Rabih Merhy

• IT Manger of the year 2018 - Hospitality Sector: Award presented by Hotel News for Leaders in Hospitality
• Winner of CIO100 award presented by CPI Media for 2016, 2017 and 2018
• Winner of Catalyst award 2018 - CIO in Hospitality presented by Enterprise channels
• Winner of CIO 200 Tech Talk and META CIO - Next Gen division presented by Enterprise channel
• Part of many round tables discussing topics about Next Generation of IT and its influence on different sector
• Negotiated the contracts in the 3 properties which lead in 20% saving in IT OPEX for the year 2018.
• Upgrade the Network at Centro Barsha with new cores and edge switches. Plan the project and supervise it successfully.
• Plans for and manages the hotels Technology growth; develop technology plan in coordination with the Corporate IT Team & Corporate Vice President of Information Technology.
• Assist the hotels with the preparation of strategic plans and annual IT Budget for the 3 hotels
• Works under general direction from senior management. Establishes/recommends local policies on system use and services.
• Provides technical lead and/or supervises IT Operations within his/her area of responsibilities.
• Has procurement authority and responsibility for procurement justification.
• Identifies and Coordinates Technology training for the hotel departments.
• Assist managing IT projects for new Hotels openings within his/her area of responsibilities and ensuring compliance with Rotana Standards.
• Conducts reviews at least once a year of the Hotels in his/her area. If necessary, follow up visits are conducted to remedy outstanding issues.
• Conduct IT Team Meeting at regular interval.
• Communicate best practice and tips with his/her IT Team.
• Identify the need of upgrades, configurations, or new systems and report to Corporate IT Team & CVP Information Technology.
• Assist in building relationships with vendors and creating/advising cost-efficient contracts/agreements.
• Initiate and establish Internal IT SOPs & Internal IT Policies for the Operation.

Oversee and administer company platforms, technology and strategies. Identify information system enhancements that will improve business and support future business needs. Plan, direct, manage and oversee the activities and operations of the IT Department; administer the IT budget, staff and physical facilities of the department.

Recent Projects:

o Upgrade of Cisco core switches, configuring edge switches as a stack and configuring VSS for redundancy and improving performance. In addition, we relocated the MDF room from Basement to IT office.
o Run the POC of VDI (Virtual desktop) using VMware horizon and Tintri storage. This is meant to include the VDI as a standard solution in all Rotana Hotels
o Run the POC for Samsung and LG IPTV solution which are now Rotana standard.
o Upgrade of the IPTV system from SD to HD using Samsung technology Lynk Sinc and smart TVs (upgrade of all TVs in the guest rooms,
o Pilot the integration between POS Micros system and our table management system called ReserveOut.
o Upgrade the VMware version 5.5 to 6.0u2 which include the upgrade of VCenter virtual appliance and Vsphere hosts. The full installation was executed by myself.
o Upgrade of EMC backup solution, Networker, VBA and Data Domain. Task installation was done by myself
o Implement Glitch management system to record guest complaints
o Implement the Express check in which includes online and tablet check in to speed up the guest check in process
o Implement ReserveOut for F&B outlets where you can book online and manage your outlet designs and seats
o Upgrade the Cisco call manager which manages the telephony system of the hotel (PABX)
o Upgrade all C500 cisco switches to 2960x model and redesign the network infrastructure
o Installation of VMware VSphere 5.1 and vCentre server.
o Configure EMC VNX 310 NAS storage
o Create and configure LUN for data stores
o Create a shared ISCSI storage for the servers backup
o Install windows server 2012 cluster failover and configure SQL database 2012 with failover.
o Move 90% of the physical server to the virtual environment
o Configure EMC data domain with Networker for VM and SQL backup and build the backup plan
o Implement Palo Alto next generation firewalls which reduced the number of Routers and firewalls and also for better security control.
o Implement new Canon Printers which are managed by Uniflow software to reduce the paper printer and monitor cost.
o Redesign and upgrade the wireless infrastructure in the whole hotel to AC technology which improved the signal and liability of the wireless system
o Upgrade of the Micros version to V4 and upgrade all the XP winstations
o Upgrade all windows stations to Windows 8.1 and all windows server to 2008 and 2012

