As it completes its second year of operation, Louise Oakley revisits St. Regis Doha to find out how general manager Tareq Derbas has set the hotel on its path to being a “must-visit destination”
It’s been two years since I stayed at The St. Regis Doha, and close to four years since general manager Tareq Derbas arrived on site ready to lead the pre-opening.
On my first visit back in April 2012, the hotel had been open only 10 days, and I don’t know many general managers willing to have Hotelier’s prying eyes in-house so early in the operations.
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Despite the early arrival, the QR 2 billion (US $54.9 million) product couldn’t fail to wow, and Hotelier was impressed, in particular, with Derbas’ self-proclaimed “obsessive concern” with the finest of details. At the time, he also set some big goals; asserting that the hotel would “raise the bar” in Qatar and become the “must-visit destination” for visitors to the state and the region.
Returning in April this year, while visiting Doha for the annual Hotelier Middle East Qatar Hospitality Summit, it’s evident that business has matured, with occupancy above 60% and the four F&B outlets I experienced all more than half-full, despite it being a Monday.
It’s also clear that the St. Regis signature butler service is a smooth operation, subtly ticking away behind the scenes, and there are some familiar faces on the team, with 70% of manpower from the opening still working at St. Regis.
Training for quality, consistency and commitment to the brand standards has been essential, says Derbas, revealing that the hotel achieved a score of 8.8 for service standards and guest experience — “which is the benchmark for the brand worldwide and that’s not easy”.
However, some key members of the executive committee have moved on from the hotel, many promoted to other positions globally, with deputy GM Hal Philp now opening GM at the Sheraton Melbourne, for example. He’s been replaced by Dagmar Lyons, who previously worked at The Palace Downtown Dubai.
Derbas says this is normal after a pre-opening, once the positioning is successful, and that the new senior team is now tasked with “taking things to the next level”.
Also important is up-skilling the middle management, with Derbas, a stickler for detail — inevitable following previous roles as hotel manager at Burj al Arab and a long career with Four Seasons — now ready to pass responsibility down through the team.
“The most important thing to us now is to focus on the middle management. Those are the people who control the remainder of the staff. Through the opening stage, the people who were driving the ship were the executive committee and the senior management. I think now it is about time to empower those who are second in command,” says Derbas, adding that they will be trained to deliver the company’s glitch-handling system.
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