“This is a hotel company run by passionate hoteliers,” says Guy Hutchinson, chief operating officer of Rotana Hotels & Resorts, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
In 2014 he left Hilton after 16 years. “It was the hardest decision I have ever made and it took five days’ due diligence to make up my mind but I have never looked back, and it is fascinating to see how many other passionate hoteliers from major globals are similarly gravitating towards us,” he revealed, adding that, with 60 open hotels and a pipeline of 119, this still is a company newcomers can get their arms around.
Privately held Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC was founded in 1992 by its current chairman, Nasser el Nowais, and his predecessor, Selim El Zyr. Today it has five brands, upper-upscale Rotana, and, all suffixed “by Rotana,” alcohol-free Rayhaan, mid-market Centro, long-stay Arjaan Hotel Apartments and full-living Residences. None are franchised, and 98% are managed.
Hutchinson’s boss and colleague, Rotana CEO Omer Kaddouri, is also ex-Hilton. Other than an occasional respite on Fridays and Saturdays – weekends in the UAE – the two are continually in contact. They share HR and marketing responsibilities but apart from development, architecture and design, legal and owner relationships, Hutchinson remains responsible for all operational and commercial functions. “When, once in a blue moon, I do have a vacation, I leave my command in the hands of a team of VPs, with support from Omer Kaddouri.”
“All the skills I acquired as a GM were training for the COO role. I am still minutely involved in property performance but now there is a portfolio to be overseen,” he explained. A typical Hutchinson day, invariably minutely structured, always starts with checking figures. Sunday he is in the Abu Dhabi head office, Monday in Dubai, 60 minutes’ drive away, Tuesday to Thursday he is probably traveling – as well as UAE, Rotana has open hotels in Bahrain, Congo, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Wherever he is he inspects hotels top to bottom and has one-to-one meetings with his GMs, and he visits as many competitors as time allows.
With the addition of eight to 10 hotels every year, talent is a continual challenge, though line staff, from India and other source markets for Middle East hotels, are drawn to Rotana by word of mouth, reputation of culture and the acknowledged sharing of commercial progress. Rotana’s total workforce is 12,000: In 2017 it made 2,000 internal promotions and the team for one hotel opening was completed with 82% transfers from sibling hotels. A talent accelerator means 30 to 40 ambitious team members are at any one time being groomed for more senior roles. Every year, the five top line staff are accoladed at the GMs’ conference.
Wearing his commercial hat, Hutchinson is constantly in touch with OTAs, which provide some 35% of total business. “Key markets are, and will remain, Europe and the Middle East. Companywide, average stay is 3.5 nights, with more business than leisure guests,” he said.
Ramadan, which prohibits eating and drinking during daylight hours, starts May 15 and lasts a month. “More challenging, honestly, are the Middle East’s really high summer temperatures, and I work closely with our hotels to help them dropping rates in line with competitors,” he shared. One property needed commercial support and he personally sat in on weekly sales meetings until that issue was solved (which global-major COO would be able to do that, he wonders?).
Hutchinson is involved with so many details. With his full-time sustainability director he is working on a prototype that extracts water from air. He is concerned with eliminating plastic, and he wants passionately to lower food waste. “With an F&B background I feel today’s dining should be about great products, over-delivering in service and ultimate value. Rotana does not do fine dining, and both Omer and I taste every dish that goes on a menu,” he said. Across the company there are 19,000 members of Rotana’s pay-for food and beverage loyalty club, who get substantial discounts, both on dining and rooms.
“I feel strongly that consumers are becoming so savvy they know if social media interaction is outsourced,” he continued. “My GMs do their own social media, and we believe we have the highest percentage of guest answers in the business.”
What would make his life easier? “I appreciate all challenges. I chose this life and I love every day. Interestingly, others may say it is different working in the Middle East than in China or India or Japan, but I have spent years in all those countries and, if you have passion, levels of engagement are the same. I know the world,” he laughed. He was studying law but having stayed in so many hotels with his oil-executive English father and French-Mauritian mother, the lure of hospitality was, years ago, just too strong. He switched, to become a server at The Strand Palace Hotel, London.