Quintessentially Qatari

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Al Sharq Village and Spa general manager Hoss Vetry explains the property's 'community'working atmosphere.

How long have you been at Al Sharq Village and Spa?

I've been with Al Sharq for four months now, but I've been with the company for 13 years. For me, the attraction of working with Ritz-Carlton is the fact that they are a real ‘people' company. Everything stems from two key focuses: the people and the service. That's the one thing that is unique about our hotels - that the service remains consistent, no matter where the property is.

What are the property's USPs?

Al Sharq is a truly authentic Qatari hotel. You walk into the hotel and you feel like you're four or five hundred years back. Our slogan is ‘experience the past today', and it's true - you really feel it from the moment you enter the hotel.

We also have our Royal villa, which just opened on June 1. It's an extremely exclusive villa, catering to really the top 5%. It's a unique place, with it's own indoor pool, its own majilis for up to 20 guests, its own outdoor area where you can have shisha, two two-bedroom suites, two one-bedroom suites, a master bedroom - there's so much in it.

We also offer guests at the Royal Villa airport pick-up and drop-off in a Rolls Royce, 24-hour butler service, 30 selections of shisha, and a chef on hand 24 hours a day to cook for you. There's really no need to leave! It's also a great location for high-end MICE events. Understandably we are very excited about this new product; I'm sure it's going to be a real hit.

The challenge of recruiting and retaining staff is a hot industry topic right now; have you found this to be a challenge in Qatar?

The one outstanding issue is that many people are not initially familiar with Doha; but once you get them in here and get them familiarised with the place, then you see they're happy to be there.

But I think for us, we have our own little community within the city, so when someone comes and joins us they become part of the family. We have one of the lowest employee turnovers here. So of course staffing is always a challenge, but not one that I consider to be too serious.

What are the attractions of Doha as a destination?

I think it is a growing city; it is the next hub in this region. I have to say the authorities are really doing a great job. They're developing roads hospitals, education. It's going to be a surprise for people - the way they're developing [Doha] is unbelievable. So it's really the next upcoming place.

You look at it today and it's primarily a business city, and it's changing its image. Just look at what Las Vegas was 15 years ago and what it is today. So sure, Doha today is considered as a business city but I think with all this development that's in place, in the future it will be a place where people will bring their families.

Personally, this is the place I want to be; it's like Dubai maybe five years ago. I think Doha is learning from some of Dubai's mistakes and is trying to avoid some of the issues that there are in Dubai, which Doha doesn't have yet.

Admittedly there's a lot of construction going on at the moment, but that's part of being an emerging market - you want it to happen, but at the same time you don't want to see it! But as we all know, you have to go through that stage to grow the city, so I am certain it will be worth it.

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