The InterContinental Fujairah Resort is situated on the shoreline of Al Aqah Beach, against the backdrop of the Hajjar Mountains.
TEAM TIME
Creating a tight-knit teams is not easy, but Economou says he’s happy with the skillsets of those that he’s employed to work at the resort. Keeping the team highly motivated, however, is one of his top priorities.
“We were lucky enough to open the hotel with everyone [highly motivated]. We proved that during the last few simulations we did, where we received comments from people saying that they didn’t realise it was just the pre-opening of the hotel,” he says proudly.
Training played a key role in keeping these engagement and commitment levels high, and team-building activities also helped, he adds.
“I was always inspired by the story of the janitor that [former US President John F] Kennedy met when he went to visit NASA. He asked the janitor, ‘what are you doing here?’, and he replied, ‘I’m helping people to go to the moon.’
“We don’t only provide service to our guests; we create lifetime relationships. What I’m trying to promote within the team is this vision. They are not just cleaning a room, for example; they’re creating a lifetime relationship with a guest,” Economou says.
“We are a people industry, and if you want to make a difference, it will always be through people. A room will [always] be a room, a restaurant will [always] be a restaurant, but if you want to make a difference to the service, it will always [come down to] the people. So, I’m a true believer that you have to treat people well, and develop them. If they develop, your company will develop as well. Empower them — who knows better how to serve a guest than the person who is in front of that guest?”
As the first InterContinental resort in the Middle East, Economou’s aim is to be an example for those that follow, starting with the InterContinental Mina Al Arab Resort.
“We want to create best practices for the second resort that will come in to the region. We have the know-how of the Asia resorts, but we want to create this know-how in the Middle East because the market is different. Our guests have different needs. If I copy and paste what we have in Asia, it might not work here.”
Reflecting on the pre-opening experience, Economou says: “It’s been stressful and there were a lot of unknown areas to discover. But it’s been a great learning curve. A lot of people told me that if you do an opening, either you hate it or you love. Judging it now, I would do another opening if I had the same team. The opening was not easy, but it [succeeded] because of the team that we had.”
Now that the property has opened, Economou has just one goal, he says with a twinkle. What is that? “To be the best resort in the Middle East.”
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