Coming from Doha, he is well-versed in the frustrations of setting up shop in the Middle East — an experience he claims has been a major advantage.
“I think the benefit of having done a Middle East, and more specifically a GCC opening before, was huge; from a governmental point of view, what it takes to set up. If you’re a hotelier that has only worked in the Americas it’s very difficult to understand how all your staff will come from overseas.”
The staff didn’t just come from overseas; Casson personally went to find them. He visited 20 countries, including Nepal, Indonesia, China, India and Russia, and so far has met with every single one of the 400-strong workforce in person — 50% of whom were previous Four Seasons employees — and he is still working on recruiting 100 more staff for the hotel.
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“You can literally exactly profile what you want, but if you say, as everyone does, that people are really the most important asset, will you delegate that choice to someone else? Then what you say and your actions are not aligned,” he comments.
Meeting staff in their own country is the only way to break down the fear factor for those embarking on their first job abroad, Casson believes. Not only does this make them feel more welcome at the property when they arrive, but on meeting the general manager “something changes there”.
“I’m not looking for technical skills, because by the time they come to me they will have been through three or four different interviews. I’m looking for passion and a drive. How are you as a human being? Are you the sort of person I would want in the business, and are you excited about it?
“Very rarely does someone show up and want to be bad at their job. I’m pretty sure that they want to be great. What stops people from being great is normally leadership.
“If they find an environment where they have a voice, where they believe that their voice is important, and where they can advance and grow, regardless if they are from Nepal or Nottingham. If they can grow, whether they are a man or a woman or what colour their skin is, if they find that environment then normally employees will soar. Something magical happens where service goes to a different level,” he says.
It is this new level of service that separates a Four Seasons hotel from a Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis, or any other hotel that would normally be expected to rank in the comp set as a five-star luxury Dubai property, according to Casson.
“There are something like 200 five-star hotels in Dubai, but here, the five-star classification is facilities-based. You could tick all of the facilities boxes and still not be five-star in the eyes of the luxury traveller,” Casson explains.
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