What is your career background?
I started my career in the front office as a guest service agent at the Conrad Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. In 2004, I joined Rotana as front office duty manager and progressed to the position of night manager at Media Rotana in Dubai, following which I was promoted to the position of assistant director of front office at The Cove Rotana Resort, Ras Al Khaimah. I then worked my way up to director of front office at The Cove Rotana Resort before joining the pre-opening team in Rotana’s first property in Oman, the Salalah Rotana Resort.
What are your responsibilities at the hotel?
As director of front office, I am responsible for all matters affecting guest service. More specifically, I am responsible for controlling the availability of rooms and the day-to-day functions of the front office, such as handling guest arrivals and departures, and their information requests.
| Advertisement |
Having worked in Egypt, Dubai, RAK and Oman, what different industry trends have you seen?
Since starting my career in Egypt more than 10 years ago, there havebeen various trends that have impacted the industry. For instance, sustainability is now one of the buzz words of the decade. Industry stakeholders continually call for hotels to adopt eco-friendly practices. In the front office, a simple act like printing on both sides of paper goes a long way, and it has a positive impact on the bottom line in the long run. Advances in technology have also had a direct impact. This can be seen in guests’ use of mobile to book online. In Rotana, we recently launched online check-in, which is also made available to guests at the front desk in our resort.
What are differences between managing an operating property versus pre-opening?
During the pre-opening phase of a hotel, managing the front office operations involves a lot of planning and setting up of systems, whereas an operating property already has established systems and procedures in place to guide general operations. After being a member of three pre-opening teams, I have learnt it is a very crucial stage of a hotel operations as it requires a lot of effort and dedication to create the solid foundation necessary for the successful future of a hotel.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
