Bassam Zakaria, Cluster General Manager

Bassam Zakaria

Cluster General Manager

Dusit International

Location
United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi
Education
Master's degree, Business administration and Strategic management
Experience
22 years, 0 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :22 years, 0 Months

Cluster General Manager at Dusit International
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • My current job since March 2019

Dusit D2 kenz Hotel, Dubai, Dusit Princess Dubai Marina, Kenz Holiday homes UAE
April 2019- Current
Cluster General Manager
DD2K. 237 Keys, 6F&B outlets, 5 meeting rooms, upscale Spa
DPDM. 146 Keys 3F&B outlets, 2 meeting rooms, 4 commercial tenants
KHH. 88 holiday home apartments.
 Successful preopening of Dusit princess
 Complete shuffling of the financial statues for both properties, from loss to breakeven to profitability
 Improving the online reputation on various platforms by at least 0.2
 Successful establishment to Kenz holiday homes and a very successful running and profitability
 Managing the operations during the hit of the pandemic in 2020 with no losses and no redundancies.

General Manager at Dusit International
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • July 2018 to March 2019

4 stars deluxe hotel, 237 keys, 6 F&B outlets, SPA, Health club.
Centrally located within the business district of Tecom, Dubai, offering great business solutions to many of our business segments

General Manager at Millennium Hotels and Resorts
  • United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi
  • November 2016 to July 2018

Part of Millennium Hotels and Resorts, 108 Keys, 3 F&B outlets, 5 Meeting rooms.
Centrally located within the business district of Abu Dhabi, offering a great business solutions to many of our corporate and transient guests. Reported to the VP operation as well to the owning company.

Resident Manager at Millennium Hotels and Resorts
  • United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi
  • January 2016 to November 2016

5 stars hotel with 305 keys and 7 F&B outlets, 3 meeting rooms and 1 grand ball room, SPA, swimming pool and GYM. Situated on the corniche of Abu Dhabi assisted in being an attractive hotel for both corporate and leisure guests.
Reported directly to the General Manager and dotted line to the VP operation.

 Assisted the GM in the day to day operation and the business development.
 In-charge FO. HK. Hygiene. Engineering. Security & Health club/SPA.
 Looking after the S&M alongside with the GM.
 Responsible for the quality assurance and service standard of the hotel.
 Initiated several service programs which improved the service level, the guest satisfaction score, the general cleanliness, the communication among the concerned departments and increased the number of repeated guests.
 Contributed to increasing the mix of leisure business through creating new packages and programs and participating in the leisure exhibitions such as (ITB, ATM, and Leisure Moscow).

Achievements
 improved the overall guest satisfaction score by 2.3 points along with better positioning on various guest review websites.
 Increased the Mix of leisure business by 9% from previous year by attracting new markets with longer length of stay.

Director of Rooms / Deputy GM at The Cove Rotana resort
  • United Arab Emirates - Ras Al Khaimah
  • November 2012 to December 2015

The Largest resort in Ras Al Khaimah, 5 stars, 346 keys resort, Rooms, 1, 2 & 3bedroom villas, 7 F&B outlets, 3 meetings rooms, 700M long private beach with water sports activities.
Reported to the General Manager and dotted line to the area VP.
 Responsible for improving the room division operation which includes (FO, HK, ENG & health club).
 Led the major operational departments (FO, HK, ENG, Health Club & security).
 Participated in the business development and budget processes and managed to introduce new way to increase the MICE segment.

Achievements
 Set-up and led the COPs project (cleaning orderly procedures) which improved the standard and the speed of service across the resort.
 Reduced the cost of operation by 18% by clustering many tasks and creating multitaskers job descriptions.
 Introduced new ways, packaged them and promoted them to increase the MICE and the wedding business.
 Improved the guest satisfaction score by 1.8 points YOY.

Director of Sales and Marketing at Rotana Hotels, Al Ain Rotana
  • United Arab Emirates - Al Ain
  • August 2009 to November 2012

5 stars, 248 Key, (Rooms, Suites & chalets) 9 F&B outlets, 3 meetings rooms and 1 ball room.
Reported to the General Manager and the corporate director of Sales and Marketing.
Restructured the Sales department and the Marketing &PR department to cluster them under 1 umbrella which improved the overall performance of the department and saved many other expenses.
Introduced new business modules and markets that variegated the business mix and improved the RevPar of the hotel.

