Hotelier Middle East paid a visit to Six Senses’ Oman hideaway to explore its unique approach to F&B, the environment and HR, and to meet the members of the team who are at the forefront of the resort’s deserved success
Six Senses Hideaway Zighy Bay in Oman has recently been named the ‘World’s Leading New Resort’ in the World Travel Awards, announced at last month’s World Travel Market held in London.
And following a trip to the resort, hidden in the mountains on the Musandam peninsula, Hotelier agrees that it is deserving of the title.
This is not just because of the “five-star accommodation, outstanding customer service and luxurious setting” acknowledged by the World Travel Awards, however, but also down to the passionate efforts made by the team behind the scenes.
Lead by general manager Rochelle Kilgariff — who previously headed up Soneva Fushi and was the first female general manager appointed by Six Senses — the team at Zighy Bay has a unique character.
Firstly, the resort is committed to Omanisation, with a third of the team (67 hosts) being Omani, contributing to the authenticity of the resort, itself modelled on a typical Omani village and built using local materials.
“The plan is to get to 50% Omani representation on the team before the end of the second financial year, which for us is the end of June next year,” says Kilgariff.
The ultimate aim is to have 85% of the staff Omani, in line with the current country law.
“We obviously would dream of getting to that level and eventually we will, but you have to take it in stages. We’ve presented to the labour minister our plan to get 85% Omanis, but it’s obviously over a longer term — I think we’ve given a projected two and a half years,” says Kilgariff.
“They are talking about adding another airport to this region, that will bring an enormous amount of infrastructure to Musandam and a larger population — if that goes ahead in the immediate future we could look at reducing the timeframe.”
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Kilgariff, along with other executive team members, works closely with Robert MacLean of the National Hospitality Institute (NHI) in Oman to recruit local staff in addition to providing a wealth of opportunities to the local villagers.
“I would say 80% of the Omani hosts that have been brought on board have come through NHI,” acknowledges Kilgariff.
“It’s a really lovely project; we go and do recruitment drives in the outlying areas such as Sohar and Dibba, have an open day and advertise in local papers to get nationals to come and sit an exam and go through an interview process with us in whatever areas they are interested in joining the hotel.
“If we confirm that they have the right calibre and background to work at Six Senses, NHI takes them at government expense for a six-month training programme on hotel operations and after they’ve graduated, our commitment is that we’ve confirmed them a job and they’re commitment is to stay with us for a year minimum,” explains Kilgariff.
There is now an Omani omanisation director on the executive team and Kilgariff seems confident that one day, the resort could even have an Omani GM.
Obviously it is not just Omanis who are important at Zighy Bay; looking after staff is a key focus for Kilgariff and it is one of the priorities highlighted at the Six Senses annual GM conference held in October.
The second priority is delivering environmental initiatives.
Kilgariff says: “Across the board we’re all in challenged times. As far as successes go we are holding our own, times are tough but we have been able to sustain our business partners. We’re still aggressively targeting new business and new markets”.
Going forward, she said the company had chosen to focus on two things that might traditionally go by the wayside during a downturn.
“There’s two main focuses; we’re still focusing on our environmental initiatives and concerns and also on one of our main assets, which is our HR, to ensure we are still leaders in that area.”
The strategy appears to be working; every ‘host’ Hotelier came into contact with was friendly and polite, helpful while understanding the need for privacy and well versed in the resort’s amenities.
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