Hotel Engineer title nabbed by Basant Kushwaha

The title of Hotel Engineer of the Year 2016 at the Hotelier Middle East Awards has been awarded to Basant Kumar Kushwaha, who is the director of engineering at the Kempinski Hotel Ajman.

Kushwaha started his career with his property nearly a decade ago and worked his way up the ranks. Apart from working to budget and on time, he has created a series of energy conservation initiatives at his property which saved a lot of money. He also achieved the highest employee satisfaction with no employee turnover during the past year.

He told Hotelier after winning the award: "We have installed one sewage treatment plant which recycles sewage water which we use for irrigation. We have installed solar heating systems so all the hot water in the rooms are supplied by solar power, and we have also replaced all the bulbs with energy-saving LED bulbs."

The winning hotel engineer said that economical considerations are important in any business, and in addition to reducing carbon footprint, his initiatives have also helped save money for the property.

The Kempinsski Hotel Ajman has been open for 18 years, and Kushwaha recognises the challenges in running a smooth operation at the property. He said: "Construction-wise the hotel is almost 20 years old, but we have a plan for a renovation in a phased manner to replace things like the MEP from next year onwards."

Kushwaha received his award from Rational vice president business development Middle East Simon Parke-Davis at the Old Hollywood Glamour-themed ceremony at The Ritz-Carlton DIFC on October 26.

The Highly Commended nominee in this category was Butch Lim from Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre.

Shortlisted nominees for this category included: Abdul Quddus, director of engineering, Armani Hotel Dubai; • Mohamed Abdel Wahab, director of engineering, Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort ; Satya Sreedharan, head of engineering, Media One Hotel; and Viji Kunjachan, director of engineering, InterContinental Muscat.