THE RIGHT TEAM
While the hotel’s unique features have helped attract attention, Laurent believes the staff has been vital to its success.
“We were extremely careful about recruitment. In some cases we don’t necessarily look at the professional aspect when considering a person’s CV, but very much the personality and trying to discover the hidden talent of people in order to ensure that we recruit somebody who will be really guest-focused,” he explains.
Once recruited, team members went through an orientation programme to familiarise themselves with the Anantara culture, the property, as well as the city. Apart from sharing guest feedback — whether good or bad — as part of the daily briefing, the hotel has also implemented an empowerment programme that allows staff to take a call on offering special room amenities to guests to enhance their experiences.
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“We have created a programme that’s called ‘We Care’, which stands for We Create Amazing Recovery Experiences. So we take every opportunity to improve our services and the goal is for everyone to be empowered to take actions at every level without necessarily referring to their manager in order to make sure that the guest leaves with amazing memories,” explains Laurent.
The GM is also passionate about the CSR programme at Anantara Dubai The Palm. As part of conservation efforts, the resort will develop a coral farm in the sea near the property.
“What we want to achieve is to create a coral reef under the over-water villas so guests can enjoy the sea life directly from their room because the floor of the villa is made of glass.
The marine life around the Palm is very healthy. Considering that this is an artificial, man-made project, over the years the nature has started returning and there is a lot of marine wildlife near the resort. Now we see stingrays and even turtles in the lagoon so that’s quite nice and we want to develop on that side,” says Laurent.
Work on the coral farm is due to begin after the summer, and is part of Anantara’s larger conservation efforts in the communities in which it operates, such as the wildlife park on Sir Bani Yas Island, and the elephant protection programme at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in Thailand.
The resort is also working on implementing a recycling programme on site in order to convert organic waste into compost so it can be re-used. The property already recycles most of its waste, including paper, plastic, glass, wood, and aluminium.
“Anantara is very much focused on protecting nature so this is part of it. Obviously in Dubai, it’s a little tuned down because of the location. It’s a deserted area, so we do whatever we can to develop and protect wildlife, and every time there is an opportunity to save energy, we do it. It’s not only about saving money,” he asserts.
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