HOTELIER AWARDS 2013: Young hotelier of the year
With the Hotelier Middle East Awards at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai fast approaching, it’s time to unveil the finalists of our Young Hotelier of the Year award, which is sponsored this year by Ronai, the hospitality supplier.
Due to be held in Dubai on October 30, a total of 90 hoteliers across 18 individual awards categories have been shortlisted for a Hotelier Middle East Award, along with five hotel teams for the coveted Team of the Year Award.
Click below to see our selection of some of the best youngsters in the business:
Jennifer Lombard Knight, assistant front office manager, InterContinental Regency Hotel Bahrain
ABOUT JENNIFER
After achieving her Bachelor’s Degree, during which Jennifer completed internships at the Michelin Star Kitchen of the Park Hyatt La Place de la Vendôme, as well as at the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace as housekeeping supervisor and at Charles Kendall as events manager, Jennifer joined IHG in 2006 as a graduate on the first AMEA Future Leaders Program as one of the youngest aspiring hoteliers at the age of 21. From the start Jennifer was highlighted as a potential future leader and to ensure progression as a well-rounded hotelier her placements were structure throughout various departments including the Crowne Plaza The City London learning & development department responsible for the role out of Quality Enhancement Programs known as I-Tools; Jennifer also worked at The InterContinental Paris Le Grand Hotel on rooms division management analysis and implementation of housekeeping productivity.
WHY WAS SHE NOMINATED?
The success of Jennifer’s final position on the AMEA Future Leaders Program as guest relations manager at the age of 22, let Jennifer drive guest satisfaction performance by 8% in 6 months. It quickly became evident that Rooms Division was where her well-rounded hotelier skills could be nurtured for the success of both hotel operations as a whole as well as her continuing development as an hotelier. Jennifer joined the pre-opening team at InterContinental Regency Bahrain as Guest Relations Manager in December 2010, and Jennifer’s commitment towards both quality excellence and training & development for the team during the pre-opening stages of the hotel, supporting the championing of change during the period of unrest and the development of new hotel processes led her to develop into assistant front office manager within a year at the age of 24. A year and a half later, Jennifer’s continued dedication within the enhancement of the quality management cycle, driving team engagement, and strong financial performance has seen her move to the team at InterContinental Doha The City in September 2013 as front office manager.
WHAT DID HER TEAM SAY?
“Jennifer is a pro-active and exceptionally talented young leader who drives the Front Office team members towards activities and solutions that maximize performance and results. She is instrumental in propelling our Guest Satisfaction Survey Score to a consistent winning status making us Number One in the overall region of InterContinental Hotels Group India Middle East and Africa for the month of May 2013, in the same month we also received a Trip Advisor Excellence Award - Best Hotel in Bahrain for 5th month in a row. Aside from her talent in driving exceptional quality for InterContinental Regency Bahrain, Jennifer is conscientious and dependable, confidently handling the Front Office Department in the absence of Director of Rooms. Another recognizable endearing quality of Jennifer is her personal guests interaction where she is able to extend the warmth of our hotel to our guests, the numerous recognition letters from our guests is testimonial to this. Her process focused and setting up a collaborative in house glitch system is highly commendable, enabling us to resolve guests’ concerns promptly and efficiently. Jennifer’s resourcefulness and counsel is well respected and always taken into perspective among her peers and superiors alike.” Michael Koth, general manager and regional general manager, Bahrain & Kuwait IHG/InterContinental Regency Bahrain.
WHAT DID HER GUESTS SAY?
