Marc F. Dardenne

The Ritz-Carlton recently scooped ten awards at the DEPA hotel 'Oscars' in Cairo. Titles such as 'Best Leisure Hotel in the Middle East', 'Best Standard Hotel Room' and 'The Most Outstanding Hotel in the Middle East', speak for themselves.

'I was really embarrassed to be collecting prizes after just a week in the job,' says general manager Marc F. Dardenne, a much traveled Belgian who moved to the Dubai post from Bali. 'All I could say was that I was proud to be receiving them on behalf our ladies and gentlemen'.

For that is how The Ritz-Carlton likes to refer to its multinational staff. And they are undoubtedly the secret of its success.

'When I arrived in Dubai I thought the staff to client ratio looked a bit high, and wondered about how to improve productivity like any hotelier,' says Mr. Dardenne. 'But with our bigger property, large gardens, and our own security, staff catering and engineering, we do need a large number and have 290 ladies and gentlemen'.

So apart from being extremely well looked after, what else can the Ritz-Carlton offer a business guest?

'Well, I was particularly pleased with the prize that we won for our standard room. This shows that it is not just the occupants of suites who get something special at The Ritz-Carlton. All our rooms are Internet connected, with outsize bathrooms.

'But I suppose privacy is something special that we offer. This is a small hotel with 138 rooms and nothing is too crowded, and there are plenty of places for quiet meetings. It would not suit every business visitor. Those wanting a day packed with meetings in Dubai offices might be better off downtown. But we are fine for people visiting Dubai for a few meetings, or wanting to entertain'.

The Ritz-Carlton has an interesting combination of restaurants in the tradition of the original 1927 Ritz-Carlton in Boston whose trademark blue goblets still feature on the tables of the hotel chain's 38 properties. Dubai offers continental fine dining in La Baie, Mediterranean dishes in Splendido, casual snacks and cocktails in its cavernous lobby lounge and a poolside restaurant.

For the past five years an autonomous division of Marriott Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton has exported its traditional hospitality to a dozen international centres, Doha being among the most recent openings.

The Dubai hotel also features a health club and spa with limited membership, again to the highest international standards. And its two swimming pools provide a choice of a river-like circuit with a waterfall, and a more traditional style of pool with Jacuzzi. Guests sitting on the beach will be periodically furnished with cold towels and fruit kebabs.

'We are pretty unique in being a smaller boutique hotel in Dubai, and that helps us to keep a distinctively quiet, individual atmosphere,' says Mr. Dardenne. 'If anyone wants a nightclub they can always go to the Royal Mirage next door.'

But The Ritz-Carlton Dubai is still concerned to keep up with the times, and Mr. Dardenne is pleased to announce the upgrading of his cable TV system to 40 channels. He is also looking into a wireless local area network to allow guests to use their laptops in the lobby lounge.

'We have a lot of clients from the nearby Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City,' he adds. 'And from June 1 we will be offering a free stretched limo service from the DIC and DMC for anyone wanting to have lunch here. We will collect them and return them so that they do not have to travel in their hot cars'.

Such attention to details and creature comforts is probably what makes The Ritz-Carlton stand out. Stay there on your next business trip to Dubai and you will not be disappointed. The hotel also has the most comfortable beds in the business, so a good night's sleep will also be on the agenda.