Interview: Cove Rotana RAK's Bassam Zakaria

Since joining the Cove Rotana Resort Ras Al Khaimah, director of rooms Bassam Zakaria has driven the property’s CSR and sustainability efforts. He tells Hotelier his plans for 2014

What is your career background?
I started my career 12 years ago in the hospitality industry in a small hotel in Paris as a front office receptionist, then moved to Malta to work in the same position. My journey in the GCC started when I moved from Hilton Valetta to Hilton Dubai Jumeirah in 2002 to work as a front office supervisor for two years before making a move in my career into the field of sales and marketing and getting promoted to sales executive and after that to area sales executive in Al Ain until April 2006 within the same hotel chain.

In April 2006, I joined Rotana as an area sales manager in the Rotana area sales office, then after two and a half years, I moved on to Al Ain Rotana as assistant director of sales and marketing and got promoted to director of sales and marketing in 2009.

When did you join the Cove Rotana Resort and what are your responsibilities at the resort?
Early last year I was promoted to director of rooms at the Cove Rotana Resort, in charge of the overall coordination of housekeeping, reservation, laundry and security.

What are your biggest achievements in your role at the hotel?
My team and I have managed to set many milestones for the Cove Rotana during the past 11 months, such as organising a huge city event — ‘the walk to make a difference’ — to support children with autism and the RAK Autism Centre in Ras Al Khaimah, where we had more than 300 people join us, including VIPs.

In collaboration with the Red Crescent, we also organised a charity event to raise funds for the Autism Centre in Ras Al Khaimah. The event hosted more than 300 attendees from the country, led by HE Sheikh Salem Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, chairman of the Department of Civil Aviation, Ras Al Khaimah and vice chairman of RAK Airways at the opening ceremony. Every dirham raised was donated to the Ras Al Khaimah Autism Centre.

Can you tell us about the hotel’s recent environmental awards?
The Cove Rotana Resort has been awarded two environmental awards from the Ras Al Khaimah Environment Protection & Development Authority for the best environmental practices and the best practices in saving water, electricity and paper in Ras Al Khaimah.

What practices did the hotel implement in order to win the award?
We managed our operation in a manner that protected our valuable natural resources and prevented pollution of the environment in compliance with the environmental laws. We minimised our impact on climate change and reduced our consumption of energy and water by optimising operational efficiency and adopting clean technologies. We also optimised materials consumption and reduced waste to landfill by reusing and recycling natural resources and materials.

What are your sustainability goals for 2014?
We will continue what we have started and improve it more by reducing total energy consumption, reducing water consumption and switch to more environmentally-friendly products. I also aim to instil a culture of sustainability through education, training and promotion of sustainability values and principles amongst our colleagues and stakeholders through various education, awareness and training programmes and events.

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My Best & Worst

• The best advice I have been given: Listen, analyse, plan and action it.
• The worst advice I have ever received: Just let it go.
• My best career move was when I was promoted to my current position at the Cove Rotana.
• My best holiday was in the Seychelles where we stayed in one of the family-owned hotels at the beach — a cosy place with great family service and food.
• My worst holiday was two years ago in Thailand when I booked an expensive suite in a luxury hotel for a very special holiday with my wife but unfortunately neither the agent nor the website said that the hotel had heavy construction, which ruined our vacation.