Supplier roundtable: FM in Qatar 2016
Qatar has been earmarked as a “hot-spot” for the facilities management industry by experts and stakeholders from within the industry; Agents4RM International managing director Lionel Prodgers shared similar sentiments in the Facilities Management Business Confidence Monitor 2016.
A few challenges, however, relating to visa regulations and staff sourcing exist in Qatar and Hotelier Qatar learnt about these when we spoke to FM companies in the country. Youssef Abillama, CEO of MMG, which is a sister company of EEG, says: “The main challenge and issue for us is in recruitment; at every level — from top executives to labourers. There is a quota which makes it difficult to secure visas for labourers, and the NOC rules mean that it is difficult to appoint someone at executive level from inside the country. In addition, as elsewhere in the region, there is a ban on Lebanese nationals getting visas, which is difficult for a Lebanese-based company like us.”
Al Doha Maintenance country manager Deepak Murthy adds: “The most evident challenges pertain to availability of skilled workforce, maintaining the cost effectiveness whilst providing high quality services and the ability to sustain beyond the rapid growth period. A majority of our resources are focused on regulating the industry.”
The bottom line for the success of the facilities management sector is based on a country’s scale of existing infrastructure, and Murthy feels that Qatar will be comparable to Dubai in a few years’ time. “Dubai has huge infrastructure projects such as the ports, metro, free zones etc. Meanwhile, Qatar would take another few years to reach there [with pipeline projects materialising]. These large scale projects bring in huge resources for the local market by the means of knowledge and capital, ultimately helping to regulate the industry. Qatar is in the process of realising these projects and would be at par with other tier-one cities in the next few years,” Murthy tells Hotelier Qatar.
Abillama says: “Qatar’s FM market is not as advanced as the UAE, but this means that there is massive potential for growth. It is an industry driven by major events and is, more than anywhere else, very connections based, so is not as open as some other FM markets in the Middle East.”
Hotels reported a slight drop in occupancy for the first half of 2016, but they have not cut back on FM companies’ services. Murthy explains: “FM forms an important aspect of hotels. Whether it is the economic slowdown or reduced occupancy rate, hotels cannot cut back the cost of maintaining the facilities, landscaping and housekeeping. These are services that can never be compromised in hotels as it significantly affects their business, and in the long run would have detrimental effects on the building structure and brand identity as well.”
The FIFA World Cup 2022 will bring with it the development of several new projects, not just in the way of sporting facilities, but projects such as the Doha Rail and other ancillary industries will also be developed. “The World Cup will, of course, spur a phenomenal increase in tourism and construction, and so it is likely that FM growth rates in Qatar will be higher than the Gulf average over the next few years,” Abillama says.
He adds: “As aforementioned, there needs to be more flexibility in the visa process to ensure that, where necessary, companies can bring in the right people to drive the success of the event, so that the Qatari economy will benefit wholly from the opportunities the World Cup will offer.”
Al Doha Maintenance
Deepak Murthy, country manager, Al Doha Maintenance & Services gives more details on the services it offers
Tell us a bit about your company?
Al Doha Maintenance is a facility management company operating in Qatar for the last 20 years. Our head office is based in Dubai and was established in 1978.
What are the services and products you provide to the hospitality industry?
We provide services such as preventive and corrective maintenance in the field of civil & MEP, turnkey projects, joinery services, cleaning and janitorial services and pest control services.
What services do you provide to hoteliers in Qatar, and tell us a bit about your partnerships?
We provide specialised services to hoteliers in Qatar such as external façade cleaning, air duct cleaning, kitchen hood cleaning, kitchen ducts degreasing, water tank cleaning, grease trap cleaning. In addition to this we also provide highly specialised cleaning such as chandelier cleaning, acoustic ceiling cleaning and cleaning of bill boards without the use of water. These services are provided by ADMS through the partnership with an American company wherein ADMS provides the services under the supervision of senior executives trained in the USA and the expertise and chemicals are obtained from the USA as well. Our clients vary from fast food chains to hotels and resorts across Qatar.
What new products or services are you planning on introducing to the Qatari market?
At ADMS we are constantly looking for innovation and diversification. We have always invested our resources in areas which ultimately add value to our clients on a longer run. In line with this we are working towards areas of renewable energy and incorporating the internet of things (IoT). These innovations could change the fundamentals of facilities management and would add significant value to the hospitality industry as energy and human resources are predominantly the key cost factors for all hotels.
Room Operations
Erkan Tatlidil, CEO and founder of Room Operations give details on the firm’s housekeeping solutions for the hospitality industry
When was you company established and could you give us some details?
Armed with an IT background with more than 20 years of experience, I founded Evonade in 2009. I have previously worked in the hospitality industry helping hotels move to a paperless environment with SharePoint and other web technologies. Evonade currently has 18 people working in our offices.
What are the services and products you provide to the hospitality industry?
RoomOperations is a cloud -based hotel operations management application and portal that covers room attendant scheduling, inventory control, engineering, minibar, lost and found and many other tasks and duties of professional housekeepers. With its advanced technology, it automatically assigns and schedules the room tasks to each room attendant based on the criteria; routes minibar and maintenance requests to the relative departments by creating work orders. It is multilingual, which eliminates the language barrier between staff making it the most efficient communication tool. Going live with RoomOperations turns the hotel operations into a paperless environment.
What is your aim with the company over the next few months?
We are focusing on expanding RoomOperations to other markets around the world.
Kärcher
Mazen Abou Chakra, export sales director at Karcher ME reveals details on newly launched products
Tell us a bit about your company?
Founded in 1935, the family-owned business is based in Winnenden, Germany and is the world’s leading supplier of cleaning technology to the private, commercial and industrial sectors. The Middle East subsidiary opened its doors in 1998 and is located in Dubai. Our Dubai branch has 82 employees with 11,333 employees worldwide as of 2015.
What are the services and products you provide to the hospitality industry by large?
The Kärcher product range includes high-pressure cleaners, vacuum cleaners, steam cleaners, window vacs, vacuum sweepers, scrubber driers, garden and household pumps and watering systems.
What new products or services are you planning on introducing in the near future?
Kärcher has introduced various new products in the Middle East over the past few months. In the professional segment, Kärcher recently unveiled the top-of-the-line Eco Master MK3 ultra-high pressure (UHP) compact water jetting machine fitted with Womatic four automatic equipment targeting the oil and gas industry, and the BRC 40/22 Armada Carpet Extractor which comes with a unique feature of 200° rotatable head offering 30% gain in productivity.
MMG
Youssef Abillama, CEO, MMG sheds light on the company’s Qatari operations and services to the hospitality sector
When was your company established and give a brief background?
MMG is one of the leading FM players in the Middle East market. We have been active in the region for over 16 years, and are now operating in Lebanon, Syria and Qatar. MMG opened its offices in Qatar in 2006.
It has grown and prospered by bringing its unique brand of integrated facility management to individual owners, institutions and government entities. MMG Qatar holds the ISO 9001(quality), ISO 14001(environment) and the OHSAS 18001:2007 (health and safety) certifications.
Tell us a bit about your services?
We offer a full range of facilities management services including total facility management, operations and maintenance and asset management. What differentiates us from other companies is that we can work with our sister companies, such as EEG which is a key player in energy auditing in the hotel industry. We have worked in many different sectors, from education to hotels, banking to hospitals, and hospitality to retail.
How many people does your company employ?
MMG employs more than 700 people and manages more than 1,500 subcontracted staff in some 900 sites and locations.