MARRIOTT BUZZ NO. 16 - 2019

17 16 Abdel Nasser Khattab, assistant chief concierge who has been a loyal host of the hotel for almost four decades, and two of his colleagues, Said and Osama, long serving bellman and doorman respectively, sat down with Buzz to give us some insight into the laborious daily operations of the bellmen team, one of the hotel’s most crucial sectors, as they are the first to meet and greet guests. As soon as guests arrive the bellmen team operate under the company-wide 15-5 rule, “firstly we make eye contact with the guest, followed by smiling and greeting them, then we try as much as possible to use the guest’s name to make it a more personalized experience. After this we get their luggage from their vehicle and escort them through the security check until the concierge reception area, and finally we sign off by saying thank you for choosing the Cairo Marriott,” Khattab explains. Khattab and his associates explain that bellmenwww will always follow certain procedures when taking the luggage to the rooms, such as asking the guests if their stay is for business or pleasure, in order to know what appropriate facilities and information to explain to them. For example, “if the guest says he is on a business trip, we let them know about the health club, Saray Spa, and the business center for example and that if they have a free day that the concierge is available E X C L U S I V E to prepare a sightseeing tour for them around Cairo,” says Khattab. On the way to the room, the bellmen will always carry out the duty of informing the guests about all the restaurants in the hotel and their locations, briefing them about the hotel’s numerous facilities and entertainment options. Khattab says, “the bellmen will ensure to always smile at guests and that they have their rooms nicely prepared for their stay.” After doing so and the guest enters the room, the final responsibilities involve showing them the magnificent view, and offering them the details on the room such as advising them to contact At Your Service team in case they have any requests, and they end by giving an always cheerful farewell saying they wish them to have a pleasant stay at the Cairo Marriott Hotel. The members who sat down with Buzz were proud of not only their team’s efforts and reputation amongst guests, but also the allure and prestige of our Palace itself as one of the region’s leading hotels. “We work with nationalities from all over the world, the majority of our guests prefer to come to our hotel rather than elsewhere because of the Nile view, Zamalek location and beautiful palatial grounds,” Khattab says. Khattab mentions that although the Cairo Marriott is one of the few hotels to truly take the time to personalize guest experiences from the moment they are first greeted by a member of their team, “we always have the professional courtesy to know when to stop speaking, to be aware of the limits between guest and host,” this he says is in order to make their stay as comfortable as possible after their often long journeys. Some of the main challenges expressed by the team are, as Khattab says when “we have multiple large tour groups arriving at the same time. One time 15 buses came at once.” When this happens it becomes a challenge for the team, organizationally, time-wise and physically because of all that baggage, besides the fact that they have to service individual guests simultaneously. “Luckily we managed to finish that in 1 hour, and we were lugging all their baggage from one tower to another. The hotel is 18 hectares, so the grounds are pretty big and sometimes this is difficult to contend with,” Ali and Osama say. Of his standout memories of the numerous interesting guests he has helped host at the hotel, Khattab recounts the Loutfallah family member who bought the hotel after the monarchy vacated it. “When he came back to visit the place after its conversion to a hotel he asked me to see the exact room in which he used to live, his bedroom was on the first floor. He was an old man and requested to see it, so I showed him.” “When I did he was overwhelmed with bittersweet memories of his time on these grounds, where actors, singers and well- known personalities of Egypt and abroad used to enjoy lovely times together, when it was all bungalows and no rooms, and they used to host parties in the garden with live musical performances. But it was almost unrecognizable to him,” Khattab explains. “How can you stay in one place for as long as us and not love it” he claims, as all three hosts, including Said Ali who has been a bellman since 1997, noted that the Cairo Marriott’s family is one that offered job security and satisfaction like nowhere else. T he Cairo Marriott Hotel and Omar Khayyam Casino has a dedicated bellmen team of 41 members, comprised of an assistant chief concierge, who oversee the team’s operations. Underneath them there are three senior bell captains, nine doormen and 27 bellman. MEET THE HOTEL’S EVER BUSY BELLMEN TEAM