Interview: Rotana CEO and president Omer Kaddouri
In January 2014 Selim El Zyr, co-founder of Abu-Dhabi based hotel management company, Rotana, stepped down from his role as CEO and president to make way for his successor Omer Kaddouri.
Having been six months in office, Kaddouri tells Hotelier Middle East how he is taking El Zyr’s vision to new heights by improving systems and solidifying the presence of the Middle East superbrand across the GCC, while steering it into new markets to achieve the company’s target of operating 100 hotels by 2020.
In January 2014, Selim El Zyr, co-founder of Rotana, made what he described as “the most difficult speech in my life” as he handed over the reins of the company — which he established 21 years ago — to his close colleague, former Rotana executive vice president and chief operating officer, Omer Kaddouri.
“I strongly believe that Omer is a dreamer and a doer,” El Zyr asserted on stage at his leaving ceremony at Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi — the company’s original property — in January as he welcomed his successor to the role of president and CEO.
“I believe [he] can drive the company to new levels — Omer has everything it takes for success — drive, vision, passion, loyalty, charisma and modesty — which is a major plus for someone in this position.”
El Zyr, who along with life-long friend Nasser Al Nowais, the company chairman, built Abu-Dhabi based Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC “the tough way, brick by brick” — as he explained to Hotelier Middle East in an interview in December 2013 — said that it was both “a farewell and not a farewell speech”.
The Lebanese national will remain on the board as vice chairman in an advisory role to Kaddouri, spending several hours a day with the new Rotana head for the next couple of years to ensure the company continues to operate with the same vision it was founded by.
“He trusted me to take on this role,” remarks Kaddouri, who has been with Rotana for 15 years and was previously with Hilton International in UAE and London, and Shangri-La in Kuala Lumpur during a hotelier career that has spanned 28 years.
“Selim has been my mentor over the past years, especially the last five years; we work very well together, we understand each other and we’ve built a strong relationship.
I know where the company needs to go and I still have him close by in case I need any assistance or advice, which is really reassuring. We have that type of relationship so these are exciting times for the company,” he added.
Back in 1992, Rotana was founded on El Zyr’s vision of bridging the gap between developer and operator in order to compete with international hotel companies.
When Kaddouri joined Rotana in 1998 as resident manager of the Al Bustan Rotana in Dubai, Rotana’s portfolio encompassed just six properties. In 2000, he was offered the opportunity to manage the Beach Rotana in Abu Dhabi with the main objective to oversee a US $8 million expansion project.
By 2010, Kaddouri was ready to move into the corporate executive team, becoming executive vice president and COO, where he played an instrumental role in propelling growth and expansion of the company and continues to do so.
“I think the past 15 years have really shaped me, and because we communicate so well in the company, share the same vision and strive to achieve the same objectives, it’s just become a very natural progression into the CEO position.
You kind of mature with the role and I’ve been involved with most of the major decisions with the previous CEO, and even when I was a general manager I was very involved with senior management,” he explains.
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Outgrowing the Middle East
When Kaddouri joined Rotana, El Zyr had plans for one hotel in every major GCC country — a strategy that is complete. It now falls to Kaddouri to consolidate that presence with a new benchmark for success.
“My wish for this region is that we have one of each of our brands in every major city in the Middle East and Africa. I think by 2020 we’ll be close to that so we’re working hard to ensure that all of our brands are in the right locations in the region,” he asserts.
Having moved into his current position from the operations side of the business, Kaddouri still has his chief operating officer hat firmly in place, while his successor Guy Hutchinson learns the ropes.
Hutchinson, like Kaddouri and El Zyr, moved over to Rotana from Hilton Worldwide, where he was vice president, operations — India. He now joins the Rotana veterans at the top bringing a fresh perspective gained from leading Hilton across new markets such as Japan, Australia, China and India.
Assuming a mentoring role for Hutchinson throughout the new COO’s first year in office, Kaddouri is following in El Zyr’s footsteps in more ways than one: “I think it’s important [to be a mentor]. Guy has a year to really establish himself and get to know the company and after this year I’ll start to remove myself from the operational issues and I’ll focus on signings and travelling around.
“In 2014 though, it’s really all about Guy settling in and opening the hotels we have planned for this year. I’ll be introducing him to all the stakeholders and who’s who, so that part is very important,” he states.
With 50 hotels in Rotana’s current portfolio and, according to Kaddouri, “another 50 to open by 2020”, expansion is a key priority for the company.
However, this has been the case since El Zyr set a target of operating 100 hotels by 2020 a few years back, which he described as a “realistic vision” — and this figure continues to stand as a benchmark under Kaddouri’s leadership. “We’ll have 100 operating hotels by 2020 and by that time we’ll have about another 100 in the pipeline so we’ve got a very busy seven years ahead of us,” he explains.
This year alone, the company has five openings to achieve, two of which have already been completed; the first Oman project, Salalah Rotana, which opened its doors in March, and the Hilli Rayhaan by Rotana which launched in Al Ain in February.
Other milestones this year will be entering Turkey with two properties and Jordan, with the Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana Amman, to open in the fourth quarter of the year. The second Saudi property was due to open in Riyadh this year but has been pushed back to Q1 2015.
