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.”
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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.
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