Suitehotel and Ibis Mall of the Emirates hotel director Nicola Hochgruber has worked with Accor for 20 years. Suitehotel and Ibis Mall of the Emirates hotel director Nicola Hochgruber has worked with Accor for 20 years.

Accor Hospitality and Bavaria Hotels International (BHI) have responded to the results of the Hotelier Middle East GM Survey 2009, which found them to be the two chains Middle East-based hotel GMs would least like to work for.

Of the 93 general managers that responded to the survey between July 16 and August 22, 34 responded to the question “Which hotel companies would you not work at? (either because you worked there and didn’t enjoy it or because you do not like its reputation).Hotelier Middle East listed 26 hotel companies and gave the option of ‘other’.

Fifteen general managers (44.1% of the sample) said they would not like to work for Accor and 14 (41.2%) said they would not work for BHI.

Commenting on the results, Accor Middle East director of human resources Estelle Chambost said: “We respect the opinion expressed by the 15 GMs. However, these 15 GMs, which represent 16% of the total respondents of the survey, may belong to the upscale or luxury segment of the market.

“Just over 90% (i.e. 76 GMs out of 84*) of the GMs surveyed, are presently working for four-star and five-star properties and only eight of them (9.5%) currently manage economy/budget hotels.

“Since Accor Hospitality in the Middle East, in Dubai in particular, has 80% of its portfolio in economy lodging, it is understandable that GMs from four-star and five-star hotels, are probably not inclined to work for a group that develops mainly economy to midscale lodging,” said Chambost.

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Accor has 16 GMs in the Middle East, excluding KSA and Egypt.

Chambost said: “All our GMs are promoted from within the company in the region or outside the region. As an example, all of the 10-plus recruitments of GMs we had in the last 18 months due to moves and new openings came from within the Accor Group”.

For example, Nicola Hochgruber started her career in Germany as an apprentice at the Front Office and she is currently the hotel director of Suitehotel and Ibis Mall of the Emirates (MoE) in Dubai.

Hochgruber said: “One of the things I admire about Accor is the professionalism of the company. I also enjoy working for the variety of brands which range from budget, economy to luxury hotels and the possibility to work in different countries and experience different cultures. Furthermore, the company continuously provided me with all kinds of training courses and seminars, and a personalised development plan for my career.

“In my personal experience with Accor, the company always gave me back more that what I have invested in. It gave me the chance to grow and improve my knowledge, and build my career as well. I prefer to stay with the group for many years to come, as there are still a lot of brands I want to represent and geographic areas which I want to explore.”