< Previoushoteliermiddleeast.com September 2022 10 Appointments Grand Hyatt Muscat appoints GM Argentinian chef joins Meliã Desert Palm The Grand Hyatt Muscat has appointed Joerg Wickihalder as general manager. The globetrotting hotel leader has more than three decades of hospitality experience. Having worked across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean, Wickihalder has been drawn to the Sultanate for its vibrant hospitality culture. In his rst-ever role in Oman, Wickihalder stepped into the country for “the warm hospitality of the Omani people as well as the country’s stance to pursuit neutrality, ensure stability and promote peace,” explained Hyatt in a statement. As GM, he handles the day-to-day operations CAREERS of 278 hotel keys and eight dining outlets, with a focus on celebrating local cultures and upskilling his teams. He began his career as a chef in his hometown in Switzerland, where he worked in several ve-star hotels gaining experience across hospitality roles, from kitchen to front desk, to housekeeping and administration. Most recently, in September 2018, Wickihalder joined Hyatt as director of operations to open the Hyatt Regency Algiers Airport, where he was promoted to hotel and acting general manager after three years before his new role in Oman. Dubai's Meliã Desert Palm has brought in a new executive chef. Hailing from Argentina, Franco Canzano has expertise in Mediterranean and Italian cuisines. While handling day-to-day operations for all outlets, his principal focus will be on the elevation of the resort’s RARE restaurant. Taking over at the resort means Canzano will oversee all culinary operations, including private catering for the huge weddings hosted there. He said: “Dubai’s cuisine boasts delicious avours, and Arabian food in particular blends such wonderful herbs and spices, they make for fantastic dishes. “The resort is stunning, and the views should go with visually delightful food. I’ve got a great team with me here, and I’m excited to bring wholesome avours and fresh dishes to our regular guests, as well as new visitors.”11 September 2022 hoteliermiddleeast.com New marketing and comms manager at Anantara Downtown Dubai Santhosh Gopinathan moves to Bab Al Qasr Hotel Anantara Downtown Dubai Hotel has brought in a dedicated marketing and communications manager after the property was reflagged from Oberoi last month. Le Kim Thy Trang joins the five- star hotel in her first role outside of her native Vietnam. Now with Anantara, Trang will manage the marketing department, overseeing strategic planning and content development, while also working across digital, events, brand activations, loyalty programmes, PR and advertising. Fresh to the emirate, Trang shared: “I seek to create engaging conversations with our guests and build a strong presence in the luxury space while maintaining the brand integrity and strategically positioning the hotel as a preferred destination for exceptional and inspiring experiences.” Fluent in three languages, Trang is versed in hospitality marketing, brand management and partnership management. At the age of 23, she stepped into hospitality marketing and became the youngest marketing communications manager in the country through JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa. From there she moved to Vinpearl as head of brand marketing for Southern Vietnam. She previously held the role of strategic partnership manager at VinFast and executive assistant to the CEO at VinES, managing strategic partnerships with partners, connecting stakeholders, and maintaining relationships with C-level key partners within the industry. spend half a decade at the ve-star hotel climbing the ladder. He was made business development executive, followed by training coordinator and then assistant training manager between 2005 and 2007. From 2008 to 2009, he served as the hotel’s training manager where he helped launch a career development programme for all hotel staff. Following a three-year stint in Iraq as director of HR with Divan, he joined Millennium Hotels in Kuwait as director of HR in 2015. He held the post for four years before moving to the UAE as director of HR at the Crowne Plaza Dubai along Sheikh Zayed Road. Santhosh Gopinathan has stepped into Abu Dhabi hospitality for the rst time in his 17-year career. Gopinathan is now director of HR at the Bab Al Qasr Hotel & Residences, continuing his journey through the Middle East hotel sector. In his role, he works to increase staff diversity and retention, while also looking to boost employee engagement levels. He is celebrated not only as an experienced HR chief but also as a hotelier able to drive business growth through his department. Gopinathan started as sales and marketing coordinator with InterContinental Jeddah, going on to Careers hoteliermiddleeast.com September 2022 12 Cecilia Hage Marketing and PR manager, Hotel Indigo Dubai Downtown New Recruit How and why did you get into the hospitality industry? After working in marketing and communications for different multinational companies in different industries, I have understood what I truly appreciated about my work: Understanding the needs of customers and providing them the best and most tailored solutions possible. What is great about the hospitality industry is that you don’t have a specific “profile” of a typical customer. You address people from all over the world, from different social backgrounds, that ultimately come for different reasons to your destination and hotel. As a branding expert and storyteller, I believe that working in hospitality is a real challenge. You constantly need to position yourself in the shoes of the guests and find an appropriate way of communicating with them. Your hotel should be their home away from home during their stay. Thus, you must always make sure that all your services are perfect; from the comfort of their rooms, service quality of the staff, F&B offerings, to the different facilities you make available to them, and most importantly the “feeling” they have when they come and leave the hotel. My mission is for every customer, no matter if they are staying at the hotel or coming in