At each stage of his leadership, Karim has combined a human approach with strategic excellence in management, while at the same time adapted to the diverse cultures and effectively lead multicultural teams.
In this interview, Karim shares the values and principles that have guided him to his current role and how he continues to turn challenges into opportunities in the demanding luxury hotel environment.
Hello Karim, tell us about your journey and what initially attracted you to the luxury hospitality industry at the start of your career?
Hospitality stands at the core of my mindset and has been one of my values at a very early age. It is certainly part of my culture thriving from my childhood and experience of being part of the preparations taking place at our own house together with my mother. Supporting her on setting up everything to welcome and host our guests was a ceremonial ritual that offered me joy and responsibilities, ensuring all was perfectly addressed with care and detail. Luxury hospitality for me, takes a step further with attention to detail and being able to identify, anticipate and craft special and personalized offerings.
You’ve managed to evolve within renowned structures and across very different cultural contexts. How has this diversity of experiences shaped your approach to challenges in the luxury hospitality industry?
I consider one of the greatest strengths in people’s life, professionally and personally, to be the ability of being flexible and open in changes. Adjusting to new cultures, customs and ideas while learning from those, is one of the biggest opportunities for someone to grow. Having an open mind and flexing my management style according to the different countries, and sometime even different personalities, allows me to better understand and be part of this change. Challenges will always be there to remind us there is still space and room to grow and discover better ways of doing things. To craft new ways of changing luxury standards to better ones. Therefore, they are always welcome for evolution.
At one point in your career, you took a break from luxury hospitality to work in retail. What did you learn from this experience, and how did it enrich your return to the industry?
I felt I needed to have this entrepreneurial approach and experience. Challenging myself to apply what I learned in hospitality into the retail industry was an experiment I wanted to take. While in hospitality, the common dominations were the focus on guest experience and satisfaction as well as the actual employee, when joining the retail environment there was an additional focus on financial elements. That has certainly further enriched my experience when returning to the hospitality industry. At the same time, having dealt with those two different workstreams I understood better how to keep a balance between Guests, Associates and Finance, and at the same time keeping them connected.
Your appointment at The St. Regis Abu Dhabi is a recognition of your hard work and consistency. What values do you believe helped you reach this level in your career, and how do you apply them today in managing this prestigious hotel?
My appointment at The St. Regis Abu Dhabi comes as part of my rich experience before and during my time with Marriott International. In addition, remaining true to myself, my believes and focusing on the balance between the 3 elements I mentioned previously (Guest, Associate and Finance) I was fortunate to be appointed as the General Manager of this prestigious and renowned property. Furthermore, staying close to my team and our owner, are the fundamentals of my daily management.
As General Manager of The St. Regis Abu Dhabi, how did you ensure the integration and motivation of a multicultural team in such a dynamic environment?
Two very important elements for every successful organization are respect and positivity. They are the true essence in a multicultural team that they strive to have one common goal: Making our hotel the best in town, country and one of the best in the whole world. Giving our team the right tools and empowering them to express their genuine hospitality is our key element and one of our core values.
After all these years in hospitality, what are the biggest changes you’ve observed in managing luxury hotels, and how do you plan to positively impact the industry in the future?
One of the biggest changes in luxury hospitality is the guests focus on luxury emotional experiences rather than luxury products. This is the approach I discuss daily with my team and ensure that together we deliver the best, unpredictable emotional experience we can. We want our guests to remember how they felt, how they flourished and created memories that touched their hearts and lives. This way they know we are able to do it again and they will come back because of their emotions and because they know we can make everything happen.
And on a more personal note, if you were...
- A dish: Traditional Couscous
- A destination: South of Spain (Costa del Sol) /Mediterranean Sea
- A quote: We dream, we believe we achieve - Karim Gharbi
- A flavor: A cooked sweet dish
