DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING ANECDOTES YOU CAN SHARE ABOUT THE JOURNEY ?
Hotel openings expose you to a huge spectrum of experiences and emotions . Some standout experiences for me looking back are the creation of an amazing team and a beautiful product . From starting alone in a borrowed office , with a borrowed laptop at the AccorHotels regional office in Bangkok to where we are today with an amazing team and product and one more on the way , it does give one an enormous sense of satisfaction .
Another experience that I will always treasure was the kindness , and compassion that some of the new friends that I met in in the southern Maldives showed me . When I first arrived on the island during the construction period life was a challenge . Access to some of the basic necessities was difficult and out of pure kindness my new friends went out of their way to look after me by taking me to their home islands for a good meal with their families or bringing me supplies when I got in a jam without ever once asking for anything in return . It was a gesture of human spirit that I will never forget .
IS YOUR TEAM IN PLACE ? WHAT ATTRIBUTES WERE YOU LOOKING FOR DURING THE HIRING PROCESS ?
We have a great cadre of colleagues who are very excited to receive our first guests very soon . With have a few more colleagues standing by to come on board shortly to complete our team .
It may sound like a cliché , but we look for colleagues with a good heart and an open mind . We have a wonderful learning & development team who will happily invest the time to coach and empower new colleagues the skills required to perform their duties , but given we are in the hospitality industry we believe it is essential that all members joining our team show a passion for service and share our guest-centric ethos .
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE MANAGING AN ISLAND-BASED PROPERTY TO A LAND-BASED PROPERTY ? WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES ?
Yes , there is a difference . Managing resorts in the Maldives is an exciting and professionally challenging undertaking as we are not only engaged in facilitating the fit-out and positioning of the property but in this kind of environment , we are responsible for creating a totally self-sufficient community . We are required to operate our own power and water production , waste management , logistics offices , staff welfare facilities , activate safety protocols , transport , health care , communications links and of course we need to have the required manpower with the particular skill set to do it .
Being on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean just above the equator is truly an isolated location so we are always mindful of maintaining our supply-chain , logistics , and provisions to ensure we can seamlessly cater to our staff and guests .
Mercure Maldives Kooddoo
When I speak with some of the older folks in Maldives I am grateful for the new technologies available to us now which makes these tasks a lot more reliable and efficient than it would have been for the pioneers of the industry here in Maldives 20 or 30 years ago . It is hard to imagine in years past having limited access to telephones , no internet , no satellite TV , no GPS navigation and very few computers . I think we have it easy these days .