to enjoy one of our outlets, to live an unforgettable experience that will make them want to visit again. Finally, being an outgoing, international person who loves to discover new places, and having lived in nine countries and travelled around the world, I believe that the hospitality world is where I really belong. How have any previous roles have helped get you where you are today? Every role I have undertaken in my career has helped me get to where I am today. From small internships to roles with bigger responsibilities, I have learned how to work in any industry, in any environment, and on any product or services. Working in different countries, such as France, the UK, Lebanon and now the UAE, has also helped me understand the different cultures at work, and have shaped my leadership and teamwork skills, negotiation skills, and, very importantly, my organisational skills. I believe all of these make me unique and drive me to learn more and do better in any position I take in charge. What challenges are you expecting to face and what’s the plan to tackle them? I expect to face strongly the speed at which Dubai’s market for hospitality is developing. I moved to Dubai 10 months ago, and every week I still discover new places to go to. The pace at which trends are created, and also gone, is crazy and scary for all of us working in the industry. The solution is making sure you constantly have a perfect quality of service that is up to the extremely high standards of Dubai visitors and residents, and create the unexpected by being the pioneers of new trends. That’s what I set myself as an objective every day. Tell us how a normal day will go for you. I don’t know if have “normal” days at work. For me, every day should bring new challenges to face, new things to discover, new learnings from my colleagues and guests… This is how I Careers 13 September 2021 hoteliermiddleeast.com get up every day excited to go to work. Otherwise, there are some things I must do every day: Make sure that my team is comfortable with their projects and work environment, make sure I am on top of everything that’s going on in the marketing department, respond to all my emails by end of day and, very importantly, walk around the hotel and talk to all departments and guests I encounter. Any person you talk to can teach you something you don’t know and help you get a new creative idea. That is something I have loved doing since joining the hospitality industry. Any advice to your fellow hotel professionals in Dubai? Ask yourself “why” you are doing what you’re doing; and what would be your added value.hoteliermiddleeast.com September 2022 14 10.30am: I arrive back in the of ce to check my emails and quickly catch up with my Quality Manager to look at guest reviews and solutions to enhance their experiences. 11am: Our morning meeting or mid-day meeting as I call it is intentionally scheduled at 11am with an objective to ensure that all General manager, Centara Mirage Beach Resort Dubai Sebastien Scheeg DAY IN THE LIFE 9:15am: It is time for MBWA (Management By Walking Around), which I nd highly effective. I do a complete tour of the resort, starting from the lobby and heading to our extensive waterpark, beach, outlets, gym, and spa among other facilities. I like to mingle with the staff and interact with the guests at the resort to ensure everything runs smoothly. 5am: Being an early riser I could highly relate to The 5 am Club by Robin Sharma. An early start allows me to elevate my day. I always start my mornings with black coffee while I look over all the guest reviews and financials of the previous day. After that, I quickly scan through my emails and WhatsApp to get a head start on my day. 6am: I find that feeling the morning sunshine is an excellent way to start the day, so I like to go for a quick morning walk with my family or on my own, depending on the weather. I then have a family breakfast, which gives us quality time before kickstarting a workday. On certain days, I also plug in early morning calls with my colleagues in Thailand, as the time difference is apt to work with. 7.30am: Once ready to hit the road, I start my 40-minute drive to the office at Centara Mirage Beach Resort Dubai. I usually connect with my revenue director, who is an early riser like myself, during my drive to catch up on trends and anything that needs to be addressed for the day. 8.30am: I arrive in the office and do a quick review of reports from the previous night – commercial and operational and then prepare my to-do notes on my phone.Careers 15 September 2022 hoteliermiddleeast.com 11.30 am Breakfast time – I have a quick bite (normally avocado toast), take a shower and choose my out t. I am a fashion lover and like expressing my personality through my clothing. Caption here HODs get the morning hours to focus on operational priorities and mainly guest needs. During the meeting, department heads give a quick summary of their focus of the day. We keep it snappy to address roadblocks, and urgent matters, and of course, celebrate when needed. I like to use meetings to share our goals and plans continuously, so we can all keep our eyes on the prize. 11.30am: This time is dedicated to one-on-one meetings/catch-ups, and do my emails with follow-ups. 1pm: This is when I decompress after the hectic morning and enjoy my lunch break. Usually, I will go to Uno Mas, our Argentinian Grill, because I am a big fan of steak and seafood. Sometimes I will couple my lunch with a meeting or take the chance to catch up with HODs, chefs or client hosting. 2pm: I like to use this time to daily look at how we can enhance the guests’ journey. Viewing things from the eyes of a child and an adult is essential for the type of resort we are. I also oversee work in progress on our new leisure pool that is being built to add another feature to our already extensive water attractions, while working on new enhancement projects and planning upcoming events like currently, the World Cup and Festive Season 2022/23. 