Lady In Green: Ghada Sadek GM Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha

CONTENTS
CONTENTS
APRIL 2016. VOLUME 01. ISSUE 03
2 8Highlights
“I don’t want to be good,
I want to be the best”
April
GM
interview
32
LADY IN GREEN
Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha general manager Ghada Sadek is one of
the driving forces behind her hotel’s
contributions to sustainability and
CSR initiatives in the country
Volume 01 Issue 03
THIS MONTH’S COVER:
Pictured is Doha Marriott Hotel
general manager John Hazard, who
discusses diversification into outside
services, and how that helped the
property through tough times.
04 BULLETIN
14 EVENT PREVIEW
Oryx Rotana Doha saves US
$37,000 on food waste.
Speakers and agenda of the Qatar
Hospitality Summit revealed.
11 EDITOR’S LETTER
20 CITY CENTRE FOCUS
46 DATA LIBRARY
Hospitality Group senior editor
Devina Divecha talks about creating USPs in a competitive market.
Shangri-La Doha, City Centre
Rotana Doha, Marriott Marquis
City Center Doha.
Key performance indicators,
benchmarks and forecasts for
Qatar’s hotel and spa industry.
12 COMMENT
26 STRATEGY
50 CHECKING OUT
Neorcha managing partner Roger El
Khoury on the future of hotel apps.
Doha Marriott’s John Hazard discusses the hotel’s outside services.
20
Inside the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha.
HOTELIER QATAR | April 2016
38 F&B SPECIAL
We talk to operators and suppliers
across a special focus feature.
Some facts and figures about the
Grand Hyatt Doha.
3
GM INTERVIEW
LADY
IN GREEN
Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha general manager Ghada Sadek is
a force to be reckoned with; she tells Hotelier Qatar how she is
driving her hotel to contribute to sustainability and CSR initiatives
By Devina Divecha
T
he intense passion for the
hospitality industry and
corporate social responsibility is evident from the
moment I meet Mövenpick
Hotel West Bay Doha general manager
Ghada Sadek. She is a powerhouse, oozing
with charisma, and has a belief that hoteliers should always get involved with community and green initiatives.
She asks me at the start: “Why should I
wait until I have the money to donate? We
should do simple things and just start!”
Her passion has led Mövenpick Hotel
32
West Bay Doha to win the ‘Best CSR Initiative for the Tourism Sector’ in Qatar. The
recipients of this award were chosen by an
independent committee comprising academics, media experts, and representatives
from the government and the private sector,
all of which studied and monitored the initiatives taken by Qatar-based companies.
Sadek says: “I was so surprised to win,
it’s good to work and not expect anything.
No one had a clue that we were going to
be one of the winners. Winning gives us
more responsibility and motivation. Because we have been marked as leaders, we
HOTELIER QATAR | April 2016
GM INTERVIEW
HOTELIER QATAR | April 2016
33
GM INTERVIEW
have to have more initiatives and contribute further.”
Sadek, who started her hospitality career
in sales, charts her journey from the time
she joined the West Bay property in 2013.
The hotel was already Green Globe-certified at the time, but Sadek says she was keen
to drill that down into every day, as well as
local, initiatives. Upon joining, she started a
“green team”, saying it was important to go
beyond just ticking boxes off next to Green
Globe indicators.
However, she is adamant the team,
which meets on a monthly basis, is made
up of equals. “I am a member of the green
team; I am not leading it, we are all leaders
here. Everyone has to come with their own
ideas and initiatives.” The team consists
of 11 members from the hotel’s executive
office, ranging from housekeeping, F&B,
engineering & IT, and more (see page 36).
“Everyone is free to contribute — I will not
push it, they have to have the passion,” she
adds. The team has helped organise many
activities, including participating during Earth Hour, beach clean-ups and tree
planting projects.
The hotel has also participated in many
green initiatives in coordination with the
Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC).
Some of these projects include “Art from
Trash” and “No Paper Day”, and the hotel
also hosts QGBC events on-property.
“I am a member of the
green team; I am not
leading it, we are all leaders
here. Everyone has to come
with their own ideas and
initiatives. Everyone is free
to contribute — I will not
push it, they have to have
the passion.”