Recent Projects:
o Installation of VMware Vsphere 5.1 and vCentre server.
o Configure EMC VNX 310 NAS storage
o Create and configure LUN for datastores
o Create a shared ISCSI storage for the server backup
o Move 75% of the physical server to the virtual environment
o Configure VEEAM backup solution for VMware
o Plan and configure the backup strategy of all VMs and shared folder
o Prepare for the cloud storage
o Plan for the installation of CCTV cameras as per the authority requirements
o Redesign the CCTV recording system by shifting from SONY NSRs to Milestone recorder with Rasilient storage. The design has a recording and storage failover.


Key Responsibilities

• Develop Information Technology strategy to align Information Technology objectives and programs to enterprise objectives and strategies
• Oversee and monitor the operations of the Information Technology and systems to ensure a smooth operation and high availability
• Ensure technology is accessible and equipped with recent hardware and software to ensure high resources performance and to achieve the highest levels of performance, security, and availability while minimizing the costs and impacts to the operation
• Establish strategic service provider partnerships to ameliorate service level and support
• Develop contingency and disaster recovery plans for all systems to ensure high level of business continuity
• Direct, develop and motivate the Information Technology Employee to ensure efficiency and team work spirit
• Continually seek opportunities to increase internal & external Guest satisfaction to achieve the Hotel targets in RGSS and RESS
• Develop policy and procedures to guarantee data and assets availability, integrity and security as per the company standards and ensure business continuity
• Prepare and manage the annual operating and capital budgets for Information and Technology systems for cost efficiency and quality control
• Complete and distribute a monthly activities report to Area Director of Information Technology and General Manager for effective communication
• Operate in a safe and environmentally friendly way to protect guests’ and employees’ health and safety, as well as protect and conserve the environment
• Comply with the hotel environmental, health and safety policies and procedures
• Cisco call manger: maintenance of call manager, adds phones, create phone services, add analog phones, assign speed dials for analog phones, configure VG ports, and troubleshoot phone problems.
• Cisco switch: basic knowledge on Cisco switches configuration (configure ports, VLAN…)
• Opera - SUN - FBM - Micros: hotel software (installation + configuration + maintenance)
• Ving Card - Dialock: configure and make cards for rooms and lock doors.
• Symantec Backup Exec: configure and schedule backup (daily, weekly and monthly backup), prepare tapes; troubleshoot in case of backup errors.
• Guest internet Support: troubleshoot guest internet problems (Tiger IP and Nomadix Gateway)
• Windows XP, 7 & 8 troubleshooting - Domain Active directory Win2003, Win 2008 and WIN 2012 Server - ISA server - TMG Forefront, VMware Vsphere 5.1 & 5.5, McAfee antivirus, EMC storage,
• Cisco Workshop: on 9th December 2010 (unified communications update, LAN update, Cisco Services, wireless update, best practices and digital media suite).

• Responsible for all the administrations support: windows XP troubleshooting - Domain Active directory Win2008 Server - ISA server - MCAfee antivirus - Opera - FBM - SUN and vision - Micros - Daily and weekly backup. (Support Guest Internet using Tiger IP and Nomadix Gateway).

• Raouche Arjaan by Rotana (Opening) - IT Staff Assistance (September - October 2009)
o Responsible for : Cisco call manager, IP phones, Analog phones, Installing Active Directory and adding users, create DNS, install ISA server 2006 and their rules, Opera, micros, FBM, Nevotek training, networking, reconfigure tiger and nomadix, IT support

Prime Reference - (Repairing computers hardware and software)
• Network installation in 2 companies Premium Project and UMG

December 2008 - March 2009:
Smart Waves - Technician (Repairing computers hardware and software)
• Network installation - ISA server - Windows server 2003