The Bonnington’s Chef Paul in the Chef of the Year Competition – Regional Final

Meet Paul Bussey, our Executive Sous Chef, who just landed a spot in the regional final of the 2012 Unilever Chef of the Year competition. Winning the regional heat would see him jet of to sunny South Africa for the finals in September this year!

Before joining the team at the Bonnington, Paul used to work for The Ivy, Rivington Grill, and Verre by Gordon Ramsey in Dubai. Prior to coming to the UAE, he could be found at Bluebird in London’s swish Chelsea neighbourhood and he also spent time working for Angela Hartnett at the Connaught in London.

Every year, Unilever Food Solutions provides innovative young chefs with the opportunity to prove their worth in the culinary world, by challenging them to create and produce the most original, utterly delicious, beautifully plated dishes.

Once again, the competition will be judged by several leading, respected figures in the culinary world.

New this year is the introduction of two exciting categories:

Creative Canapés and the Confectionery Showcase where chefs will have the opportunity to dazzle the judges in the following criteria:

• Most Indulgent

• Best Innovative Presentation

• Best use of Unilever Food Solutions ingredients

• Best Representation of Theme

The Dubai competition will take place at the prestigious Emirates Academy of Hospitality on Saturday, 2nd June, and Paul will have only 3 short hours to prepare a three course meal for 3 people from scratch and using only ingredients from the mystery basket list he’ll be given just before he’s ready to hit the kitchen.

We wish Chef Paul the best of luck and hope to see him represent the Bonnington and Dubai in South Africa in September!

Feel free to cheer Paul on by posting a message of support to our Facebook Pages, here or here, or by tweeting us and including the hashtag #gopaulgo

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Jocelyn Reyes

After a long break, here’s another instalment of our “Who’s who at the Bonnington” series. This time, we’d like to introduce you to Jocelyn, one of our Sales Executives.

Here’s what Jocelyn says about herself & her job:

As a Sales Executive at the Bonnington Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers – the only family-owned and run business hotel in Dubai, I look after the corporate accounts in Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Knowledge Village, parts of Sheikh Zayed Road and Jebel Ali Free Zone. I ensure that all corporate hotel requests in these areas are responded to accordingly and assist all bookers with their requirements, whether it is for room reservations, meeting space or banqueting.

To work in the hospitality industry, you have to be a people person and to work in hotel sales, you have to be more than just people-oriented. It is not just the physical product that I sell to my clients; it is both the product and the service we provide. I myself am part of this service and, as the clients’ point of contact at the Bonnington, I have to ensure that they and their guests receive the best possible service at all times.

Acquiring new accounts, rate negotiation, developing mutual business relationship with clients, looking after and assisting the clients with their requirements are just some of the things I do.

My day starts as soon as my alarm sounds. I usually switch on my laptop and dance to my favourite songs for some morning exercise. Once I get myself ready, I pick up Wilson, my car, and drive to work.

When I get to the hotel, I sit in front of my computer for about 15 to 20 minutes to send my appointments of the day to our director, check my production, hotel and competitors’ figures and the hotel forecast, so I can advise my clients accordingly for their future requirement.  I go out to attend all my appointments at around 10.00 a.m. I usually have around 6 appointments per day and while driving from appointment to appointment, I make follow up phone calls to my clients.

I normally get back to the office around 3.30 p.m. and once I’m back in the hotel I do admin tasks such as sending e-mails, follow ups, issue and chase contracts and logging my activities for the day in our record system.

Before coming to Dubai, I was working as a call centre agent back in the Philippines. It was my sister who saw the advert for a Wild Wadi Water Park vacancy in Dubai. At first,  I didn’t want to apply and leave the country; however it my mum encouraged me to try. In July 2007,  I finally arrived in Dubai and started my new work as a life guard in Wild Wadi.

It was hard work being a lifeguard, but it was fun. After some time, I was given an opportunity to join Jumeirah Living in DIFC to be part of their pre-opening team as a Guest Service Executive. Almost two years later I joined Burj Al Arab as a Sales Agent and it was then I realized that I want to pursue a career in Sales. I moved to the Al Murooj Rotana as Sales Coordinator and got my driving license for the UAE. When I felt that I was ready to move forward in my career, I joined the Bonnington in November 2010.

I believe that Manny Villar’s comment during his political campaign, “Sipag at Tiyaga”, is actually true. It means “Hard work and patience”.  Dream big, because nothing is impossible. Work hard for your goals and be patient and grab every good opportunity that comes, because opportunity only knocks once.

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Don’t forget to visit our homepage! Have you seen our YouTube channel already?

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It’s time to say farewell to Mr. Fix-It!

Our executives and heads of departments gathered yesterday to say good-bye to Puneet Uppal, our Technical Director, who, after more than two years with the Bonnington, has decided to leave the Bonnington and take on new challenges elsewhere.

