Hotel News Middle East catches up with Peter Adel, front desk supervisor Fairmont Dubai
Describe your first ever role in the hotel industry?
I started my career in 2008 as a food runner in a fine-dining Vietnamese restaurant in Fairmont Nile City Hotel in Egypt. As I joined the team at the pre-opening stage, my shift started at 4:30pm and often continued until the early hours of the morning. Each team member was responsible for ensuring a seamless experience for the guests – from the arrival until concluding the day with polishing cutlery and crockery. We basically built a restaurant from scratch; it was a very interesting yet challenging time.
Who has inspired you most in your career?
I have had the privilege to come across many great leaders during my career, but someone who I cherish the most is Joe Nassoura, the director of rooms at Fairmont Dubai. He is someone I can always turn to whenever I have a question or doubt; he is a leader, who takes the utmost pride in standing behind his team and is always there to advise us. Joe has fully empowered his team and I feel confident and proud to work with him.
How do you view the hotel scene in the region?
As Dubai has become one of the world’s largest bases for five-star hotels, I believe the region is a beneficial place to kick-start a successful hospitality career, and provides great opportunities for career growth. Consumers in the region are more empowered than yesterday’s as they have more passion, request better experiences and ultimately they want everything, and they want it now. To fulfill their expectations, I believe that hotels have to dig deeper into their mindset, in order to understand their behaviour and successfully manage their expectations.
What is the biggest challenge of your role?
The most challenging aspect is to see unhappy guests, because ultimately every hospitality person’s aim is to create wow-moments for each and every guest, making sure they leave with a smile and keep returning to their home away from home. It’s important to listen to the guests, get to know their expectations and act accordingly.
What is the best aspect of your role?
The ability to turn guests’ moments into memories, as it’s all about going above and beyond their expectations. For example, seeing the guests smiling upon their return, when we recognise them by the name, or remember their preferred sweets.
If you could work in any hotel in the world which would it be? It would be interesting to work in one of our neighboring hotels, to see the operations from a different point of view.
What tip would you share with new staff starting out in the hotel industry in the region? I believe personal connection is a key aspect when starting out in the hospitality industry. One must also have that inner passion towards hospitality and serving the guests to make them feel welcome and to exceed their expectations at every step.
Experience:
February 2016 – present: Front desk supervisor, Fairmont Dubai
February 2015 – Feb 2016: Fairmont Presidents Club representative, Fairmont Dubai
April 2013 – Feb 2015: Front desk agent, Fairmont Dubai
