ESSENTIAL GUIDE: Hotelier Awards 2014 nominations
Everything you need to know about entering the Hotelier Middle East Awards 2014
The nominations for this year’s Hotelier Middle East Awards are now open and planning of the glittering ceremony, to be held on October 29 at JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, is well underway.
This year, in addition to honouring the best talent from across the Middle East hotel industry, we are celebrating the 10th birthday of the Awards, and so we are looking to attract more nominations than ever before.
That’s not all — the theme for the Awards is A Taste of Japan, with decor, food and entertainment planned to ensure it is the best party yet. From sushi to sake and cherry blossom to Geisha, in Hotelier Middle East tradition, every aspect of the event will be designed to wow our 600 guests.
Over the past decade, hundreds of hoteliers from properties across the GCC and Levant have put forward their esteemed colleagues to garner recognition for their talent, dedication and hard work.
This year is no different with 19 categories, 18 of which are for individual nominations covering a broad range of roles — from HR to IT to procurement — as well as Awards open to nominees from any department, such as Hotelier’s Unsung Hero. The group award, Hotel Team of the Year, celebrates the success of an operation through the achievements of a property’s team.
Back for a second time following successful inaugurations at last year’s Awards are Young Hotelier of the Year, CSR Champion of the Year, Hotel Manager / EAM of the Year, Sales Person of the Year and Chef de Cuisine of the Year.
The process for nominating candidates this year remains the same as in 2013; all entries must be submitted online at www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/awards. One entry form applies to 17 of the categories and there are separate forms for Young Hotelier and Hotel Team of the Year.
The nominations deadline is set for Sunday 31 August 2014. With more candidates expected to be nominated than ever before, this essential guide will help you understand the process and ensure your entries stand out.
Article continues on next page ...
AWARD CATEGORIES
1. Young Hotelier of the Year
2. CSR Champion of the Year
3. Hotel Manager / EAM of the Year
4. Sales Person of the Year
5. Chef de Cuisine of the Year
6. Fitness / Spa Person of the Year
7. HR Person of the Year
8. Marketing /PR Person of the Year
9. F&B Manager of the Year
10. Executive Chef of the Year
11. Procurement Person of the Year
12. Concierge of the Year
13. Laundry Manager of the Year
14. Housekeeper of the Year
15. Hotel Engineer of the Year
16. IT Person of the Year
17. Hotelier’s Unsung Hero of the Year
18. General Manager of the Year
19. Hotel Team of the Year
Article continues on next page ...
Who can nominate?
Nominations are open to all hotels in the Middle East, from one-star to five-star, branded or independent, and including hotel apartments. If you work in a hotel in the Middle East, then you can nominate one or more of your colleagues.
Hoteliers are not allowed to nominate themselves, but if you would like to be considered, approach your line manager or HR manager and they will be able to advise you. Nominations made from people outside of your hotel will not be considered, but if a friend or guest thinks you deserve it, again, pass their feedback to your HR manager.
Ideally, it’s best if the HR manager, PR manager, marketing manager or executive secretary co-ordinates nominations and Hotelier Middle East recommends that the GM or appropriate head of department is included in the process of deciding who to nominate.
Article continues on next page ...
Who should I nominate?
If you are a department head or the person the hotel has chosen to champion the Hotelier Awards, then you have the difficult task of looking within your talented teams to decide who should be nominated.
The reasons for nominating someone are wide-ranging and there are no hard and fast rules. Ultimately, Hotelier and the judges are looking for employees that have gone over and above the call of duty.
It doesn’t have to be the most experienced person in the hotel, rather a colleague that is conscientious and committed, who brings a fresh outlook to their role and as a result, contributes something original to your hotel.
Imagine if they had chosen to work with a different hotel and not joined you? Do you think those projects they spearheaded would have been so successful? Would the initiatives they are in charge of even exist? Think about colleagues that are indispensable, colleagues that inspire the rest of the team and colleagues in which you see fantastic potential for the future. Also, consider those that have overcome the odds in their careers and personal lives to achieve what they have at each property.