One of El Zyr’s wishes for the future of the company, however, is that rather than “forced growth”, Rotana expands organically overseas, following the same model that has clearly helped carve out a success story for the hotel group over the last 21 years.
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Organic expansion
Reflecting this strategy, the company is spreading its wings into neighbouring markets such as Iran, where four new signings were announced during Arabian Travel Market in May this year.
The first Iran hotel, a 362-room Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts property is due to open in 2017, with three more to follow by 2020. Iran, along with Saudi Arabia, Africa and India according to Kaddouri, are focus areas for the company going forward.
“Iran is a big market for us in the region; although it is not necessarily in the Arab world. India is another major focus for us as well, so we’re really busy trying to sign up new hotels in key destinations where we are not present today — we can definitely handle these new properties,” he boasts.
In April, Rotana announced the signing of a hotel in Tanzania, marking the company’s first venture in the country, and the first Rotana hotel in East Africa, while a hotel is currently under construction in Mauritania, West Africa.
In the north of the continent, the group has hotels in Egypt and Sudan and signings have been completed for hotels in Morocco and Algeria. Having conquered three corners of Africa, Kaddouri expresses a wish to “get busy in the Sub Saharan region toward South Africa”.
“We would very much like to be present in Angola and Mozambique so I think over the next three to four years we’ll have some nice announcements to make. Africa really is a key focus,” he adds.
Another “big market” for Kaddouri is Saudi Arabia, with the company opening its second KSA property — a 250-room Rayhaan — in Riyadh in Q1 2015. Having been present in KSA with one Makkah property for four years now, the company is ready to expand in one of the GCC’s most promising destinations, and diversify from the religious segment into the booming corporate market.
“We have about seven properties signed in KSA, which will open at various stages over the next three to four years; we’re very excited about our second property in Saudi Arabia,” says Kaddouri.
On a global scale, Kaddouri has been the driving force behind the sales and marketing function of the company, opening Rotana’s international offices in China, India and Russia. It is this “entrepreneurial spirit” he believes is the key learning he has taken from El Zyr.
“We are hoteliers and we have to make sure customers and stakeholders are happy by delivering our promises, but it’s also a business. You’ve got to make sure you’re driving revenues, maximising money-making potential, and ensuring your costs are very well managed to create good profitability.
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Globally however, Omer Kaddouri’s ambition isn’t limited to the MEAI region. On the British-Iraqi’s wish list, there is one European city he feels would be “a major coup”.
“London would be a showcase for us,” he explains. “There are so many of our customers here that are travelling in and out of the UK, especially London so we feel it would do very well and our loyal customers in this region would definitely assist us in developing an occupancy there. Other developers and owners would see it and then we could grow a bit more in Europe,” he explains.
Reaching new heights
In parallel with expansion, Kaddouri is focusing on “improving systems and making sure our 12,000 colleagues are happy coming to work so that they can really deliver what we’re promising to customers.”
Having led many initiatives involving the retention and development of staff in line with the company’s expansion plans in his previous role, this is an area he aims to place even more importance on as staff numbers “double to about 25,000” by 2020.
“Doubling these colleagues, obviously there’s a lot of work to make sure they’re well-settled and well-trained.”
Outlining a “strong learning and development programme”, Kaddouri highlights TAROT — the Accelerated Refinement of Talent — an initiative that targets students from colleges and graduates as well as talented team members looking to advance their careers within the company. Duroob, a progamme focused on hiring locals in every market the company is based in, is also something close to his heart.
“Each hotel has a smaller and smaller share of the locals but we work very hard and try to develop and encourage them to stay within the industry,” he explains. “We’ve been fairly successful so far and it’s going to be a programme that is continually focused on because we want to have local culture in our hotels.”
However, as a leader, El Zyr warned that Kaddouri will take a bit of getting used to for Rotana staff. “Dealing with him is completely different to dealing with me. I am probably tougher than him,” he told Hotelier Middle East at the end of last year.
Kaddouri accepts that he “can be demanding”, but views himself as “a fair type of manager” nevertheless.
“I can push people to their limits to make sure they are delivering what they should be delivering.
“At the same time, I can make the work environment fun and a nice place to be because that’s what I want. I don’t want to be working in an environment where people are stressed out, because then I wouldn’t be happy either. So I think I’d say I’m tough and demanding, but fair and friendly.”
This balanced approach is something that Kaddouri also hopes to maintain in his private life going forward in his new role as top dog, which El Zyr has warned him, “can be lonely”.
“I have a very good work-life balance and I want to keep it that way,” Kaddouri asserts. “I think that’s the key to a successful career and a successful family life. I’ve been able to do that so far and if I can keep that moving forward I’ll be happy. I keep reminding myself that I have to keep being who I am, and it’s been a few months now and so far so good,” he says, adding with a chuckle that we should catch up next year so I can ask him the same question again.
Having his work cut out for the foreseeable future, Kaddouri expresses satisfaction at having finally arrived at the top, but admits that this is just the start of another set of hurdles.
“I think I’ve reached a level where I now know that I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next five to 10 years. So just by being in this position I’m happy because I know that I can make change, I can develop and improve things. I think I’m in a position where I’m satisfied with what I’ve got, I have enough and that’s how I would like it to stay.”