Ghada Sadek, general manager,
Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha
She adds that the interaction element is
the most important thing about these projects. “It’s not only about donation, it’s about
interaction. Guests will ask [about what
we’re doing], and we increase awareness.”
Another initiative the hotel is working
towards is improving its indoor air quality. After a study conducted by QGBC’s
Healthy Building Interest Group titled ‘Indoor Environmental Quality Case Study
for Hotels’, Sadek says the inspection
revealed that while some areas of the hotel have good air quality, some can be improved. “We will increase the quality of
ventilation. Overall the results were good
— but I don’t want to be good, I want to be
the best. In 2016 we will work on improv-
F&B SUSTAINABILITY
Mövenpick Hotel
West Bay Doha
GM Ghada Sadek
reveals that
the hotel has
a “Go Healthy
programme” which
serves all organic
food. The property
also gets its fruits
and vegetables
from a local farm.
34
In addition,
Sadek has, since
January 1, 2016,
completely
stopped the sale of
hammour. “I have
stopped selling
hammour because
it is endangered.
We now have what
we call the fresh
fish of the day, but
not hammour.” She
says that as soon
as she found it was
an endangered
species, she
sought to remove it
from her menus.
Guests who
ask about its
absence have been
told about the
decision and the
reasons behind it;
Sadek says there
have been no
major challenges
explaining this to
guests. “This is
how we increase
awareness, it’s
not about saving
or costs. It’s about
the environment,”
Sadek concludes.
HOTELIER QATAR | April 2016
Mövenpick Hotel West Bay
Doha hosted Shafallah Centre for a special Mother’s
Day breakfast.
GM INTERVIEW
HOTELIER QATAR | April 2016
35
GM INTERVIEW
ing the air quality — I want a 10/10 score,”
says Sadek.
She credits the QGBC multiple times as
being extremely supportive to all the hotel’s
projects, and reveals the organisation also
provides names of suppliers who are green
certified to ensure the project is carried out
in a sustainable manner.
These green projects are not for marketing; Sadek reveals that these efforts have
helped the property generate more revenue. “We now have corporate deals with
some companies, who want meeting space
with no paper, iPad-only.”
Taking this to the next level, Sadek is
working on a project to allocate three
rooms from the hotel’s 347-room inventory
as “green rooms”. These will be sold as special packages with an affordable price from
the second half of 2016. The rooms will offer recyclable cups and amenities, towels
will be provided as per guest requests, and
Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha won a ‘Best CSR Initiative for the Tourism Sector’ award.
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HOTELIER QATAR | April 2016
GM INTERVIEW
The Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha team observes the Earth Hour initiative that encourages people switch off lights for 60 minutes.
the rooms will also be paper-less. She reveals this was successfully carried out at a
Mövenpick property in Dead Sea, Jordan.
In addition to focusing on green sustainability, the property also supports
individuals with special needs and introduced a dedicated training programme
for the students of the Shafallah Centre
for Children with Special Needs in 2014.
Currently, there are two full-time employees at the hotel from the centre, and Sadek
reveals that she plans to double this number in 2016.
The hotel has also teamed up with
Right4Children, an organisation supporting disadvantaged young people through
education and career opportunities. Participants of the programme undergo essential training in the hotel until they are
ready for a full-time job. As a result, the
hotel has trained and hired 18 employees
from Right4Children since 2013. These
activities are part of Shine, the global
www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/f&b
sustainability programme of Mövenpick
Hotels & Resorts, which focuses on supporting education initiatives.
Sadek concludes: “I started in sales and
worked my way up, step-by-step. I was not
born a general manager, I started from the
beginning. You need to love what you’re doing, and I do.”
HOTEL ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE:
• Ghada Sadek, general manager
• Ruwan Upajeewa, chief engineer
• Kuruvila Manipadam, L&D manager
• Sara Assad, marketing & communications
manager
• Hassan Hassan, director of human resources
• Roni Zarour, front office manager
• Ameer Al Ali, executive chef
• Alina Andrei, health club manager
• Bassel Baath, assistant F&B manager
• Suresh Nair, purchasing manager
• Mathew Varghese, executive housekeeper
HOTELIER QATAR | April 2016
September 2015 | Caterer Middle East
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