Shortage of line staff is giving some managers the chance to help out. Davidson Hospitality coo Pete Sams admits a lot of management were covering ‘line-level opportunities’, which basically means they better understand others’ roles and, frankly, surely it is good for’em to get their hands dirty.


Some countries are worse hit than others: Abu Dhabi-based Guy Hutchinson, ceo Rotana, says UAE has a buoyant market and there is hardly a crisis – plus, with EXPO ending in March, there will be a lot of talent released.


Owners like maturity, says 74-year old headhunter Steve Renard. He has no problem placing anyone in their 60s or up as long as they are fit, and look the part. This fits well with Matthew Lynn’s 10th December article, UK Daily Telegraph, that forward- thinking companies should offer grandparental leave, plus, all ages, maximum-6 month sabbaticals, say for travel and then back to work. This substantiates what London Business School’s Lynda Gratton stressed at a Nikkei international forum on super-aging: embrace career breaks, alternative work, and a lifetime of learning and virtual learning.


At hiring, MGM Resorts trials VR headsets so applicants experience what a job is really like.
Big events motivate: Dubai’s Raffles The Palm hosted the 260-guest Vogue ball 12th December and md Ayman Gharib says pride was the immediate reaction of his 550-strong team (the event, brokered by Accor’s chief commercial officer Yigit Sezgin, took a month of planning: Gharib received a hand-written thank-you note from the host at 2.40 the following morning).


This month, all 200 team members at 237-room London Pan Pacific can spend a night inhouse with a significant other. This, says gm Anne Golden, enables them to receive the service level that led all 10 guests the first night, September 2021, to want to stay on. She devised an Asian-kindness service recipe after analyzing her own feelings during a month-long induction at Singapore Pan Pacific, and finalised on the words detail, humility, kindness and passion. And: Pat King leaves Doyle Collection.

Troy Hickox joins SBM board.


Doris Goh is vp commercial, Como.


Ulrich Widmer heads DHI Dorint Hospitality & Innovation GmbH.


Prof Markus Venzin, currently heading Milan Bocconi’s global strategy and innovation divisions, to be ceo Lausanne EHL – Michel Rochat continues in such general tourism as promoting Vaud.