Interview: Crowne Plaza Dubai GM James Young
Crowne Plaza Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Road general manager James Young freely admits that he first got into the hospitality business by accident. Having originally only started to work in a hotel as a way to earn some money to go travelling around the world, Young instead caught the hospitality bug and enrolled in hotel school soon afterwards.
However, luckily for Young, his travels had only just begun, and he embarked on a hospitality career that has taken him to London, Paris, Moscow, Malta, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and now Dubai. This turn of events though, has taught Young that the most important attributes for a career in hospitality are an open mind and a willingness to work hard.
“Having worked my way up the hospitality career ladder, I know more than most that in this industry, it’s possible to start at the bottom and work your way up to wherever you want to go. I think that is something that makes this industry very appealing. Yes it’s a challenge when you start, but you get untold benefits later by really understanding what goes on at the front line,” says Young.
This is an ethos that Young is keen to pass on to all his colleagues at the Crowne Plaza, Dubai, one of the emirate’s older hotels currently undergoing a refurbishment and the launch of several new F&B outlets, starting with the Chamas Churrascaria and Bar this month.
His number two, hotel manager Georges Farhat, first began his career as a trainee in the hotel kitchen, and according to Young is now “the heart and soul of the hotel”.
“This is a fantastic industry, with great opportunities for people, but one thing we don’t do is sell ourselves very well. Within our industry, people can come in and grow their careers very quickly. We don’t make enough noise about how good we are at doing that,” he asserts.
“For example our director of sales and marketing, who did a great job here, has recently transferred to our InterContinental property in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. That’s just one example of what is possible, and if people want that opportunity then it is available,” Young adds.
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A Team Player
“One of the things that I take greatest pride in is being an assessor in our career development programmes,” says Young.
In fact Young has been a part of the InterContinental management assessment programme for more than 10 years, after having gone through the same course himself before he became a general manager.
“It was great to see even from my class that there were eight of us that went on to become general managers at different properties around the world. I also think back to the people that mentored me during my course, and it’s important to me to pass that legacy on to the next generation of hoteliers.
“Being an assessor entails a lot of hard work,” Young admits, “but it has a special kind of reward. The important point to remember is that it’s about development, not assessment. It is about finding out where they are in the stage of their careers, and giving them guidance on how to develop, just as I was helped to develop.
“The course is competency based, so for example some people might be stronger in their understanding of the business, while others might be stronger in their leadership skills. It is about understanding where they have strength as well as learning they have something to improve,” states Young.
A Fresh Perspective
As well as the importance of training, Young also believes in the value of searching for advice outside of the hospitality business, an industry he admits can be very ‘insular’, and welcoming new people from beyond the business.
“The young people coming into the industry today are coming from all over the world, and yes there is still the traditional route through the hotelier schools in Europe, but we also receive people from all over,’ says Young.
In the Crowne Plaza alone, Young says that there are 36 different nationalities working together, but that on the other hand, the hotel currently has a very low staff turnover.
“In this industry as well you meet so many cultures and viewpoints. All of this has helped to form my hospitality philosophy, which is that ultimately it is all about the people — guide them, together define where we are going, and then give them the space to get on with the job,” concludes Young.
Stat attack
- 23 Storey-high HOTEL
- 568 guest rooms at crowne plaza dubai
- 36 different nationalities work in the hotel
- 13 food and beverage outlets
- AED 80 Charge for premium Wi-Fi in the hotel
- 20,519 m2 total meeting space