HOTELIER AWARDS 2013: Team of the year shortlist
With the Hotelier Middle East Awards only 20 days away, its time to unveil the finalists for one of the biggest honours of the night, our Team of the Year award, which was won last year by the Media One Hotel, Dubai and is sponsored this year by IFFCO, the UAE based hospitality supplier.
In total, 90 hoteliers across 18 individual awards categories have been shortlisted for this year's awards, along with five hotel teams for the coveted Team of the Year Award.
The winners will be announced at a gala event at the world’s tallest hotel, JW Marriott Marquis Dubai on October 30.
See below for the five hotels up for our Team of the Year:
JUMEIRAH ZABEEL SARAY
WHY WERE THEY NOMINATED?
Since the opening of the resort in January 2011, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray’s team of 985 has achieved consistent growth in key figures such as occupancy levels and RevPAR. The hotel’s F&B team manages 12 restaurants, lounges and bars, including the hugely successful Supperclub Dubai and Music Hall, and the high operational standards have led to celebrity chef engagements with the likes of Antonio Carluccio and Eric Lanlard.
The resort has also revisited its conservation practices, cutting water consumption to half of what it was in 2012 and reducing external garden lights among other initiatives. Keeping in line with Jumeirah’s Stay Different philosophy, the front office team and the housekeeping division worked together to offer remarkable stay experiences by delivering unique room set-ups and turn downs for special occasions. Such creativity has been so favourably received, they are now being considered as a potential revenue stream for the resort.
Following the expansion of Jumeirah’s Dubai commercial team, which led to each Dubai-based property in the group having their core sales and marketing teams on site, the team at Zabeel Saray began working on joint campaigns with Emirates Airlines, which saw a tremendous increase in room bookings from the UK and CSI markets. The successful implementation of a new 18-month rolling pricing recommendation program through the revenue management system, which allows guests to book the hotel up to 18 months in advance also helped in attracting more guests. All of these initiatives and more saw the hotel’s revenues more than double, with additional revenue generated through add-ons and offers for non-hotel guests.
Please click through to next page to find out who else is shortlisted…
THE RITZ-CARLTON, DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTRE
WHY WERE THEY NOMINATED?
The Ritz-Carlton Dubai International Financial Centre has worked hard to reposition itself as a lifestyle destination as much as a business one. Over the course of the year, the hotel has launched a popular ladies night called Diamonds in the Sky at its newly launched nightspot No.5 Terrace, while its Arabic sushi during Ramadan was the talk of the town. The F&B team further enhanced its operations by holding internal cross-training sessions between the F&B and culinary teams to create a more service-focused team.
The Ritz-Carlton DIFC excelled in The Ritz-Carlton Employee Engagement Survey by achieving a perfect score, and in the hotel group’s Brand Standard Audit in terms of product and service quality, and is being benchmarked globally by Marriott International for its enrolment strategy for The Ritz-Carlton Rewards programme driven by its front of house team alongside the sales division.
The hotel also introduced energy saving methods such as replacing CFL lights with LED ones, installing waterless urinals, and participated in WWF’s global Earth Hour campaign by turning off the lights in the public areas and encouraging guests to participate by hosting an event called Cocktails by Candlelight.
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PHOENICIA HOTEL
WHY WERE THEY NOMINATED?
While the lingering recession in Lebanon did not make life easy for the team at Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut, the hotel found innovative ways to stay competitive. The re-evaluation of businesses practices led to some major changes at the hotel, including the termination of contracts with outsource companies, encouraging team members to work together while empowering them to solve guest problems by themselves and upselling services to guests. By discontinuing the use of casual staff, the hotel’s housekeeping team saved costs, while simultaneously increasing guest satisfaction scores for cleanliness.
Following the hotel’s initiative to handle issues in house, the F&B team combated supplier issues -when it came to sourcing smoked salmon, the hotel decided to smoke its own by purchasing its own equipment and visiting several factories to learn the method. The practice resulted in huge cost savings for the hotel and the smoked salmon proved to be immensely popular with guests, leading to the team winning in house awards for its dedication.
While cost-cutting measures played a large role in keeping the hotel running efficiently, the team also supported several CSR initiatives such as bike rides for cancer charities, raising money for wheelchairs and repainting poor neighbourhoods in the city. In the midst of the political instability in Lebanon, the hotel also took guest safety seriously, with hotel staff escorting guests and helping them at the airport.
Please click through to next page to find out who else is shortlisted…
HILTON SHARJAH
WHY WERE THEY NOMINATED?
Since its rebranding earlier this year, Hilton Sharjah – which is the first Hilton branded property in the emirate – recorded the highest ever occupancy in the property’s 11 years of operation. The sales and marketing team also changed the bedroom configuration, converting a large number twin hotel rooms to double hotel rooms, thereby capitalising on previously constrained demand. The team also actively worked with Sharjah Tourism to promote itself at regional trade fairs, which helped drive demand in GCC markets.
The hotel also focused on its sustainability program, and is compliant with Hilton Worldwide’s brand average on key indicators of energy, water and waste and was one of the lead presenters at the Hilton UAE Sustainability Summit.
Hilton Sharjah engaged in extensive training programs, while encouraging internal promotions, improving employee accommodation facilities, and helping other Hilton properties in Fujairah, Doha and Dubai during staff shortage.
According to Hilton’s Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking system (SALT), Hilton Sharjah recorded the highest climb of all Hilton Hotels outside USA, climbing 195 places in the hotel rankings within Hilton Worldwide. In June, Hilton Sharjah also attained the number one position in the ‘Centre of Quality’ system for brand performance, coming out on top of all 13 Hilton hotels within the UAE.
Please click through to next page to find out who else is shortlisted…
AL MAHA, A LUXURY COLLECTION, DESERT RESORT AND SPA
WHY WERE THEY NOMINATED?
As a secluded desert property, Al Maha, A Luxury Collection, Desert Resort and Spa continues to be hugely popular for signature events, special occasions and desert retreats.
The F&B concepts are making an effort to offer more organic and sustainable options, from meat and vegetables to beverages, and the hotel supports the EWS-WWF’s Choose Wisely campaign to educate UAE residents about the consequences of overfishing. The team has also managed to reduce food costs while restaurant revenues from external guests more than doubled in the past year.
Keeping with its theme of sustainability, the resort’s green initiatives reflect Starwood's mission of “30-20-20,” a goal of 30% energy and 20% water savings by 2020. The engineering team has already significantly reduced water consumption while the majority of the water consumed is recycled for irrigation and electricity consumption has reduced to a large extent.
The resort also plays close attention to guest satisfaction scores, with the resort team achieving a nearly perfect score on the guest experience index and a high number of repeat guests. Al Maha also implemented pre- and post-stay communication that has helped improve the overall Al Maha experience. From spa treatment to bathrobe size; likes and dislikes, the pre-stay communication asks for anything the team can use to tailor services for different guests.