HOTELIER AWARDS 2013: IT Person of the Year
With not long 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 now time to unveil the shortlists of IT experts who are up for the IT Person of the Year award, sponsored by Prologic First, the hotel management software solutions company:
Anita Julie Lobo, IT manager, Holiday Inn Kuwait
ABOUT ANITA
Anita Lobo began her career as an IT Coordinator at Safir Hotels and Resorts in 1994. Having always wanted to work in the hospitality field from a young age, she took a Bachelors of Communication in IT from the University of Mumbai, before eventually becoming IT Manager for the pre-opening of Holiday Inn Kuwait in Salmiyah. Since then, she received her Master’s in Technology Management from the Monash University of Australia and during her time at Safir and Holiday Inn, Anita has been responsible for no less than 9 hotel pre-openings including two properties in Egypt, three properties in the UAE, two in Kuwait, one in Algeria and one in Lebanon.
WHY WAS SHE NOMINATED?
In 2012, Anita enrolled Holiday Inn Kuwait in TripAdvisor. Once the hotel was enrolled, the hotel was ranked at number 20 before moving to number nine in 2013. One of the factors that catapulted the hotel to its current ranking is the iPad solution that Anita implemented; where guests are presented with an iPad to submit a TripAdvisor review upon pickup from the airport, check in or checkout. This practice has since been selected as an International Hotels Group (IHG) best practice hotel solution. Anita also initiated the IT Academy, which is the first of its kind in Kuwait and in the Gulf, where she personally provides Microsoft Office workshops to colleagues on a quarterly basis. As a result of the IT Academy and colleagues cross training in her department under her guidance, three of her colleagues in the past 15 months have been promoted or had the opportunity to transfer to another IHG property.
WHAT DID HER TEAM SAY?
“Anita Lobo has a can do attitude. I’ve worked closely with her for over 5 years. She never fails to impress me with her innovative ideas and her creativity. She has a strong drive for results. She goes above and beyond her duties and is always assisting the Front Office department during busy times by escorting guests to their rooms or helping out with any other task.” Mostafa El Fiki, front office manager
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Krishnaraj Jayaram, assistant IT manager, Crowne Plaza Bahrain
ABOUT KRISHNARAJ
Khrishnaraj started off his IT career in 2001 as sale & customer support engineer for Guideline Innovations, India before moving to tech company Acer Middle East in 2004. He took the jump into hospitality in 2008 to become the asst IT manager at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bahrain, where he has shown a positive attitude and professionalism and developed good relationships with his internal and external customers.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Krishna recently took on the task of upgrading of the hotel’s guest network, which involved transitioning from the old network, increasing its operational speed, all while maintaining operational costs. Khrishnaraj managed to set up the new network parallel to the existing network before pulling it down to ensure no downtime for the hotel’s guests, while he also took on the responsibility to do a market survey of internet providers in Bahrain to source an Internet Service Provider who faster speeds for the hotel, increasing bandwidth from 4Mbps to 20Mbps for the same price.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Krishna is an individual that oozes confidence, he is available around the clock for guest IT support and whenever myself or my team have any computer related issues he is every ready to provide assistance. I have personally received plenty of positive comments about his work both with our guests and our team and along with his positive attitude he is a pleasure to deal with, a real gentleman and I look forward to working with him for many years to come.” Brendon Rozario Assistant Front Office Manager
WHAT DID HIS SUPPLIERS SAY?
“I would like to appreciate on behalf of Kanoo IT to Crown Plaza’s IT Team’s sincere efforts and co-operation regarding the IT projects especially the entire wireless infrastructure project and IT security solutions that specially Krishnaraj has been extending care during these projects. My team and myself have lot of respect for Krishnaraj for his simplicity, dedication, support and hard work and I am pleased to be associated with such a dedicated team. He is a wealth and treasure to the company.” Renish Poulose sr. account manager Kanoo Information Technology (Kanoo IT).
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Mohammed Rizwan, director of IR, JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai
ABOUT MOHAMMED
Mohammed has been involved in the IT industry since 1999, and first joined the JW Marriott Marquis as part of the pre-opening team in June 2012. Before that he worked as the cluster systems manager at the JW Marriott Hotel, Kuwait City Courtyard by Marriott. Mohammed also has a Master of Business Administration in System (MBA-SYS); a Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology (PGDIT), a Diploma in Information Technology (DIT) and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP).
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Over the past 14 months, Mohammed has been a key driver in getting the hotel’s systems up and running, with 14 F&B outlets, 804 rooms, and over 7000sqm of catering space all needing a total of 31 separate IT systems. Mohammed has excelled at bringing all these moving parts together and ensuring that the hotel operates without any defects or down time. Mohammed has also worked to ensure that the necessary guest data protection is in place, and he and his team have worked to ensure that all the safe guards and processes are in place to safely handle guests and company private information.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“We all know how IT / IR can be fun, at the same time, and mostly when used in business it can be frustrating – think about non-functional printers, about system not working the way they were designed or how the employees would like them to work, and on and on; add the fact to plan and open the tallest hotel in the world, one of the largest in the UAE and GCC markets, add hiring about 1,300 new team members all wanting the latest, easiest systems and ways how to do business so we can please our guests, add the fact that our guests today all seem to be super IT/IR “gurus”, wanting the latest and best IT and communications gadgets and you might guess it – you face a huge task and responsibility.
