierge’s networking with Travel partners in a short space of time is stupendous. Highly contentious in planning, follow through and organization of projects, Ankur delivers proactive solutions in highly competitive and the most challenging Concierge desk which resulted in positive customer feedback, great customer retention and a value addition to guest experiences. His achievements go beyond the mainly professional. His unique blend of humor and positive energy makes him an ideal candidate to deal with problematic guests or highly sensitive situations. I have always known him to treat others with compassion, respect, understanding and professionalism. I am always excited, ignited and galvanized when we are working together. With no doubt he is indeed, “The art of Concierge”. Based on my experience working with him at Atlantis, I recommend his hard work and dedication in bringing the Concierge network the Les Clef D’or together, not only of Dubai but of the entire UAE.
From Tinashe Muvavarirwa, Manager of Guest Services at Atlantis, the Palm
Hi Ankur, It was a pleasure meeting you at the Palm, we really appreciated all your help and service. We couldn't thank you enough for all the great places you recommended to us. I think we brought back some of the desert heat with us, it's actually warm here! The past few days were 10-15 degrees but today is a lot warmer. If you ever make it out to New York, please do let us know, we can show you what New York is all about! Take care!
-Amisha, a guest from New Jersey
Dear Lubbie Many thanks for arranging the show-round yesterday ... our visitors were most impressed and would still be gazing at the fish if they hadn't had a flight to get yesterday evening! Ankur was excellent, personable and very informative. A great asset to Atlantis. Thanks again.
Best regards Kathi Everden, Editorial Consultant
Hi James, Sharon and I would like to thank you for organizing the show around on Friday. It was indeed an excellent experience as usual. Please pass on our special thanks to Ankur, who indeed did a fantastic job and has a wealth of knowledge about the property. Regards, Moin Anwar Director Trade and Investment (Middle East) Government of New South Wales, Australia Excellent concierge staff congratulations to Mr. Ankur Bagga.
From Jennifer Haley a Guest at Atlantis
Ankur Bagga was excellent our onward transfer did not turn up and he liaised with the company to get it all sorted, he arranged transport from Atlantis and organized the funding directly with them, we didn’t have to worry about a thing, thank you to him!
From Karen Davies, a guest at Atlantis in July 2012.
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