With that statement, and recalling Cuthbert’s earlier assertion that there are still colleagues from the time of pre-opening, it’s interesting to note that there are some ‘long-timers’ within the company. They all reference Gerald Lawless, the previous executive chairman and CEO of Jumeirah Group, as one of their main influencers.
Saliba notes: “For me personally, it has always been leadership. I decided I wanted to work with Jumeirah when I was reading an article about Mr. Gerald Lawless and he said the most important assets for Jumeirah are colleagues. That was the hook for me.”
Timer adds: “For me it was another story in a way, because it was a takeover. I was instrumental in choosing Jumeirah because we had other hotel company management options and I was impressed by Jumeirah and how they deal with people, like Azar mentioned about the approach of Mr. Gerald Lawless. After so many years of seeing so many international chains, the way how they approach people strike me very much, it felt like it was a good family to belong to.”
Bollhalder, while newest to the resort, says that he has also met Lawless on many occasions. He reveals: “I remember well when I met Mr Lawless first which was just after Jumeirah Beach Hotel opened from being Chicago Beach and he impressed me with his vision and what he did.
“I came to this resort in 2005 and I had known many people who lived and worked here and when I was offered this position, I thought, where do you get a luxury resort of this scale anywhere in the world? And there are very few places. I thought that was a great proposition and a great challenge for me and looking at the expansion of the company and what it stands for, it made my decision easy.”
Saliba agrees and adds: “There are lots of good challenges that keeps us excited and motivated to keep doing better.”
Constantly doing better is important in an environment that keeps changing. With 15.8 million international visitors in 2017, and predictions of nearly 40,000 rooms from now until 2020, Dubai’s hospitality industry is not getting any less competitive. However, the team is striving to keep its quality levels high and now with the addition of Jumeirah Al Naseem to the portfolio, as Saliba says, the resort is matching the increasing demand placed on its reserves.
Bollhalder comments: “It’s one thing to keep and retain our guests and give them a reason to return. We have a high success rate of return guests and that’s absolutely fantastic, but we are also going into new markets — we have a very strong sales and marketing and PR team to see where we have new opportunities. The reputation of looking so well after our clients is where we have a real plus compared to our competitors. Of course, we have the best location and we have the nicest beach, and we have the best product.”
The resort’s busiest months are usually before the summer hits (March through April) and during the cooler months (October through to December) — in December 2017, the resort saw 3,200 people for example.
To this effect, Saliba points out: “We have become a destination of our own. We are not just a normal hotel — guests can stay here for seven days and not leave if they wanted to.”
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