Bahrain Confidential interviews the leaders in Bahrain hospitality about what’s new, what’s next, and what makes them the best…
Mr. Richard Raab
General Manager
Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay
Tell us something personal, what attracts you to working for luxury hotels?
I noticed at an early age that I like to work with people and the hotel business is undeniably a people business. I truly enjoy creating individual experiences for our guests that create memories for a lifetime. This by allowing our staff’s craftsmanship and character shine through in all what they do. Likewise, on the employee side, to be able to coach, mentor and help someone achieve their career goals is also very rewarding.
In a fiercely competitive market, how do you plan on remaining at the forefront of the hospitality game?
We need to ensure that our service delivery continues to improve and becomes better day by day. We can never take the finger off the pulse on the service delivery, this is our trademark. The development of technology also greatly affects the guest experience. We have just recently introduced our Four Seasons Chat feature so guests can chat with staff members 24/7. They can use it even before arrival and request things for their stay ahead of the check-in time. It is also multilingual allowing guests to chat in their own language and receive a response from our team accordingly.
What are your plans for the upcoming Formula 1?
No doubt that Four Seasons is the place to be for the F1 Weekend here in Bahrain. Our iconic Azure F1 Party will be spiced up with an internationally known French trio Paris House Addict. Our very own Celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck will be back with his phenomenal BBQ on our outdoor lawn with a live band. So we will have something happening every single night to set the stage for the big race.
What has been the biggest challenges and successes of the past year?
We had a very successful year in 2017 and are looking forward to building on that in 2018 with continued success. A lot of people see the new hotels entering the market as a challenge, but I see it positively. Everyone in Bahrain that is involved in tourism need to work together to promote Bahrain as a destination. I personally believe that if we have more internationally well known players going out with a message that promotes Bahrain, well this will definitely put the island on the global map. So rather than fighting for a small ‘pie’ we need to work together and combine our efforts to make the ‘pie’ larger for the benefit of all.