Design
Fitting out the Ibis Styles Jumeira was clearly a focus of great attention. The interiors are noticeably bright, vibrant and enticing. Haider is pleased to acknowledge all design aspects came with approval from the hotel owner, who was very much “hands on and proactive.”
The interior design of the hotel was handled by Draw Link Group; it was inspired by the hotel’s close location to Al Meena Port, therefore the main theme was chosen to be maritime. To help realise this theme in the hotel, Draw Link Group collected more than 60 photographs with all the iconic buildings in the UAE and applied them full-scale from various angles on every room-door of the hotel. Walking through the hotel, it is easy to see from the guest perspective, Draw Link aimed and succeeded in creating an ambiance which would combine comfort, fun and conviviality.
People
“In launching this hotel, we replaced our human resources department with the ‘talent and culture department’ – this change came from Accor, and it occurred in both name and concept. We wanted it to become less harsh, and ‘talent and culture’ is friendly by name,” says Haider. “It’s a perception change, and this is now a department that focuses on interacting with our people.”
The talent and culture department is heavily involved with training and retaining employees, says Haider: “For example, just within our housekeeping team, we hired a Kenyan girl. But only after meeting with our talent and culture department team did we realise she had a hidden talent – in her home country she had been a research assistant with United Nations World Food Programme.”
From the day the hotel opened, the talent and culture department has helped Ibis Styles Jumeira bring out skills that its people already have acquired in addition to offering new skills. Haider continues: “We have another lady in the kitchen here, she has a master’s degree in social sciences.
Of course her real passion is in the kitchen – but now that we recognise the hidden talents of our people, we actively find ways to utilise their skills even better.”
Competition
“Honestly speaking, when I look at the new competition – and it is all competition for us, I just have to stay positive,” says Haider speaking of the growing mid-market sector in the UAE. “Hats off to my sales and operations teams for achieving the occupancy levels we currently enjoy – but new hotels are coming to this region all the time; you have to be confident about your own product. Ultimately it is healthy competition and it will bring out the best everyone. We have strong rivalry in the region, but compared to the market we are proud of our product, now it’s just a matter of hard work as we aim for more success.”
Contemplating his journey over the past 24 months, Haider concludes: “If I could go back in time to the pre-launch phase I don’t think I would do anything differently – but I must say that what we have accomplished here was a fantastic team effort, it’s not only me; it’s the entire team. If anything, I would show more appreciation to my team. We were all under pressure and sometimes we forget to give praise where praise is due.”
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Jun 15, 2016 , United Arab Emirates
I have observed the lot of strong points in Mr. Haider, but the most things which I have observed or I have learnt from him is that he is innovative, energetic, is punctuality, well merged with the time management skills and fully dedication to the work and always try to learn from mistake or fa...