“Dealing with many hotels around the world, I have personally not dealt with a more qualified and caring person like Jennifer when it comes to guest relations and hospitality. In fact, the main reason why I and my family still come to Bahrain Regency Hotel is because Jennifer is the one leading the excellent team in this hotel. It really makes a difference dealing with people with this level of professionalism and with high level of detail ordination. When talking about True Guest Relation Manager, Jennifer is the only person that comes to mind! Keep us the great work and positive spirit.” Mazen Abdullatif Al-Sadat (Guest)
Please click through to next page to find out who else has been shortlisted…
Nadeem Muhammed Iqbal, chief accountant, Media One Hotel
ABOUT NADEEM
Nadeem first entered the hospitality industry in 2005 as an Accounts Clerk at the Mercure Grand Hotel, Seef, Bahrain as a part of the pre opening team. His dedication in the role helped him secure a new role as cost clerk for the pre opening team of the InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City in 2007. Nadeem also part in the project team in 2009 for the re-branding of Al Bhadia Golf Club. After three years, in June 2010, Nadeem expanded his knowledge again by joining the preopening team of the Pullman Hotel Mall of the Emirates. Here he was a section head and used his initiative in purchasing and setting up a new database that tracked every individual purchase/service linked to reflect the accuracy of the hotel P&L, which in turn saved time in all departments. In July 2011 Nadeem joined Media One as senior accountant and after six months he was promoted to financial accountant, before finally in January 2013 he was promoted to chief accountant.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Nadeem ensures that he leads the finance team to deliver the financial statement to the Owners & Asset Managers on the 1st of each month, with a detailed F&B report also submitted by the 6th of the month, which exceeds normal practice at most hotels. Nadeem also handles all the balance sheet reconciliation, bank reconciliation and supplier reconciliation whilst continuing to meet all the set deadlines in an efficient manner. One of the key improvements has been to the hotels purchasing reconciliations by creating codes in the purchasing/inventory system which has assisted in the hotel’s purchasing and stock levels. This has also progressed to an accurate recording and analysis of all F&B promotions which is passed to the marketing team on a fortnightly basis to assist in assessing the success of the various campaigns.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“There is a saying that some people just dream of success and that some work hard on it; the second example is a true description of Nadeem who at the age of 28 has shown remarkable growth within the hotel industry and continually exceeds expectations in all aspects of his work. As an accountant he is an examiner by nature with pragmatic and efficient attributes. He is a team player, passionate about his work and an admirable attitude to work and his colleagues.” Jagdish Rasam, director of finance, Media One Hotel.
WHAT DID HIS SUPPLIERS SAY?
“Nadeem joined Media One Hotel as a Financial Accountant with experience in all major functions of the finance department. He has been a great support from his ‘get up and go’ attitude not only for the functions of the finance department, but also the other departments in the hotel. His hard work and dedication shows through his enthusiasm at work on a daily basis and his unrelenting eagerness to learn something new on the job. He is the’ go to’ person on any operational finance related matter. His passion for the job does not just stop with his own position as he is also very keen to teach and guide other enthusiasts for their own career development. This is an attribute of leadership and professionalism. Thus, it was not long before he was promoted to Chief Accountant; supervising and being responsible for all sections of the department. I would nominate Nadeem for Young Hotelier of the Year as it is not very often you come across a person who exudes passion with such hotelier spirit!” Jawad Qamar, business analysis manager, Roya International [Media One’s asset managers].
Please click through to next page to find out who else has been shortlisted…
Asghar Ali, general accountant, Crowne Plaza Doha – The Business Park
ABOUT ASGHAR
Ali has started his first job as a finance trainee at InterContinental Al Ain in November 2009 where in one year he was promoted twice, first to night auditor then to income auditor in October 2010 before continuing his growth at Crowne Plaza Doha - The Business Park in June 2012 as a general accountant.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
During an emergency vacation of the general cashier/cost controller, Ali championed to cover his position while he was a night auditor at the time. Ali was also assigned the task to see through the implementation of all the finance related systems such as Opera (Front Office), Micros (Restaurants), FMC (Purchasing, Stores, Receiving, Costing), Sun Financials (Financial Accounting) & Civilsoft (HR. He also rose to the occasion when the assistant finance & business support manager decided to leave the hotel at a very short notice in December 2012 and although Ali was not experienced or ready, he managed to complete the year-end closing, the year end audit and acted as the No 2 of the finance department for 7 months.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
A selection of the recognition cards from inside and outside his department, including from his line manager for his exceptional performance and acts: “Helped in moving the finance office at a very short notice as the old finance needed to be converted into a hair salon - Exerted great efforts in cashiering and financials of a DJ event where he was on duty from morning until 4 AM. - Covered for colleagues when on vacation such as paymaster. - Participated in charity event / shelter in storm program. - Maintained positive attitude while handling multiple tasks assigned to him. - Participated effectively in the first external audit. - Managed year end closing without Assistant Finance & Business Support Manager. - Organized the first departmental outing.”