4pm: Time to focus on team member welfare – this time is blocked in my calendar to tour back of the house, partake in birthday celebrations or host team members for coffee to get a close interaction with them. 6pm: Near the end of the day, I like to do my evening rounds and check in that there are no issues before I leave for the day. I usually leave the property around 7pm to drive home and call my mother in France on the way. I enjoy speaking to her as it gives me a sense of being at home. Occasionally if I have the time, I will get in a round of golf with my wife or friends. 8pm: I like to end the evening with a nice meal and a glass of wine. My wife Daria and I are big fans of cheese, so I will top off my night with a nice cheese board if I feel I deserve a treat. 10pm: Just before bed, I like to read or catch up on the news from around the world. I nd reading relaxing and the ideal way to end the day. Around 10.30pm, it’s time for the lights to go off, a good night's sleep is a perfect prescription to recharge for the next day. hoteliermiddleeast.com September 2022 16 Beatrice Segoni La Dolce Vita How Beatrice Segoni has revitalised the waterside restaurant Pierchic17 September 2022 hoteliermiddleeast.com Beatrice Segoni Pierchic’s new chef is on a mission to elevate coastal Italian cuisine in Dubai. Since relaunching in 2021, the Dubai restaurant has focused more on Italian food. Helmed by chef Beatrice Segoni, Pierchic was awarded one toque at the Gault&Millau UAE 2022 Gala. Held at Burj Al Arab Jumeirah on June 14, the inaugural Gault&Millau UAE Gala saw three restaurants receive three toques, while seven received two and 34 were given one toque. With a score of 13, Segoni was also the only female chef whose restaurant received one toque. Her career started in fashion but before long, she moved to Florence’s renowned Borgo San Jacopo restaurant, where she spent 14 years ahead of her appointment by Jumeirah Restaurant Group. The chef spoke to Hotelier Middle East to discuss the restaurant’s latest achievement, the challenges she has faced and what she has planned for the future of the revamped Italian restaurant. She said: “Honestly, I was blown away by the recognition because nally someone truly understood the hard work behind the concept of Pierchic. The Gault&Millau UAE rating goes out to the entire team, who have worked so hard.” BRINGING THE FOCUS BACK TO THE FOOD With its serene waterside setting, Pierchic is one of the city’s most distinctive dining destinations. “It is so distinctive in fact, that sometimes our biggest challenge is getting our guests to focus on the food, rather than the ambience,” Segoni explained. “It has been challenging to get people to focus on their plates with such a beautiful view. Pierchic is perceived as a destination for special occasions when an Italian concept is de nitely more accessible than when it was a seafood venue. It was dif cult, especially at the beginning to change the mindset of our regular guests. We want to teach them about Italian culture. We were trying to bring Italy with all its roots and regions right here to Dubai. That is our mission and goal, and with the Gault&Millau UAE recognition, we know we are on the right track. But the journey isn’t over. It is a long process for Pierchic to go from seafood to Italian in people’s perceptions,” she added. IMPROVING SERVICE, INGREDIENTS AND DETAIL Being awarded one Gault&Millau toque has given Segoni and her team a renewed sense of motivation. She said: “We are super thankful for the recognition and we think it will help us a lot in driving business. “It is a huge platform all around the world and being in the guide has helped us in spreading the word about our goals as an Italian restaurant. Looking ahead, Segoni wants to savour the win before improving the offering. She said: “We will take things step by step. We definitely want two toques. That’s not a secret and we are not hiding that, our plan is to keep improving ourselves. The focus of our first year was to create our new identity as an Italian restaurant. Our second year will be all about improving our service and food as well as being more detail orientated. This will definitely elevate us as a restaurant.” “Our biggest challenge is getting guests to focus on the food“ This year Pierchic was reimagined as an Italian restauranthoteliermiddleeast.com September 2022 18 Mondrian Doha Mondrian Doha’s Mikel Ibrahim and Chadi Farhat on an extraordinary half decade in Qatar THE BIG F19 September 2022 hoteliermiddleeast.com Mondrian Doha In ve short years, Mondrian Doha has become a revered leader in luxury lifestyle hospitality. Over the half-decade, ve-star hospitality has transformed massively, with classical lobbies swapped out for buzzing meeting places, sit-down restaurants turned into entertainment destinations; and swimming pools turned into lively social hubs. In a way, all roads lead back to the Mondrian Doha, which rst opened in 2017 and remains a source of inspiration for fellow lifestyle properties across the country, region and the globe. The success of Mondrian Doha since 2017 isn’t simply a case of being rst to market either. At all levels of the organisation, the team are on a quest for excellence – continuously striving to innovate the property and reimagine what is possible for a hotel to embody and provide. The property is a con dent convergence point – and celebration – of the many things the most discerned travellers of today are looking for: Thoughtful designs, sophisticated dining, and exciting, memorable experiences. Hotelier Middle East sat down with Mikel Ibrahim, General Manager and Regional Vice President of sales and marketing of the hotel and Chadi Farhat, Brand COO and Head of Middle East & Asia Paci c of Ennismore, to speak about Mondrian Doha’s incredible accomplishments over the last ve years. Ibrahim re ected: “It’s true, the segment has changed a lot over the past ve years, but we’ve always been the original property continuing to rede ne lifestyle hospitality in Qatar.” Farhat added: “Having opened in 2017, our mission was clear: Mondrian was a brand and a concept that was completely new to the region, and it was our job to make sure it really made its mark. I believe the team has really delivered when it comes to conveying what Mondrian truly stands for.” FIVENext >