Crowne Plaza Bahrain’s Lama Fernando was named Unsung Hero of The Year, which was the most fiercely contested category.
Fernando, who has been with the IHG Group since 1977, works as a carpenter-cum-polisher at the Bahrain-based property.
Fernando has extended his creativity supporting the decorations for banquet functions at the hotel, which has helped the hotel save up to 75% of decoration cost from contractors for important events.
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He reportedly took initiative to repair a long standing water leakage in the Tracks Sports bar. He approached the director of engineering for permission to work on the issue even though plumbing was not his expertise. He dismantled the bar counter, found the problem and requested the required materials. The counter looked and functioned like new once he was done with it.
“Quality is paramount to me. I joined the InterContinental Colombo in 1977 and have worked in IHG hotels since across Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. I come from a family of carpenters (so it was a natural progression for me). In fact in the early days, before I joined IHG, I worked for experience and I was told I would not be given a salary,” an emotional Fernando told Hotelier.
RELATED: See all the shortlisted nominees here
From a young age, Fernando dreamt of building a home of his own, and so when an offer from an InterContinental property in Saudi came about, he considered it prudent to make the switch. The year was 1990.
“One of the directors who worked at the Saudi hotel, then made a switch to the Crowne Plaza in Bahrain. He called me to join him, and so I landed in Bahrain. The hotel, however, was quite old and I decided to change and refurb a lot of the furniture,” he said.
As is the case every year, the Unsung Hero of the year category brought out some of the most heart-warming stories.
Judges found it extremely difficult to shortlist the six finalists, and eventually, a winner.
The jury chose two highly commended nominees for this category - Patum Karunaratna from Gloria Hotels Dubai and Subeesh Chathoth from Doubletree by Hilton Doha – Old Town
Ronai managing director Gavin Dodd presented the award to Fernando.
The 2016 Hotelier Awards took place last night (October 26) at the Ritz-Carlton Dubai International Financial Centre and recognised the industry's finest professionals.
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