“I want to control the Indian Ocean,” says Anthony Ross, CEO of JA Resorts & Hotels, based in Dubai, UAE. At the moment he oversees a portfolio that encompasses golf, a marina, a shooting range and seven hotels totalling 1,112 keys and employing 1,700 from 50 nations.
The hotels are mostly in Dubai, with two already in the Indian Ocean, namely the Maldives and Seychelles. In a few years’ time he wants to have presence up the coast of East Africa, all the main islands of the Indian Ocean – Madagascar, Mauritius, Maldives and Seychelles – and the west coast of Thailand.
JA Resorts & Hotels is, not surprisingly, extremely well known on its home turf of Dubai. To be accurate, it basically “owns” the hospitality side of the Jebel Ali area between Dubai and another emirate, Abu Dhabi. JA Resorts & Hotels is 100% owned by Dubai construction and energy conglomerate Dutco which is short for Dubai Transport Company. Ross reports to Dutco Chief Operating Officer Nelson Gibb.
“In the past our hotels were known as Jebel Ali – the re-branding was done in 2012 with the help of Interbrand. Now we have a great opportunity to re-activate what has always been a great brand. I am bringing fantastic people to make this happen. Sales and marketing is led by Thomas Grudner, formerly with Jumeirah. I have a similarly strong name heading F&B, namely Rob Cunningham, an experienced chef and a long-time Swire Hotels professional. And Vikas Khana, who hosts ‘Master Chef India,’ will be running Kinara by Vikas Khanna restaurant in our 348-key JA Lake View Hotel, Dubai, which opens later this year.
“Now I think we are ideally placed to take on management contracts. We can please owners with our long-established market experience, and as a niche operator we can move quickly. Also, as well as our own site we can offer distribution via Global Hotel Alliance membership – we joined GHA in May 2018 and now our members can access over 500 hotels in 75 countries. The JA team has already signed up 18,000 members and the alliance has generated close to US$400,000 in revenue for our hotels,” he explained.
But it is not only development that is top of this Australian’s to-do list. He wants to increase the reputation of his company. “I believe that 81% of companies with excellent customer service outperform and I know we are in the top sector of achievers,” said Ross with a smile.