“Well, bring on our Rizwan and be amazed, blown away! Try and amaze him with new IT/IR developments – well, too late, he knows them all as he continuously keeps himself current with the latest and newest; try and throw dozens of tasks at him at the same time – well, no issue, here is a super calm, great listener and quick thinker, who digests issues very quickly and either has a solution or will take note and come back within the same or next day; bring on so many tasks and issues as the opening of this mega hotel included and you see a super well organized person who never loses sight of pending items and who will be pro-active to get back with resolutions; bring on over 100 newly hired managers, all trying to make the IT/IR – team believe their issues are the most important, add internal company rules and regulations, plus supplier issues, and you find a super quick, can-do, smart and also political astute person who is a master in multi-tasking and getting things done!”
“Rizwan’s leadership, smartness and great contributions did not pass un-noticed when he won Marriott International’s top IT/IR leadership award. Most of all, however, we enjoy Rizwan very much as an important team member who is one of the greatest leaders I have seen and experienced on any team I had in my 24 years being GM; I can only congratulate him super much, am very, very proud to have him on our team and would love him to get recognized even more – he truly deserves it.”
Rupprecht Queitsch, general manager
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Lijeesh Rajan, director of information technology, Al Murooj Rotana Dubai
ABOUT LIJEESH
Lijeesh Rajan, director of information technology at Al Murooj Rotana attained his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Sree Rama Govt. Polytechnic, Valapad in Kerala, India in 2002 with an grade of 85%. Shortly after, he joined the hospitality industry back in 2003 as System Administrator at Le Meridien Cochin Resort & Convention Centre in Cochin, India. He joined Al Murooj Rotana in July 2011 and in-between his career in hotel IT took him from information systems manager at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort to director of information technology at The Cove Rotana Resort & Spa as part of the pre-opening team, before joining the, Al Murooj Rotana Dubai in 2008.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Since beginning his role Lijeesh has decreased guest complaints about the Internet in the hotel by 60%, by analyzing the system and isolating any connectivity issues. He and his team also worked strategically on the hotel’s network optimization project to be able to provide all guests with 24 Mbps internet speed (16 Mbps originally) for three months, With the team working an average of 16 hour days to ensure the project is completed at the earliest.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“One of a kind, organized, reliable, productive, possesses a beautiful mind and definitely presents a lot of potential – these are the words I can use to describe Lijeesh and the list can get much longer. He delivers his projects in an excellent and clear-cut way and is an IT specialist for the Non-IT person. He communicates and educates his colleagues regardless of their levels, and he does it effectively. I have the pleasure of working with Lijeesh on different projects like the Central HSIA system, Central Digital Signage system, Information Security, and his excellent performance on these initiatives is a clear manifestation of his high project management capacity. For example, he single handedly worked on the Centralized HSIA system and got it enrolled in the 40+ Rotana hotels in only 2 months. I wish him the very best in his career and sincerely hope he wins this Hotelier Middle East Award.” Carlos Abou-Diwan, director of projects & IT services, Rotana Hotels.
WHAT DID HIS SUPPLIERS SAY?
“Lijeesh is definitely the best IT Project Manager - which is part of his IT Director role within the Corporate structure of Rotana - I have seen in the UAE in the Hospitality sector. There are many good IT guys but none of them combines like Lijeesh - Hospitality knowledge, deep IT expertise and a very structured approach in terms of Project Management. His documentation is always outstanding and he is able through his capabilities to think very strategic and in addition does bring this to “paper”. Another very rare soft skill for people who work in a technical environment is his social competence – I have never experienced him being a different person under pressure or when having technical issues resulting from the vendor site. I can definitely say he is a role model for your Hotel, the Rotana organisation and the industry.” Julian Kraft, managing director, Entiretec Middle East.
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Mahmoud ANasser, IT manager, Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa, Luxor
ABOUT MAHMOUD
Mahmoud ANasse has over 15 years of hospitality experience, having entered the industry in the early 1990s before eventually becoming a IT manager with Hilton in 2004. Mahmoud joined the Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa in 2008, with his vision ensuring the property scored a 97% in a recent IT audit and he was instrumental in supporting five other properties in the portfolio of the region.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Mahmoud created a fun filled language course with four other department heads in order to ensure that as many of his associates spoke English as possible. The program consists of watching a movie, answering quiz, scrabble, online games, reading workshops and many more activities to hone the English language skill of the team, and this has helped guest feedback at the hotel increase by 20 points. Mahmoud also recently analyzed the various contracts of the hotel such as maintenance services, network services and made changes that resulted in a 25% reduction in cost.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Thanks to Mahmoud ANassar, Our IT manager, who has spearheaded a team with Gehan, Mohamed Saad, Hassani and Bishoy to create an interactive training tool. This tool with has become the buzz word in the hotel to train the team on learning English. Mahmoud has created a IT support associate by providing extensive training to front office associate at our hotel. Thinking beyond convention, Mahmoud has envisioned possibilites for more associates and drive efficiencies in the hotel. Developing IT talent beyond IT department is a great way to led the hotel.” Shankar Paramasivam, director of operations, Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa.
WHAT DID HIS GUESTS SAY?
“Mahmoud and His team resolved all our A&V requirements at Luxor Hilton. Thank you for the exceptional service provided to me and my group during the stay.” Neil Halbrook, Star Quest Expeditions Leader