HOTELIER AWARDS 2013: Engineer finalists revealed
With just one month to go until the Hotelier Middle East Awards are held at the world’s tallest hotel, JW Marriott Marquis Dubai on October 30, it is time to unveil the shortlist. In total, 90 hoteliers across 18 individual awards categories have been shortlisted, along with five hotel teams for the coveted Team of the Year Award.
Here we unveil the finalists for Hotel Engineer of the Year Award, which was won last year by George Fares, director of engineering at Jumeirah Zabeel Saray. This year the award is sponsored by Diversey, part of the Sealed Air Group and a leading brand of sustainable cleaning, sanitation and hygiene solutions.
Paul Aychouh, director of engineering, Al Bustan Rotana Dubai
ABOUT PAUL
Paul Aychouh first joined Rotana in 2000 as part of the pre-opening team of the Gefinor Rotana Hotel in Beirut, having previously worked for various engineering companies across Lebanon. In 2002, Aychouh was promoted by the hotel to assistant chief engineer before being transferred to the Al Bustan Rotana in 2004. In 2006, he became the property’s chief engineer, working his way to his current role in 2008. Since joining the Al Bustan Rotana Dubai, Aychouh has spearheaded a laundry water recycling project which reduced the hotel’s water consumption by 7% in 2012.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
As part of his water conservation initiative, Aychouh installed water aerators in all guest rooms, with water sensors installed across the hotel’s public areas and staff lockers. The hotel’s laundry water usage was also drastically reduced by reclaiming and treating 100% of the hotel’s wastewater. Aychouh also led the hotel’s “Electricity Consumption Reduction”, conducting a full energy use audit across the hotel and installed motion sensors in back of the house areas and inside mechanical rooms to save energy.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Paul Aychouh is a true blooded hotelier – he is an expert in his field and he has the commitment to deliver only the best at all times. He always looks for opportunities to make things better and his quest for continuous learning and development with the goal to provide and execute brilliant ideas is admirable. I sincerely hope he wins this award as this will serve as an inspiring acknowledgement for his commitment not only at Al Bustan Rotana but in the hotel industry in general.” Hussein Hachem, cluster general manager, Al Bustan Rotana Dubai and Al Murooj Rotana Dubai.
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Rajeev Chopra, director of engineering, Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi
ABOUT RAJEEV
Rajeev Chopra, a mechanical engineer specializing in HVAC worked as a senior project engineer for Utility Engineers and India Tourism Development Corporation until 1990, executing specialised projects such as the air-conditioning for India’s first 17km metro railway tunnel. In 1990, Chopra joined Oberoi Hotels in New Delhi before progressing to the role of director of engineering in 1993. In 1997, he moved to join Sheraton Kuwait as director of engineering and worked as part of the team that renovated the hotel. Chopra remained in Kuwait until 2007 when he moved to Dubai to join Rotana Hotels and work as part of the pre-opening team of both the Amwaj Rotana and Arjaan Rotana hotels. In 2009 Chopra was promoted to the flagship Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi and was named as one of the highly commended engineers at the Hotelier Middle East Awards 2012.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Chopra worked throughout 2012 to lower costs at the Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi. For example, he initiated the hotel’s Energy Conservation Committee aimed at introducing ways for the hotel to conserve energy such as implementing motion sensors across the public area toilets and guest corridors in the 23 floors of the apartment tower. Within the past eighteen months, Chopra has also successfully handled major maintenance projects including renovating Prego's restaurant, which was completed two days early, replacing the wooden flooring inside Brauhaus and remodeling Zen the spa. In total, twenty-one projects were completed across the hotel over the Ramadan period, costing a total of over five million Dirhams. Chopra’s latest project is to implement a composting machine for the Beach Rotana to reduce waste as part of its corporate social responsibility plan, the first in Abu Dhabi.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Rajeev Chopra a pillar to the hotel operation and always handles projects in the hotel in a timely manner. Rajeev an excellent expert in his field, continuously contributes to reducing the utilities expenses. He’s constantly in the loop of new technology and has a 3 to 5 year vision with repairs/ maintenance/upgrades. He has highlighted and worked on several areas that affect positively the savings in the hotel (sensor projects, LED, etc). Rajeev leads his team and always encourages and support them. He has built a “can do” attitude within his team and this is well reflected in all his colleagues. The entire team is proud and I encourage him to keep on with the great job that he is doing and hope he will continue to ‘WOW’ our expectations.” Naji Esta, Executive Assistant Manager.
