The Lounge on the reception level of the hotel is the ideal place to meet for business or relax with friends.
Managers' Favourites
Rupprecht Queitsch, GM
1. The enormous size yet the personalised service: For example, the guest room floors are laid out with seven rooms on one side and seven on the other. So we have 800 rooms but as a room attendant you can still have a good relation with the guest. To bring the size to a personalised service — I think we’ve found many good team members who can do that.
2. My Team: At the end of the day what satisfies me most is to see naturally smiling staff. I look them in the eyes and I know they’re happy or I know they’re sad.
| Advertisement |
What I really like here, like I said we are not perfect by any means, but how you make up for it and how when you drop the ball, you pick it up and how you learn, we have some staff members here who really would go through fire for you. They’re really highly engaged. And that’s so motivating. The hardware is nice but the software is really want gives the experience.
3. The Onyx Reception Wall: I love the wall when you come in, the onyx wall behind the front desk. The onyx is from Mexico, then they put it together in Portugal and brought it here.
Bill Keffer, Hotel manager
1. The design of the building itself : [the shape of the two towers is inspired by a date palm tree]. Opening this hotel and getting recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest hotel is quite a statement.
It’s been open two months and it already is an icon of the city from the skyline. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it; I thought it really was one of the coolest designs and it really exemplified this part of the world.
2. Our penthouses are fantastic: They are 660m², two floors, with magnificent views, fully automated control throughout, they have their own massage room, steam shower, the list of amenities could go on and on. We have two in this tower and we will have two in the second tower as well. They have been booked out already.
3. The Ballroom: A ballroom is just usually a box but I think this one, with the thought process behind the technology and just from a design perspective and the ability to do what most people have to pay and work for — to have people come in and change the colour of the ballroom and hang lighting and all that — we can do with the touch of an iPad. I think that’s very unique and a great selling point.
Anthony Tuttle, Director of F&B
1. The diversity of our company and our staff: We’ve got more than 60 different nationalities that work here. And I’m lucky because working with Marriott I’ve been able to see the world so I’ve seen a lot of things that I feel fortunate about.
I’m always interested in the cultures, because I feel that a lot of people are blinded by, and cast opinions on things, that they haven’t experienced.
2. Izakaya:is a little special to my heart. I was the one that came up with the Izakaya wasabi girl concept — a server dressed up with a big green wig that grates fresh wasabi for guests that order sushi — so I’m going to have to give that restaurant a little extra love to make sure that’s a success because if not then I’m going to be the one they ask ‘what were you thinking?’ And it’s fun too and there’s a lot of stuff that we’ll be doing there to make it special.
3. The quality of a hotel from a technology perspective: For example, our ballroom where we can adjust the lights to more than 1000 different colours via iPads.
Or the virtual catwalk that we have in our wine bar where models wear a bracelet which controls the lights. Even being able to play videos in the lifts. And being a big fan of Apple and iPad products, that’s something I’m very proud of.
Yasmin Akhtar, Director of HR
1. The room size: Our bathrooms are lovely, the amenities are great.
2. Spa facilities: Once its fully open, I think that will be a wow in the market.
3. Restaurants: I love food so I enjoy the wide spectrum of cuisines that we have from Indian to Italian to Japanese. I believe the quality that we have in the outlets is very high.
Article continues on next page ...
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
