“I am going to make my hotel as world-famous as Raffles Singapore,” promises Ayman Gharib, general manager of Raffles Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Yes, it takes years to build up a reputation and iconic status, and Raffles Singapore opened in 1897, so we have to work fast but we will do it,” he continued. Despite rates that are consistently among the top five in Dubai, Raffles Dubai has, in the past two years, only slipped from TripAdvisor’s top-in-Dubai spot on three short occasions.
“My mentor Peter French, the former president of Raffles, always stressed that a goal is never reached, perfection will never be achieved, but we will get as near as we can to 100%,” explained the determined GM. He already was at the 248-room hotel, as EAM/F&B, when French arrived as GM in 2010. When his mentor was elevated to a corporate role, Gharib succeeded him. He now reports to Sami Nasser, chief operating officer Middle East, luxury brands, AccorHotels.
To reach iconic status, the Gharib recipe is continuous improvement plus consistency, with bespoke details and occasional surprises. One guest checking out recently was amazed to be given, as a farewell gift, a black leather-covered notebook with a silver clasp, and some of the interior pages, otherwise blank for note-taking, had photographs of him arriving at this and other Raffles hotels around the world.
“We already have 38% repeats, some of whom book direct with their favorite team member, perhaps the shisha sommelier, or the relevant butler,” Gharib said. Regulars certainly appreciate having a butler they know. Not long ago he had guests who were about to make their first visit to another Raffles hotel, and when they arrived there they found their regular Dubai butler waiting (“The children of the family ran straight up to him and gave him a big hug and everyone felt immediately at home”, said the thoughtful Dubai GM). His 380-strong team sees annual staff turnover of 21%, noticeably low in Dubai, and 20 associates have been with the property since its 2007 opening.
From the start, the ziggurat-shaped hotel made an impact. It is a 19-floor stepped pyramid and its airy lobby is dominated by Egyptian-style columns: There are Egyptian clock signs around the outside pool, and statues that you might expect to see in Aswan or Luxor adorn upper corridors (“Our local owner has always been obsessed by Egypt,” explained his GM, with a characteristic smile). Raffles Dubai also has the advantage of being directly connected to one of the emirate’s best-known shopping malls, and surrounding hospitals and doctors’ offices attract high-spend medical tourism.
Getting to top-tier requires best-in-class on all counts. The hotel’s top-floor restaurant, which originally offered both Chinese and Pan-Asian cuisine, was not exactly a success. Gharib, who has a strong F&B background, tried turning the space into an everything-to-everyone lounge, but then leased it out to the best Japanese chef in town. “Now, 85% of diners, in the always full restaurant, are locally based Japanese, and the restaurant adds 800 room nights a year,” he said with pride.
Like every top city hotel worldwide, it seems, he offers afternoon tea, and, though not uniquely, his is fashion themed – you have a chance of winning, via a raffle, a pair of Manolo Blahnik Hangsi pumps. In-room dining offers Arab, Chinese, Japanese and international breakfasts, and the printed menu is introduced, with a big color photo, by Executive Chef Doxis Bekris, who comes from Greece.
Gharib is Lebanese. His father owned and ran a school in Sidon, on that country’s southern coast, but it was travel, not education, that inspired him. After graduating in hospitality management from Beirut’s Notre Dame University and working in local restaurants there, he relocated to another of the UAE’s Emirates, Ajman, with Kempinski. Next came an opportunity in Doha, Qatar, with Ritz-Carlton, and he moved to Dubai in 2008.