The hospitality industry’s own Viking warrior has sailed into Bahrain aiming to steer an award-winning hotel on a course to further glory.
He’s landed at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay to take command of an operation that has just taken the coveted five star property crown at an annual awards showdown for a second consecutive year.
New general manager Richard Raab is delighted for his team and has a steely determination to ensure standards remain as high as ever.
“This is a world-class hotel,” he said. “The thing is, as a hotelier you can never live in the past and we have to prove every single day that we have a top class product.
“It’s the same in sport, you cannot say we won it last season and you don’t go and win it again this season.
“You have to deliver day-in-and-day-out. It’s a brand and a brand is intangible and every guest interaction either makes the brand stronger or it makes it weaker.
“Unbeatable service has to be delivered consistently, every single day.
“The team has done an absolutely incredible job, setting up a hotel that is second-to-none in the world and we need to maintain that and continue fine-tuning, pushing the boundaries and coming up with new ideas to make it even better.”
The hotel, opened by American hospitality veteran Greg Pirkle who has moved on to a Four Seasons sister operation in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh, impressed Richard, 44, from the first moment he spotted it … as has Bahrain.
This is a hotelier’s dream,” he admitted. “You could pick it up and put it anywhere in the world and it would be probably one of the most beautiful and best hotels in whatever city it was placed in. You could put it in London’s Park Lane, Fifth Avenue in New York City, or the Paris Champs-Elysées – it speaks for itself.
“And then, once you drive up to its own island and you come around the entrance it makes for an even more dramatic experience.
“Finally you walk in and you don’t expect to find such an amazing lobby. When the sun shines right through from the other side, you think ‘wow’, this is really something.”
One month on, he is already feeling settled with island life. “Greg told me before I came that I would fall in love with Bahrain in a very short space of time. He was spot on.
“It’s very welcoming, very open with people helping you – the kids, the family – very caring, it’s a really nice place to come to without a doubt,” Richard added.