Please click through to next page to find out who else has been shortlisted…
Khaja Aleemuddin Jung, executive chief steward and HACCP coordinator, Crowne Plaza Jeddah
ABOUT KHAJA
Khaja started his professional in 2003 as stewarding supervisor in the Sweekar Hotel, before moving in 2006 to the pre-opening team of the Movenpick Tower & Suites Doha, Qatar as stewarding supervisor. In 2008, Khaja joined the Crowne Plaza Jeddah as assistant chief steward, and through utilizing leadership skills, knowledge of chemicals and operating equipment, he built a strong team and was promoted to chief steward in 2009. Here he got involved in the recent renovation of the hotel and helped to introduce many new products for three F&B outlets such as a complete food safety and hygiene standard in the kitchen, F&B areas and newly renovated restaurants complying with local municipality standards. He also took the lead in implementing HACCP.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Khaja successfully achieved the e-Cristal “Achievement Certificate” for implementing Risk Management System, as well as Legionella Control for implementing Legionella control Management Principles.; and was the “National Winner” for implementing and maintaining highest level of health & safety standards the country. During Ramadan, Iftar and Sahour operations, Khaja also played a role in covering the full operation with 16 staff team members in all restaurants and ballrooms (from 600 to 1000 covers) as well as 10 live cooking stations.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Khaja is a very dedicated, reliable and well organize person as well as cooperative, he is the kind of persons that any given tasks to do he does it and ask for more, respect given deadlines and very organize, Even many times I given tasks not related to him but still he did it successfully like new kitchen equipment and restaurants renovation projects he contacting with many supplier of different brands obtain quotations & preparing comparisons quality technology and budget wise, and negotiating with suppliers, visiting Hotel shows to look for new advance technology products to implements in our hotel. Always Hand on hand to up-date on which is well suitable as per the standard of IHG. He is a very Good team Leader manages his stewarding team with a team spirit, conduct training and develop his team, and in concern of breakages he is fully controlled the cost of breakages compare to last years, and as well as he is very close to all his staff with no exceptions. Regarding the HACCP implementation Khaja is well coordinating and leading the whole food and beverage team including his superior and achieved the highest scores percentage in food safety management system in the kingdom. I wish him great success and he deserves it with his good experience achieved in other properties and presently he proves himself to deserve the higher position.” Frederic Farah, director of food and beverage, Crowne Plaza Jeddah
Please click through to next page to find out who else has been shortlisted…
Arun Ramakrishnan, banquet manager, The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre
ABOUT ARUN
Arun’s first taste of the hospitality industry was as a bus boy where he washed thousands of plates and glasses each day. The position was extremely demanding, requiring 12-15 hour workdays, seven days per week, but through this hard work he developed a passion for what would be his future career. Arun went on to accept his first overseas position with The Park Hyatt Dubai as a banquet waiter, where senior management observed Arun’s talent and after three successful years with Hyatt he was selected to join the pre-opening team as a banquet supervisor for the high end Armani Hotel Dubai. Because of Arun’s immediate successes at Armani, he was promoted to assistant banquet manager, leading a team of 15 people. Arun was also tasked with maintaining the hotel’s ballroom, with a capacity for 450 guests, as well as offsite venues for up to 1,500 guests. After three fruitful years with Armani, Arun accepted his next challenge as banquet manager at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre, leading a team of 20 people to manage and deliver events in one of Dubai’s biggest ballrooms.
WHY WAS HE NOMINATED?
Arun took the initiative to create, implement and sell new beverage packages, designed especially to move slow moving stock. The newly designed packages were presented to clients with smaller beverage budgets. Thanks to his efforts and innovative thinking, beverage cost was brought down to 20 percent from 35 percent last year. Arun also implemented weekly training for 70 percent of the banquets team and logging more than 200 total hours on up selling techniques, and as a result banquet revenue has increased by 24 percent from last year.
WHAT DID HIS TEAM SAY?
“Arun and I began working together at Armani four years ago. I recognized his great leadership talents immediately, watching him lead the team and drive excellence. Throughout the hotel, he was perceived as a senior leader despite his young age. Arun was promoted to assistant manager and had the opportunity to lead important events, including a fashion show for Mr. Giorgio Armani himself. After few more years together and an amazing number of successful events, Arun took the role of banqueting manager at The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC, where again he was able to win admirers with his humble approach, his positive thinking and his tremendous professionalism. Arun is a driven individual who consistently seeks to improve the guest experience, as well as his own performance and that of his team. He works very well with colleagues in all departments. He has proven to be mature, hardworking, reliable and able to work independently. He is very knowledgeable about his job and works with integrity and always in the best interest of the organization. I sincerely wish him every success in his future. I would strongly recommend him for this award in every respect.” Lorenzo Maraviglia, director of food & beverage, The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC
WHAT DID HIS SUPPLIERS SAY?
“I started working with Arun a couple of years back. From that time, I was very impressed with the professionalism he shows towards his work and the assistance he gave to guests and colleagues. Arun shows good attention to detail and focus on customer satisfaction. Whenever someone faces operational problem, he is the first one to give good suggestions to overcome it. From the time he joined Ritz-Carlton, we saw a huge difference in the quality of service and effort put into the success of each event. Besides his role as a hospitality professional, he is a good friend to all of us. I would highly recommend him to win this award for his hard work and commitment toward his clients.” John Gillespie, managing director, Contemporary Connoisseurs.