Sreedhar Suresh, Director of Housekeeping at Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa has been named Housekeeper of The Year at the Leaders in Hospitality Awards, produced by Hotel News Middle East magazine.
Suresh, who has been with the Shangri-La group for nine years, was nominated for his passion and goal to provide 100% customer satisfaction, as well as his ability to train and inspire the team, making him a key trainer for the resort’s core training programs to all departments.
Other shortlisted nominees in the category included Pamini Hemaprabha from Emirates Palace and Nithya Mehrotra from Rose Rayhaan by TIME Hotels. The awards took place at the new St. Regis Dubai on April 19 and were attended by hundreds of industry figures. 19 categories were awarded in total with other notable winners including Jumeriah Group, Atlantis The Palm and Hilton Worldwide.
The awards were sponsored by Presenting Parter RIKAN General Trading; water sponsor HORECA; Category sponsors A. Ronai L.L.C, UPI International, 1765 Gemini and Churchill China, and Pulsar Foodstuff Trading. Further support came from Knowledge Partner the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, and supporting partner Compareit4me.com
The awards were judged independently by a panel of industry experts recruited by Hotel News ME magazine. The judges were:
 Daniel During, principal and managing director, Thomas Klein Intl (TKI)
 Rabih Feghali, director at Ròya International Hospitality and Leisure Consultants
 Ali Manzoor, associate partner, Knight Frank
 Rupprecht Queitsch CEO and founder, INHOCO Group
 Marianne Saulwick, director of industry liaison at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management
 Gaurav Sinha, founder and CEO, INSIGNIA Worldwide
 Filippo Sona, director, head of hotels, MENA region, Colliers International
Mr Suresh, although could not be present to collect the award in person, was congratulated by the management of Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa with a special celebration in his honour to mark this accolade. Mark Kirk, Area Manager and Hotel General Manager for the resort commented, “Suresh truly deserves this award as his dedication and drive for perfection is second to none. He is an inspirational department head and we are privileged to have him as part of our Shangri-La Muscat family.”
“I am honoured to have been awarded Housekeeper of the Year however I must also thank my team that has made this possible. Without their hard work and attention to detail the standard that has won this award would not have been possible. A good housekeeping department works as a team and I am fortunate to have a wonderful team to work with who also share my goal of providing a second to none service for each and every guest”, said Mr Suresh.
Speaking at the event, Hotel News ME editor, Sophia Soltani, said: “We received hundreds of nominations and the standard of the competition was incredibly tough, which to us demonstrates the strength of the industry across the Middle East at the moment.
“This award was presented to a team leader with a deep understanding of how the success of the housekeeping department underlines the success of the hotel. Mr Suresh is a successful team leader with the ability to motivate and drive staff to achieve difficult goals. To beat such stiff competition shows how highly regarded Mr Suresh is across the industry. On behalf of everybody here at BNC Publishing we extend our congratulations to the entire Shangri-La team.”
The Leaders in Hospitality Awards also marked the launch of the first Hotel News ME Industry Leaders Survey, an annual review of the opinions of key hospitality managers across a number of important industry issues.