Achievements
 Established a new marketing and sales plan, new industry partners and cost saving measures resulting in 2009 being the best financial year of the Hotel’s history.
 Improved the position of the hotel from N2 of the Comp Set to be N1 for 3 consecutive years

Assistant Director of Sales & Marketing, Acting DOSM at Rotana Hotels,Al Ain Rotana
  • Other
  • July 2008 to August 2009

• Reporting directly to the General Manager .
• Reporting Indirectly to the Area Director of Sales & Marketing & CVP Sales & Marketing.
• Managing a team of 6 people ( 1 SM, 2SE, SC & Marketing Executive, Mice Executive ).
• Setting up the Sales & Marketing office, Since July 2008, with a coordination with Area DOSM.
• Reviewed & developed the SOPs.
• Budget & Forecast Preparation.
• Developing of Marketing & Business plan, in order to increase The corporate & mice business, ( still going on ).
• Looking after the GCC Market and doing regular GCC sales trips.
• Looking after the revenue side of the hotel.

Area Sales Manager at Rotana Hotel Corporation
  • Other
  • April 2006 to July 2008

• Reporting to the Area Director of Sales.
• Managing three sales executives reporting to me.
• Handling a number of accounts up to 480 account in the corporate segment.
• Selling a 1260 Hotel Rooms in Abu Dhabi & Al Ain.
• In charge of Pharmaceutical, Medical, training, contracting, construction, engineering, holdings & group of companies.
• Arranging & attending the GCC trips and Road Shows on a yearly basis.
• Preparing the marketing plan with coordination with the Area director of sales.
• Participating on preparing the yearly budget.
• Preparing the Revenue & Month end reports

Sales Executive ( National Sales Office ) at Hilton Al Ain ( National Sales Office )
  • Other
  • April 2005 to April 2006

• Reporting to the assistant director of sales & the director of sales.
• Handling a number of 350 Accounts in the corporate & Government segment.
• In charge of the entire market of Al Ain, corporate & government segment with a very strong contact for Hilton Al Ain.
• Handling Dubai market (Jebbel Ali free zone, Airport free zone, Sheikh Zayed Road) with a very strong contacts for Hilton Abu Dhabi, Hilton Baynunah & Hilton Cornish Residence.
• Achieved the conversion of 6 Key Accounts from a number of 9 Key prospects.
• Arranging and assuring the success of conferences, seminars, and meeting held at the hotel.
• Investigating & reporting all ground operations including solving any complaints concerning the hotel services and product quality when doing DM’s Duty.

Sales Executive at Hilton Dubai Jumeirah
  • Other
  • July 2004 to April 2005

• Reporting to the assistant director of sales
• Handling a number of 165 Accounts in the corporate segment.
• Handling Jeble Ali Market & DXB airport free zone

Receptionist at Hotel De Bale
  • France
  • June 2001 to July 2003

Front desk receptionist
Handling the room reservation at the same time.

Education

Master's degree, Business administration and Strategic management
  • at Ecole Hôtelière Helvétique
  • June 2018

Specialties & Skills

Team Management
Business Development
Executive Management
Hotel Management
Opera and Fidelio
Revenue skills / • An official speaker in the Aviation Outlook MENA 2011 conference.
Communication Skills/ • Did a several presentations for a group of 20 people and more.

Languages

English
Expert
French
Expert
Arabic
Expert

Memberships

HSMAI
  • Active Member
  • March 2007
Internation
  • Member
  • March 2013
Allience Franciase
  • Member
  • November 2009
Rotary international
  • Active fellow member
  • June 2022

Training and Certifications

Marketing Management Program – Master Certificate (Training)
Training Institute:
Cornell University
Date Attended:
August 2009
CHA (Training)
Training Institute:
American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute
Date Attended:
March 2010
EAM (Certificate)
Date Attended:
March 2011
Valid Until:
December 2011