You may remember Puneet from our blog post about HITT 2011 and Build Green Magazine.

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Everybody agreed that, without Puneet & his team, we wouldn’t be where we are today, so here’s to Puneet & best of luck for his future career! It’s been a pleasure!

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Meet our new General Manager!

Please give a warm welcome to Bruno Guilloux, who recently joined the Bonnington family  as the new General Manager of the Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers!

French-born Bruno began his career in the Rooms Division at the 5* boutique hotel, The Lancaster, Paris, part of the Savoy Group, after graduating from the prestigious Parisian Hotel School Jean Drouant.

After stints in Frankfurt and Bangkok with Kempinski, he joined Accor Asia Pacific in 1994 as Director of Rooms for Sofitel, and was later promoted to Resident Manager.

Bruno comes with a wealth of experience in resorts and city hotels. He has worked for various 4 and 5 star hotels (Novotel and Sofitel) concerns throughout the Far East (Thailand, Korea, Indonesia) and most recently the Middle East in particular Dubai at the World Trade Centre and Sofitel in Egypt  in a career spanning more than 25 years achieving record profitability and service awards.

The Bonnington is on Foursquare, check in today: https://foursquare.com/venue/787417

Don’t forget to check out our homepage!

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Lester Marshall Perera

After a long break, here’s the next instalment of our “Who’s who at the Bonnington” series. This time, we would like you to meet Lester, our Security Manager.

Lester hails from Sri Lanka, where his first job was Doorman at the prestigious Hotel Lanka Oberoi and where he fell in love with the hotel industry and luxury hotels.

He stayed with the Oberoi for six years, moving through the ranks to Security Supervisor, before joining Le Meridien Sri Lanka for three years.

In 1987, Lester emigrated to Canada, where he worked as a Concierge in a luxury apartment building for one year before, having gathered enough local knowledge, joining the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto. Working in what could well be described as the most iconic hotel in the Four Seasons collection, Lester served countless Royals, Presidents, and celebrities for six long years.

Eventually, Sri Lanka lured him back and he moved to the Bentota Beach, a beautiful beach property just outside Colombo, where he worked as Security Manager for three years.

After that, he joined another beach property, the Mount Lavinia Hotel, where, as a Security Manager, he oversaw security, transportation, and the pool.

Destiny brought Lester to Dubai where he first worked for the Al Bustan Centre before joining the Bonnington in 2009.

Lester says that he does not settle for anything less than top performance and output and calls himself a perfectionist with 34 years experience of managing effective & modern security operations.

The Bonnington is on Foursquare, check in today: https://foursquare.com/venue/787417

Don’t forget to check out our homepage!

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Ali Qasim Syed

After a long break, we finally bring you another instalment of our popular “Who is Who at the Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers” series for you!

This time, meet Ali Qasim Syed, the Bonnington’s Guest Relations Supervisor.

Ali was born in Islamabad, Pakistan, and, after completing his BA in Business, started working for a telecom company in his hometown in 2001. In his role, he was responsible for customer relations, a fact that made him an ideal candidate to join the hospitality industry, which he did in 2004 when he joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Dubai.

He was voted “Star of the Month” in May 2006 and also nominated for the prestigious “Concierge of the Year” award in 2006.

In 2008, Ali joined the pre-opening team of the Monarch Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road as a Concierge Shift-in-Charge.

A year later, he became part of the Bonnington family and his pre-opening experience came in handy when we established our Guest Service department, policies, and procedures.

On a day to day basis, Ali looks after our guests, assists them with booking itineraries or puts together activities or sightseeing tours for them. His aim is to ensure that all guests have a memorable experience at the Hotel and become part of the Bonnington family while they’re with us.

Ali’s fast becoming a well-known face at the Bonnington and often gets mentioned in guest comments and reviews, for example this review on TripAdvisor.

In his spare time, Ali loves to play and watch cricket, or you can find him walking along the beach enjoying time with his family.

Our homepage: Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

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Thomas Gagliardi

After a break of several weeks, here’s the next part of our Who is Who at the Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers series!

This time, we would like you to meet Thomas Gagliardi, the man behind our culinary offerings in The Cavendish Restaurant, Healey’s Bar & Terrace, The Authors’ Lounge and anywhere else in the hotel where you see food being served.

Born into an American Italian family, Chef Thomas’ passion for cuisine began early on through his family’s weekly rituals of gathering around massive amounts of food to “bond.”

On any given Sunday morning at this stage in his culinary development, Chef Thomas could be found at his grandmother’s feet in silent awe as she prepared these mini smorgasbords alone and with delight.

Finding this as the root cause of his attachment to a hazardous and unforgiving career, he came to the conclusion to dedicate his lifetime towards sharing his own way of food with all those he possibly can in search of recreating these familiar moments with his grandmother.

