Investing in talent takes time, but the returns are worthwhile

In hotels, guests represent an opportunity for the best - and worst - publicity and marketing campaign, through the power of word of mouth.

With this in mind, the opening of Atlantis, The Palm has had a horror run in its first few months. While the operator must be thankful that everyone is talking about the property, the negativity of the comments has had repercussions that have been felt around the world, through incredibly critical reviews in international media to unflattering portrayals on social commentary sites such as TripAdvisor.com.

Personally, I was interested to see the property first hand when I went to the Orion Annual Congress last month, and while the service was a bit hit and miss - staff were seemingly unaware that there was a conference on at all - the sheer scale and ambition of the property, not to mention the location, was impressive.

But perhaps the key word is ambition, because while Atlantis, The Palm has a lot going for it, the main topics of conversation at coffee breaks were horror stories - from bags lost, to cars misplaced and medical attention never arriving.

It is the classic case of the grand Middle Eastern property, which may be able to showcase the best hardware in the world, but when it comes to software - the staff - there are still a few glitches in the system. However, there is little doubt in my mind that given time the staff at Atlantis will be able to deliver on the promise that the property offers.

Much of my optimism derives from this year's entries for the Hotelier Middle East Awards.

Sorting through the hundreds of nominations, I was struck by a common theme displayed by so many of the nominees judged worthy of this honour by their peers.

Almost without exception the staff nominated for the awards have grown into the role for which they are now nominated, from security guards who became fitness instructors to waiters who now run IT departments.

It has been an honour to read all of your stories - and it has made it an incredibly difficult decision-making process to decide on the shortlisted nominees, let alone the eventual winners.

It is a cliché, but everyone who was nominated is already a winner. Good luck to all of you when the awards are announced on November 12.

Chris Jackson is the editor of Hotelier Middle East.

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