GM interview: Nicholas Campos

When Nicholas Campos’ Ontario burger chain franchise went under following the 2008 recession, he returned to Dubai, determined to resurrect his hospitality career.

“I first came to Dubai in 1985 when I was very young, and worked for various hotel groups — Hilton, Jumeirah and Jebel Ali. I also did a sales job for Mars and worked in a bank,” recalls the native Goan.

“In 2006 we migrated to Canada as a family. My wife had been born and raised in Kenya, we were living in Dubai, and we felt that we needed to find somewhere to call home.”

After working in Ontario as an F&B outlet manager and hotel GM, Campos developed the business he’d dreamed of, running a franchise of Lick’s Homeburgers. But the 2008 recession hit the 32-strong chain hard, and Campos’ franchise was one of many that ultimately sank. “I lost everything,” he says.

Campos returned to Dubai in 2014 without his now-grown-up family, and his previous good work with Jebel Ali paid off with an offer to manage the JA Hatta Fort Hotel.

“Contacts and connections are my speciality,” he says. “I always stay in touch with people and send regular greetings. And I got this job through a phone call to the CEO. He said: ‘Pack your bags and I’ll find something for you.’

“Fortunately the operations manager at JA Hatta Fort was moving on, and I got the job. I’d visited the hotel for two nights 14 years previously with the kids for a holiday. Little did I know I’d eventually be working here.”

JA Hatta Fort is billed as an exclusive mountain retreat just an hour’s drive from the city of Dubai in the Hajar Mountains on the UAE’s border with Oman.

Situated in an 80-acre hill park with rock-feature swimming pools and recreational facilities including tennis, mini-golf, archery and entertainment options, it offers 48-chalet-style rooms, two suites
and two villas.

On arrival, Campos stopped his car at the gate of the hotel, took a picture and sent it to his family. “I was so excited, and had such a good feeling in my stomach.”

That was approaching two years ago, and much has changed in the subsequent months. Campos has recently earned a promotion from operations manager to resident manager. “It’s as good as being GM,” he insists, while conceding that it’s a goal he is aiming for. “I’ll just have to work even harder,” he jokes. “I work long hours, though not by force. I love it and I take that responsibility,” Campos adds.

As resident manager, Campos is the most senior member of staff on-site, and reports directly into the CEO. He lives in the hotel in a pair of converted, adjoining rooms, though — with full P&L responsibility — he is conscious of the opportunity cost of that arrangement, and is currently exploring alternative accommodation to free up that inventory.

Campos is slowly giving JA Hatta Fort — which is charmingly dated in many respects — a facelift. There is no budget per se, and the work is piecemeal — performed exclusively by the hotel’s in-house property engineer Veerappan and his team. The next renovation started in June to move the hotel’s shop and the spa, and to make the lobby bigger.

“We’ve made a lot of changes here in the last 18 months, and the CEO is always looking for me to add flavour to the resort. He’ll approve ideas if he can see the added benefit,” he says.

“It’s a 35-year-old property,” continues Campos. “This used to be the equivalent of Burj Al Arab of the UAE — it was a famous building.”

And, while JA Hatta Fort retains a charming nod to those glory days (the food menu has a distinctly 1970s feel, with Caesar salad and flambé crêpe Suzette made at the table, and main courses dramatically revealed from under a cloche), the property itself has not fallen behind the times. “It hasn’t been allowed to run down,” remarks Campos, proudly. “And lots of greenery has been added — it’s a bird and bee sanctuary. You won’t hear background music in the car park here — just the sounds of nature. Everyone who comes here immediately starts taking pictures.”

The site does have a farm-like quality, enhanced by its own mini zoo. There is an aviary, fish pond, goat and deer enclosures, and a dozen roaming peacocks (to which Campos is adding another 20). Further additions will include 30 turtles and 10 new bird-feeding areas on the hotel’s Hill Park.

Campos is also looking to acquire six horses, and build a stable and riding school on the site. “It’s not confirmed yet,” he confides, “but I’m 90% certain it will happen.”

“The animals make people feel good,” says Campos — both guests and staff.

And of the latter, he adds: “My priority is to keep them happy,” says Campos, who operates an ‘open-door’ policy and promises to listen to every suggestion or complaint. “Then I know they will deliver beyond my expectations.”

All 88 members of staff — like Campos — live on-site. The make-up of the team is predominantly Indian, Sri Lankan, Nepalese and Filipino. According to Campos, staff at the hotel have forged strong bonds of friendship, playing football, cricket and volleyball and watching TV together in their free time.

Not that the staff like to have too much free time. They are all offered the opportunity to earn time-and-a-half pay on their days off, working on site with the aforementioned engineering team. “And they all say yes,” says Campos.

There are further earning opportunities through the hotel’s Creating Chances incentive scheme, which recognises a front-of-house and back-of-house employee each quarter. “They get a certificate and AED 500 [US $136],” says Campos. “Nine of us vote on our winners in our management meetings — it’s important that we recognise our staff.”

The rewards are more than monetary. “We’ve just upgraded the staff cafeteria food — we provide a set menu for their food. They know someone is looking after them,” says Campos.

The hotel also provides staff with free transport to Dubai, a gym and Wi-Fi. “They were paying for their own internet — now they can all chat with their families for free. And staff are allowed to bring their families to stay here — we have guest rooms in the accommodation block.”

The benefits of Campos’ paternalistic approach include a very low level of staff turnover and some extraordinary examples of long-service. “Usually, if someone leaves, it is for a reason. But give it a year or two and they are back. Lots of the team are here for the second time,” says Campos. “A former GM here told me the longer you stay here, the more you’ll love it.”

It is clear that Campos subscribes to the Richard Branson school of leadership thought: ‘If you look after your staff, they'll look after your customers.’

“None of our staff will say no to a customer request and that’s given us a good reputation,” says Campos. He adds that, for example, diners can order anything they want ‘off menu’, and chef Babu Khan (who has been at JA Hatta Fort for a combined 23 years in two stints) will try to create whatever they ask for.

It creates a virtuous circle — happy guests typically make for happy management, who make for happy staff again. “The whole hospitality industry has slumped in 2015,” notes Campos, “but JA Hatta Fort has been blessed, and we made budget in February, March and April, all of which were also better than last year. So to celebrate we held a big combined Easter and Holi party for the hotel staff.”

Building Business

Occupancy at JA Hatta Fort is invariably 100% on weekends, and ranges from 60% to 75% during the week.

“Last New Year’s Eve we had enquiries from 33 people who we couldn’t accommodate as we were full. It had always been my wish to accommodate camping, so I went out and bought 10 tents, each with two single beds and a bunk bed — perfect for families. We built a campfire and a barbecue. And they came. And they had a great time, partying late into the night.

“We have not marketed it yet, as the CEO feels the facilities need to be better, but the intention is that guests of the campsite will be able to use the full hotel services.”

With a fully equipped conference centre, as well as a 300-person capacity air-conditioned marquee, JA Hatta Fort benefits from good MICE business. “One of our top clients is [power tools company] Hilti — they’re here twice a month.”

Another speciality of the hotel is its teambuilding events. “We make more from that than from room revenues,” reveals Campos.