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REWARDING ROLE

March 4 - 10, 2015
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Gulf Weekly REWARDING ROLE

Gulf Weekly Mai Al Khatib-Camille
By Mai Al Khatib-Camille

Bahraini Mohammed Sanad, who was recently appointed as the hotel manager of a leading five-star property on the island, aims to inspire and motivate the kingdom’s young people to jump onboard the hospitality rollercoaster.

In a week when yet another leading hotel operator opened with much fanfare, Mr Sanad believes career-seekers should grasp the nettle and look seriously at the industry.

For the past 15 years, the 40-year-old has been climbing the business ladder at the InterContinental Hospitality Group (IHG) starting from a role in recreation to reaching the heady heights of running the hotel’s operations.

“Working at a hotel can be very rewarding,” he said. “People may worry about the long hours but think of what you could gain from the experience.

“You are constantly meeting different people from around the world, introducing your country and culture to them and learning different skills from so many qualified professionals. You are also discovering talents about yourself that you never knew you had. It boosts your confidence and you never get bored.

“My advice to the youth of Bahrain is to wade into the corporate waters of internationally-renowned chains such as the InterContinental Hotels Group, as I did, and have their dreams turned into reality.”

His constant hunger for career growth and development helped set him on the path to success and he hopes his story will encourage other Bahrainis to follow in his footsteps and help rid ‘negative perceptions’ surrounding the hospitality sector.

Mr Sanad believes that in the 1980s and 1990s there were a higher percentage of locals working in the island’s hotels, nowadays many young adults prefer to explore opportunities in other fields. He said: “There is a broad misconception about working at a hotel in my opinion. Working in a hotel is no longer the first choice as high school or university graduates usually say they want to become engineers, doctors or work in IT.

“The hotel business may be fun but it is exhausting. Some days you can work long hours and it’s a lifestyle choice. But that isn’t the only deterrent, unfortunately there appears to be a stigma of being viewed as servers.

“People still think working in hotels is comparable to serving people in restaurants or housekeeping, not that there is anything wrong with those tasks, but they think there isn’t room to grow and that just isn’t true.

“The reality is totally different as there are wide arrays of employment opportunities waiting to be tapped by Bahraini nationals in hospitality as hotels have accounting departments, human resources, engineering and IT sectors and array of other challenges.”

Mr Sanad believes he can understand and appreciate the apprehension some young people may have because he originally didn’t consider the hospitality sector as a serious career choice. After graduating from Isa Town Secondary High school, he joined the Bahrain Defence Force as a cadet before serving in the air force as a pilot and reaching the rank of second lieutenant.

He also was heavily involved in sport, in particular tennis, playing for the Bahrain national team, competing in international competitions and was regionally ranked second in his teen years.

He later turned to coaching, recruiting and developing young stars for the Bahrain Tennis Federation and gained a degree in sports management from the University of Bahrain. As head of the national team he worked closely with the International Lawn Tennis Federation.

Then, in 1999, he received a call from the InterContinental Regency Bahrain which was looking to develop its court facilities and tennis coaching. It proved to be a turning point in his life. “I was a stranger to the hotel business and at the time knew nothing about hospitality,” he admitted.

“It was a bright new adventure for me and I love adventures and taking risks. That is when my journey truly started and I never looked back. Working at this hotel gave me an opportunity unlike any other. I worked alongside people representing 37 nationalities, learned a lot about their cultures and got to interact in a multi-national organisation.

“They supported me in every way, sending me abroad to sister hotels to learn from their strategies and even attend workshops in countries such as Malaysia to grow as a leader.”

Within two years’ time, he was promoted to recreation manager and he began to establish the hotel’s health club and facilities.

He said: “When the health club and sports centre was established I decided I wanted to learn more. Gradually I moved to sales and marketing. It was something new and fun, closing deals, monitoring customers and helping with events.”

Mr Sanad then worked closely with the hotel operations section landing a role of acting human resource manager, replacing the man who originally hired him as a coach in the first place.

He was then promoted to human resource director and then secured the executive assistant manager’s title before becoming the hotel’s number two. In 2014, Mr Sanad attended the coveted Hotelier Middle East Awards and received a ‘Highly-Commended’ accolade.

In a bid to attract bright young people into hospitality the IHG global chain has started linking up with local universities and institutions to offer students three months of practical training in different hotel departments.

The IHG Academy internship programme also aims at unveiling employment opportunities through its partnerships with Bahrain Polytechnic, the University of Bahrain, AMA University, the Bahrain International Retail Development Centre and the Bahrain Institute of Hospitality and Retail College.

He said: “We offer students practical on-the-job experience. We’ve had a batch of future engineers working on our chillers and heaters. We had culinary students in our kitchens and others learning the art of housekeeping and maintenance.

“It also allows them to see, live and interact in a hotel environment. The perception about hotels are sure to change over time. We have already had students ask us about jobs once they graduate and that’s what we are trying to do, encourage our youth to seek careers within the hospitality sector, be it with us or other hotels in Bahrain.”

For details on the hotel and the academy, visit www.intercontinental.com - https://twitter.com/InterConHotels or http://www.facebook.com/intercontinental







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