Simon Casson, Four Seasons regional vice president and general manager of Four Seasons Dubai Jumeirah Beach.
Taking into consideration salary, development, reputation and career development, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts was voted 2015's best hotel company to work for by Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey respondents.
The company achieved a marginal increase (0.5%) in the percentage of votes it received this year over last year, with 25.9% naming the operator as number one this year.
“Four Seasons is a company built on strong foundational values with people at the centre. To be named and voted for as Best Employer in the Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey, is a wonderful validation of this continuing and constant focus on our employee experience,” said Simon Casson, regional vice president & general manager, Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach.
“With a growing portfolio in the Middle East we will continue to ensure that, in every hotel, we are creating and maintaining an environment where our teams can be the very best they can be, always treated with respect and with opportunity to learn and grow.”
Casson oversees more than 7000 staff in Four Seasons properties across Damascus, Beirut, Riyadh, Doha, St. Petersburg, Dubai and Bahrain, and the luxury operator is currently undergoing an ambitious expansion in the region.
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The 237-key Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach opened its doors in November last year, and a second Dubai property, the 106-key Four Seasons Hotel Dubai at DIFC is expected to open in 2016.
Additionally, Four Seasons Bahrain launched in March and Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi is also on track to open in the second quarter of 2016.
In the Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey 2014, Four Seasons was voted as the second-best employer, with 25.4 % of the votes.
Marriott International took the lead with 26.6%, however this year the operator dropped down to third place in the rankings with 23.1% of participants saying it was the best company to work for.
Jumeirah Group moved up this year, taking 23.6% of the votes compared to 22.9% last year.
This year, more people said they work for the employer they consider to be the best (42.1%), than those that said they don’t (41.5%), which shows a shift in sentiment from last year
Last year, the majority of respondents said they didn’t work for the employer they considered to be the best (46.1%), and only 38.6% said they did.
Additionally, this year, 16.4% of respondents said that while they don’t currently work for the employer they consider to be the best, previously they have, compared to 15.4% last year.
However, the majority of survey respondents are convinced that the grass is greener on the other side, with more than half (52.3%) claiming their salary is below average compared to other hotels of a similar category, while 40.8% claimed their salary was average and just 6.9% said their wages were above average.
The Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey is carried out annually and the 2015 survey is its seventh edition.
With 527 hoteliers completing this year’s survey, it was the most comprehensive Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey ever carried out.
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