Please make sure that the person you are nominating has worked for your hotel for at least 12 months. If the person resigns after you have nominated them, please inform the team at Hotelier Middle East. Please also make sure that the person you are nominating will be able to attend the Awards ceremony in Dubai on October 29, 2014.
Article continues on next page ...
Writing your nomination
The nomination process is conducted online at hoteliermiddleeast.com/awards. Firstly, please read the Nomination Guidelines (see page 64). For the individual categories there are five simple questions to answer in the section ‘Why should this person win the award?”.
Each question must be answered – it’s best to write the answers first, then you can simply copy and paste them in the online form. It also means you have a useful record of the nomination. PDFs of the nomination forms are available here: www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/awards/entry-guidelines/ and the questions are as follows:
1. Please enter details of this person’s career background. This must include information on when they joined your hotel and how they progressed to their current position.
2. In what ways does this person excel in their role? This is split into two parts. Firstly, please provide at least three examples of their achievements in this position over the past 12 months, e.g. reduced costs by xx%, improved efficiency by xx%, introduced and implemented a new strategy (give details), expanded their team etc. Secondly, please expand upon why these achievements demonstrate how the nominee excels in their role.
3. How has this person gone over and above the call of duty at your hotel? Again this is split into two parts, with the first part requiring a list of examples and the second section providing space to expand upon these examples. Please provide at least three examples of this — it could be anything from funding their own training to assisting another department that is short-staffed, to implementing a CSR or environmentally-friendly initiative, to introducing a sports tournament within the staff accommodation facility, to helping a guest with a very unusual request. Please provide examples of their achievements in 2013 and 2014 only.
4. Please sum up in one sentence why this person deserves to win a Hotelier Middle East Award in 2014.
5. To support your nomination, please provide testimonials from others explaining why they also believe the person you are nominating should win the award or examples of previous feedback or comments that back up your claims. Please provide at least three testimonials from your colleagues and at least three testimonials from guests. When guest comments are not applicable to certain back of house roles, e.g. steward, please just provide colleague testimonials.
Article continues on next page ...
What happens after you've nominated?
The nomination deadline is Sunday, August 31, 2014. No nominations will be accepted after this date. Once this day has passed, the online survey will be closed and the Hotelier Middle East team will begin the task of shortlisting the entries — we receive between 500 and 1000 each year.
In each category, a shortlist of five candidates will be chosen. These will be posted online at HotelierMiddleEast.com and the person that nominated each shortlisted nominee will be contacted.
The five shortlisted nominations in each category, making a total of 95 nominations, will then be submitted to Hotelier’s independent panel of judges, the members of which will be announced this summer.
The judges will have a period of two weeks to analyse the nominations and cast their votes on the top three performers in each category. The entire judging panel will then come together in an intense judging day to discuss their opinions and decide upon one winner in each category and one highly commended runner up. Their decision will be based on the nomination submitted in the context of the panel’s extensive hospitality background.
The names of the winners will be kept a highly guarded secret until the glamourous awards ceremony being held at JW Marriott Marquis, Dubai on October 29.
With more than 600 hoteliers attending every year, it’s the highlight of the Middle East hotel industry’s calendar and one event you cannot afford to miss!
Article continues on next page ...
NOMINATION GUIDLELINES
To make it fair, we have to be strict: make sure you follow the simple guidelines below before you nominate.
1. All hotels in the Middle East are eligible to nominate team members for the Hotelier Middle East Awards. The Awards are open to all star-ratings of hotels, from one-star to five-star and including hotel apartments.
2. Nominations must be made by a hotel representative on behalf of a member of staff of their hotel. Hotelier Middle East recommends that nominations be approved by the PR / marketing team and / or the general manager’s office before they are submitted.
3. Hotels are allowed to nominate people in as many categories as they wish. Each nomination must be made separately though.
