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.

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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.