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Regi Thomas, engineering manager, The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal
ABOUT REGI
Regi Thomas started his career in hospitality at the Renaissance Mumbai Hotel and Convention Centre in 2000 as engineering supervisor. In 2003 Thomas joined the JW Marriott Kuwait as engineering supervisor, a position he held until 2010. Thomas first joined The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal as engineering manager in August 2012.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
As part of the pre-opening team for The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal, Thomas worked tirelessly to ensure a smooth handover from the hotel contractors. Thomas created a detailed snag list for all of the hotel’s 557 guest rooms and villas which he sent, along with detailed photos, to the contracting team. After multiple attempts, with the snags still not completely eliminated, Thomas took it upon himself and his team to start rectifying the snags and managed to clear six out of 10 main buildings as well as 50 of the hotel’s 85 villas, thus playing instrumental part in facilitating the opening of the hotel.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Regi has been more than an able assistant to me and is a very proactive, responsible, hardworking and effective leader. He is loved and respected by all not only in the department but in other departments as well. The mere fact that he receives more than 120 calls per day on his mobile phone is itself a testimony that people prefer talking to him and ensure that the job gets done in a timely manner.” Ayub Khan, director of engineering, The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal
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Andrew Astley, chief engineer, Al Qasr, Madinat Jumeirah
ABOUT ANDREW
Before joining the Madinat Jumeirah in 2011 as chief engineer, Astley spent 23 years as an engineer in the Royal Navy. During his time at sea, Astley had to take on many challenges and learn life saving skills such as becoming a damage control training officer who developed and taught all members of the Royal Navy how to fight fires and save a sinking ship. He was also the auxiliaries and hotel services group director on HMS Chatham, providing the warship with electricity, water, sanitation, refrigeration and hydraulics in order to ensure the team residing on the ship could work and live properly as well as welcoming VIP guests such as Prince Charles.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
After joining the hotel, Astley has taken on many projects to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness such as working with HR, laundry and contractors, to oversee the manufacture of a new washer system that was custom-built for the hotel comprising of a conveyer, tunnel washer, hydraulic press, and automatic feeder for 4 dryers. While structural changes to the walls and doorways had to be undertaken to remove the old dryer, the project took just 24 days to implement, with the new system producing a 38% reduction in cost, saving AED 936,842 in its first five months while processing 1200 Kg of laundry per hour. The engineering team were also tasked with coming up a new idea for the hotel’s award-winning and Friday brunch which could be designed and built in-house. The result was a gondola 7m long for Italian food that sits over a water feature and can accommodate three chefs with safety features to allow for live pasta and Thai cooking station. The team were able to save the hotel AED 25,000 by building in-house, while a sense of pride was instilled amongst the engineers in being able to showcase their skills.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“On 11 January I received an emergency call from Burj Al Arab Engineering Department to assist with a serious flooding that occurred at Majlis Al Bahar. It was a particularly stormy day coupled with an extremely high tide and high waves which had reached all the way to the footpath between Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Burj Al Arab and Madinat Jumeirah. I was asked for the aquarium team’s support to provide piping and pumps to assist with moving the water. I arranged this with the aquarium’s engineer and then headed to the location. I was shocked to see the amount of water that had flooded the area; the situation was far worse than I had anticipated. Luckily, Chief Engineer Andrew Astley, was present and had complete control of the situation coordinating teams from Mina A’Salam Hotel, Dar Al Masyaf Hotel, Al Qasr Hotel, Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Burj Al Arab. Andrew organised the teams to remove the water, and coordinated positioning of pumps and pipes to remove the water quickly and effectively.
“Upon arrival it was hard for me to visualize where to start but Andrew knew exactly what to do and the situation was quickly under control. The water level reduced at speed which allowed Majlis Al Bahar to return to normality. This event was a positive example of the team from each property coming together to work as one big team with a common goal in mind. Andrew should be congratulated for his calm and efficient control of the event as it was surely his knowledge, strategy and leadership that significantly reduced damage and allowed things to return to normal in the fastest possible time.” David Robinson, assistant aquarium operations manager, Burj Al Arab
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Anand Mungre, assistant chief engineer, Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi
ABOUT ANAND
After completing a Bachelors degree in Engineering at Regional Engineering College, India, Mungre moved to Dubai in 2005 to become a HVAC project manager for a MEP company that worked with Raffles Dubai. Mungre then made the move to work for the hotel in 2009, and after earning a post graduate degree in Facilities Management at Harriot Watt University, Dubai, Mungre joined The Address Dubai Mall before moving to the Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi in 2012.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
With the Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi being built next to a race track, Mungre has worked extensively to reduce noise pollution by replacing the hotel room’s balcony doors. The Yas Viceroy also has a intricate Gridshell design consisting of a system of cables that can become loose and need to be refitted/replaced. Mungre worked with a team of specialist abseilers to ensure that all were replaced or secured ahead of this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Mr. Anand has been an exemplary member of staff who has achieved a great deal since joining the hotel. He made remarkable changes on every detail of our daily operations which his team are happy to follow. His maintenance work is exceptional and he delivers excellent results. Anand is a leader who has a good understanding of building systems and budgeting. He always brings intelligent and insightful thoughts to the process and is knowledgeable is all aspects of engineering.” Feliz M. Reyes, junior duty engineer.