4. This is the Hotelier Middle East Awards 2014, and as a result, the independent judging panel is seeking to reward the best performers in 2014, so please ensure that each nomination includes relevant and up to date information on achievements over the past 12 months.
5. All nominations must be submitted online at www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/awards. Nominations submitted in any other format will be disregarded.
6. The online nomination submission form for 17 of the individual award categories is split into five sections:
• Who are you nominating — contact information for the nominee
• Why should this person win the award — reasons for why the nominee should win
• Testimonials — comments from colleagues and guests to back up your nomination.
• How can we get in touch with you — contact information for the nominator
• Photograph submission — please email a photo of the nominee to hotelierawards@itp.com
All five sections must be completed.
Please ensure you answer all six questions within Section 2 — Why should this person win the award — to provide the judges with enough information and enable fair comparisons. Please do not copy and paste the same text into each answer box – each of the five sections should have a different answer.
7. The deadline for nominations is August 31, 2014. Nominations received after this date will be disregarded.
9. When all the nominations have been received, the Hotelier Middle East team will compile firstly a shortlist of nominees (up to five per category), which will be presented to the independent panel of judges. The judges will then meet during September to discuss the shortlist and decide upon the winners. The judges’ decision is final.
10. The winners will be announced during a glamorous ceremony on October 29,2014 at JW Marriott Marquis, Dubai.
Article continues on next page ...
TOP TIPS FROM THE EDITOR!
• To avoid multiple nominations being entered and to ensure all relevant data is collated in one strong nomination, appoint someone within the hotel to be the Hotelier Awards champion. It needs to be a person that is well connected within the hotel and has knowledge of high achieving and performing colleagues so it’s probably best if they are from the HR, PR or general manager’s department.
• If you have a PR or marketing department, it’s a good idea to let them have a look at the nomination before you submit it. They will be able to help with translating nominations into English and will be able to check all the required information is there.
• Focus on the recent achievements of your colleague and put them into context – for example, if a colleague has taken an active involvement in the hotel’s sustainability programme, please tell us why what they did was special and what impact this has had on the hotel.
• Look for interesting individuals: we are not just looking for someone who does their job well, but a hotelier that brings something special to their role. For example, where have managers gone over and above the traditional appraisal system to motivate their team, or how has your chef put themselves front of house to develop a new personality for their restaurant?
• Don’t forget the testimonials: our judging panel are a tough bunch and they look closely at the testimonials. For guest facing roles, include customer feedback as well as colleague feedback, and for everyone, try to include a testimonial from the general manager.
Article continues on next page ...
Hotelier Middle East 2013 winners:
Fitness/Spa Person of the Year
Neil Hewerdine - Atlantis the Palm
Concierge of the Year
Erwin Rachim - Sofitel Abu Dhabi Corniche
Housekeeper of the Year
Mercedita Fernandez - The Ritz Carlton DIFC
IT Person of the Year
Mahmoud Anasser - Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa
Laundry Manager of the Year
Siraj Khan - Dar Al Tawhid InterContinental
Hotel Engineer of the Year
Rajeev Chopra - Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi
CSR Champion of the Year
Marietou Seck - Accor Middle East
HR Person of the Year
Kristina Vaneva - Atlantis the Palm
Procurement Person of the Year
Pushpa Nair - Crowne Plaza Dubai
Sales Person of the Year
Ashmita Sequiera - Media One Hotel
PR/Marketing Person of the Year
Stacey McMurtrie - Jumeirah Emirates Towers
Hotel Manager / EAM of the Year
Wael Maatouk - The Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh
Chef de Cuisine of the Year
Akshay Nayyar - Melia Dubai
Executive Chef of the Year
Sebastian Nohse - Madinat Jumeirah
F&B Manager of the Year
Monika Muschkiet - Atlantis, The Palm
Young Hotelier of the Year
Jennifer Lombard Knight , IHG
Unsung Hero of the Year
Mary Jane Amora - Doha Marriott
GM of the Year
Jorg A. Hauri - Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi
Hotel Team of the Year
Hilton Sharjah