What is your career background?
My career background includes 10 years of marketing fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) for global brands and 14 years of resort management. I graduated from the London School of Economics with a BSc in geography and economics, and I completed my masters in international business adminstration (MBA) from the IE Business School in Madrid.
What are your responsibilities at Muscat Bay?
My responsibilites at Muscat Bay include sales and marketing, strategic development and evolution, post sales and collections, and team structuring. I’m also part of the Muscat Bay management team that reports to the board with all findings and data collection.
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You started out with the advertising industry; what led you to the hospitality sector?
After completing my MBA I was headhunted by the Domecq family to head up a division for a new country club amidst the Andalucian white villages. I had always wanted to work client-side and I had a lot of experience creating added value and investment opportunities while working part-time as a manager of various London bars and clubs. It was the process of creating something tangible and sensorily inspirational beyond the screen that really appealed to me.
What are some of the challenges you feel you face at Muscat Bay and how do you work around them?
Some of the challenges I face at Muscat Bay are a lack of awareness about our product beyond Oman and a lack of awareness about Oman’s competitive lifestyle offering. In order to work around these challenges, we have been working on changing people’s perceptions about our distance from Muscat and our value propositon. Muscat Bay is located only 15 minutes from the heart of Muscat, making it a coveted destination for those wanting to stay close to the city while escaping the hustle and bustle of the noisy capital.
What strategies have you adopted to ensure you stay ahead of your comp-set?
The strategies that we’ve adopted to combat awareness are new brand propositioning and integrated offline and online messaging. We worked tirelessly to create a brand that we are confident will differentiate Muscat Bay from other projects in the region. We have put together a campaign about our proximity to Muscat as well as unveiled a new experience centre on-site to host events. This has also helped increase awareness about the project.
After moving to the region in 2014, what’s your take on the hospitality scene?
I believe that the hospitality scene in the region is just coming into existence and with the right focus and investment, it could have huge potential and a lively future. Since the April 5 rebranding of Muscat Bay, we have accelerated reach and understanding of our offering throughout the region. We have also received more than 500 new qualified leads since the relaunch, with 40% coming from outside Oman.
What are some of your career achievements, and what would you say are your future ambitions?
I do not enjoy following the crowd and challenging market assumptions, so all of the projects I’ve worked on and some of my brand marketing achievements align with that, such as the Porto Montenegro launch during the financial crisis. One day, I would love to run a project from conception through delivery.
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