In the past 18 years, Chef Thomas has gathered a short lifetime’s worth of experiences, knowledge and passion towards culinary artistry and a true hotelier lifestyle.

His culinary journey has seen him through just about every part of the USA and now, literally, on to the other side of the globe where he has come to call Dubai “home.”

He’s spent time over the stoves in practically every style of kitchen thus far, from trendy restaurants and local country clubs to the world’s leading luxury hotels, resorts, and casinos, including Marriott and Renaissance Hotels, Bellagio, Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, and Westin to name a few…

Chef Thomas has a drive to share his opinions, both personal and professional, in hopes to contribute his own piece towards an infinite future of great food, great restaurants and great hotels for the world to enjoy.  Maybe one day he’ll even find that feeling again, which he only found on those Sunday mornings, dumbfounded in his grandmother’s kitchen.

Our homepage: Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

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Sitha Saraswati MIH

Sitha Saraswati, our Front Office Manager, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and, after completing her BA (Hons) in Tours & Travel at the Bandung Higher College of Tourism in 2000, Sitha joined the Grand Mercure Slipi.

Having worked as a Receptionist for a year, she was promoted to Guest Relations Officer and, a year later, to Guest Relations Supervisor.

Sitha Saraswati MIH

During her time at the Grand Mercure, Sitha was voted Employee of the Month in June 2002 and Employee of the Year 2002.

In 2003, she relocated to Dubai, where she joined the pre-opening team of the Novotel World Trade Centre as Front Office Shiftleader.

The hotel opened especially for the 2003 World Bank/IMF summit held in Dubai in 2003 and, throughout the last few years hosted several other high-profile functions and events.

Sitha left the Novotel in 2008 after two promotions, first to Assistant Manager (Front Office) and, in 2007, to Assistant Front Office Manager, to join the pre-opening team of the Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers.

Sitha has just joined the Institute of Hospitality and, in her spare time, enjoys cooking and going to the beach with her family.

Our homepage: Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

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Dennis McGettigan

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Dennis, in his teenage years, worked for the Regency Hotel Group, where he developed his passion for the hotel industry.

In 1993 he relocated to Newcastle, United Kingdom, to further develop his education and knowledge by studying Hotel Management at Newcastle College.

In 1995 Dennis traveled to Cleveland, Ohio for an internship with the Marriot Hotel Group.

In 1996, following the completion of his degree in Hotel Management, Dennis returned to the U.S where he worked as Food and Beverage Supervisor at Chateau Elan Winery and Resort, Atlanta, Georgia.

In December 1997, Dennis returned home to The Regency Hotel Group where he began his career as Operations Manager at the North Star Hotel, Dublin, moving to the position of Acting General Manager shortly afterwards.

In 2001 Dennis left the North Star Hotel and moved to the Sheiling Hotel, Dublin as General Manager.
After four years here he moved to the Regency Hotel, Dublin (The largest hotel within the Group) as General Manager.

Dennis McGettigan

At the Regency, he played an active role in the renovations of the existing hotel (public areas and 206 bedrooms) and the expansion of the Hotel (a further 90 bedrooms) as well as the construction of the Conference Centre and Leisure Club.

In February 2009 Dennis was given the opportunity to become a member of the Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers’ team and he is currently enjoying the daily challenges his role as brings with it.

 

Our homepage: Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

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Martin Kubler FIH

Originally from Munich, Germany, Martin relocated to London, after completing his apprenticeship at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel, one of Germany’s finest, family owned luxury hotels.

In London, Martin completed his BA (Hons) in International Hospitality Management at London Metropolitan University and afterwards joined Thistle Hotels as Night Manager later moving to Assistant Front Office Manager.

Following 3 years with Thistle Hotels, he joined the Bonnington Group as Front of House Manager at the Bonnington in Bloomsbury where he was actively involved in opening of the hotel’s boutique-style extension (45 rooms & suites).

In 2004, Martin relocated to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and spent the following two years working as Front Office Manager at the Novotel World Trade Centre.

Martin Kubler FIH

Following his time at the Novotel, Martin spent a year in Doha, Qatar, working for the Ramada Plaza Doha where he was involved in managing the construction & opening process of the hotel’s second wing (259 rooms & suites), which opened in June 2007 and in upgrading & re-branding the hotel from Ramada to Ramada Plaza.

In October 2007, Martin returned to Dubai as Director of Operations for the Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers.

Martin is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and a member of Skål International Chapter 672 (Dubai) 

In his spare time, Martin likes to play backgammon, ride motorcycles, read or enjoy a good meal.

Martin’s Homepage: http://www.martinkubler.com/
270669 – Martin’s Blog: http://www.martinkubler.com/blog/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinkubler
Plaxo: http://martinkubler.myplaxo.com
WIWIH: http://www.wiwih.com/profile/26021110.html

Our homepage: Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

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