Being the youngest general manager in the company’s history, and certainly, one of the youngest Hotelier has met, Schukowski is aware of the pressure, the expectations, and even the naysayers. “I know, for a fact, that people say that I will soon be out of a job, and I thrive on proving them wrong. I want to prove the people who believed in me right.”

He says the hotel, now in its 18th year, has matured in its own right, and adds that he wants it to be known as the most service-oriented hotel in the Northern Emirates.

And despite any and all economic and geopolitical challenges in the wider region, the Kempinski Hotel Ajman is still doing well, he reports: “To tell you the truth, we finished May with 95% occupancy. I was extremely happy, and so was the owner.”

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He’s open to being flexible with rates, and says as a loose rule, the hotel’s rates fluctuate in line with Dubai hotels.

“But at the same time, when we look at our competition and Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman, we are aligned with price and rates,” explains Schukowski.

“I’m also happy that we have the highest number of repeat guests within the company. That gives us a nice base business and the Russian market is still extremely strong; they come here because they love the property. They have lost 50% of the purchasing power so the holidays cost them twice the amount they paid last year, yet they still come,” notes Schukowski, who says the hotel has lost approximately 5% of its Russian customer base.

While the summer months are what concerns Schukowski the most (although with news that the hotel hit budget in July, it’s looking positive), he reveals that the end of the year is already showing solid business on the books. “Normally the booking pattern gets more unpredictable, but towards the last quarter, we have pretty solid large events and business on the books. For me, the main question will be summer. I think it will get extremely challenging and competitive. But it’s a matter of getting creative, and working with new markets.”

But Schukowski adds that based on the most recent forecasts, he’s hoping to finish the year at 66-67%, which “is not too bad for us”.

By the end of the year, more new hotels will have opened in the Northern Emirates, and Schukowski says that as an optimist, he embraces the competition. “It’s really only positive for Ajman. Now Ajman is a destination in its own right, and Ras Al Khaimah is going out and about. Ajman Tourism Development Department is doing a fantastic job, it’s really putting us on the map, and the more the merrier.”

And what about his personal goals? “I hope fortune is with me in the future, I’d love to continue as a GM for the next few years to get more experience. A next step might be a bigger property, and I’d love to stay with Kempinski.

“The long-term goal is to run a luxury five-star hotel company one day,” he says, and concludes: “I want to build my own pillars of success.”

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