At the recent Fairmont Hotels & Resorts international leadership meeting held last month, the 2010 company awards were announced. With over 60 Fairmont properties poised for recognition in over 10 categories, the Fairmont Dubai was the recipient of two highly coveted awards – ‘Hotel of the Year’ and ‘Enviro Star of the Year’.
Following these two wins, Philip Barnes, Regional Vice President United Arab Emirates and General Manager, Fairmont Dubai stated, “this acknowledgement is a true reflection of our team’s commitment to the guest experience,” adding, “not only have we achieved an exceptional performance record during difficult economic circumstances, we also delivered on our promise to be good environmental stewards in the community where we work and live in.”
Despite its relative youth in comparison to other, more iconic properties in the company portfolio, this is the second win for the Fairmont Dubai in the ‘Hotel of the Year’ category (the first such recognition was given in 2005), an unprecedented showing for a hotel to receive this award twice.
The criteria for ‘Hotel of the Year’ was stringent, and top marks were awarded for a property that achieved exceptional results across Fairmont’s Four Pillars – colleague engagement, guest satisfaction, RevPar (revenue per available room) growth and EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization).
Recognizing that the guest experience starts with a dedicated and a highly motivated team of colleagues, Fairmont Dubai reached third place in the company for colleague engagement and satisfaction. Not only a rewarding place to work, the hotel was also noted as a strong market competitor, despite a recession year in a region where over supply was quickly outstripping demand. Fairmont Dubai was lauded for keeping its competitive edge by being one of the top ten performing properties in guest satisfaction (GSI), increasing index points significantly over the previous year, and also by improving its Revpar performance.
A second and just as equally important accolade was the ‘Enviro Star of the Year’ award. This was presented to Shelendra Singh, Environment, Health and Safety Manager at the Fairmont Dubai, in recognition of his commitment to elevating sustainability issues to the forefront of the hospitality industry. He was credited for his efforts to increase recycling rates to over 60% in 2010, thereby achieving a cost savings of over AED 50,000, enforcing a linen reuse program, and working with the culinary team to ensure that sustainable seafood is featured on the hotel’s menu and that takeaway bags and other print collaterals are made from 100% recyclable material.
This achievement follows closely other accolades in the past year for the Fairmont Dubai, including Arabian Business magazine’s ‘Hospitality Company of the Year’ and industry specific awards highlight the renowned food and beverage portfolio at the hotel.
