Glenn Nobbs, General Manager, Millennium Place Barsha Heights Hotel and Apartments, discusses his journey in the hospitality industry, the significance of rebranding and new openings, and the emerging trends shaping the future of hotel management and guest experiences.

Can you tell us about your journey in the hospitality industry and how it all began in Sydney, Australia?

My adventure began following a ‘serious’ conversation with my girlfriend at the time. This prompted me to enroll in a short hospitality course, and I was able to find an entry-level job in F&B. I discovered I enjoyed the profession so much that I enrolled in a Hospitality Management course followed by a Traineeship programme. Over the last 25 years or so, I’ve had the opportunity to work in various hospitality settings, from city hotels to beach resorts, hotel apartments to luxury 5-star properties, a small boutique property of 83-keys to my current property of 917-keys. In addition to project management, rebranding, and property openings, each role has been enriching and has helped build my adaptable approach to hospitality management.

What are some of the significant differences you’ve seen while working on a variety of properties, including city hotels, beach resorts, and luxury hotels?

City Hotels demand efficiency, and tend to look for technological advances catering largely to business travellers, whereas beach resorts focus on leisure and relaxation. Luxury hotels require a keen eye for personalised service, while hotel apartments blend hospitality with the comforts of residential living.

How has your experience with re-brandings and new openings shaped your approach to hotel management?

Interestingly, these tasks all require the same skills: attention to detail, rigorous coordination and control, the ability to be flexible and pivot at the last minute, and a sense of urgency to finish them on time. Regardless of the size of the property or its grading classification, the re-branding or opening will be difficult to complete without these and helpful staff. These experiences have honed my strategic skills and adaptability in a dynamic industry.

What are some emerging trends in the hospitality industry that you find particularly exciting or transformative?

Some hospitality industry trends include sustainability initiatives, customised guest experiences via technology, and wellness-focused amenities/services/facilities. The issue for us is to implement these in a practical way that will cement them into our daily lives in the industry rather than simply being a fad. Embracing these trends in a manner that is sustainable for the business not only enhances guest satisfaction but also aligns it with evolving consumer preferences. It is also the beginning of new industry standards. We just need to look back at the introduction of the internet in hotels, to see how it has evolved in the industry.

What motivated you to join Millennium & Copthorne Hotels in 2011, and what has kept you with the company for over a decade?

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ global reputation for excellence and commitment to service were major factors in my decision to join. Regionally, the company is very nimble and responsive to changing trends as the industry evolves. The company has supported me in my career development, and over a decade later, I’m proud to contribute to its success and growth, driven by shared values and opportunities for professional development. I also look forward to providing colleagues the same level of support in their careers, as I have received in mine.

How do you ensure that the standards and values of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels are consistently upheld across different properties?

It all starts with our onboarding process, which lays the framework for these standards to be clearly articulated within the first few weeks and months of employment and followed by ongoing training, regular assessments, and instilling a culture of excellence and accountability in our team. By balancing centralised guidelines with local adaptations, we maintain brand integrity while exceeding guest expectations.

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of maintaining high customer satisfaction and service quality, and how do you address these challenges?

Our team members are as diverse as our guests, which is one of the biggest challenges in maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. Being able to get this hugely diverse team of individuals to all be focussed on looking after our customers in a way that is in keeping with the brand promise and company standards, is half the battle won.  Every guest has a unique purpose for being with us, and it is our goal to tap into that as much as possible to provide a genuine, customised customer experience. Once there is an issue raised by a guest, it must be addressed promptly to ensure the guest is looked after as priority, closely followed by an internal review to prevent a recurrence. As customer demands and expectations evolve, we are always improving to continue providing memorable experiences, and so it is vital to ensure you have systems in place to help manage this, evidenced by our increasing customer satisfaction results since the opening year.

What was it like to open the Millennium Place Barsha Heights Hotel and Apartments, and what have been some of the significant highlights since October 2019?

Opening the Millennium Place Barsha Heights Hotel and Apartments was a highlight of my career. I’d say the key milestone of the experience had to be the welcoming of our first guest. After all that had gone into being ready for that experience on the 20th of October 2019, it was a huge sense of relief and achievement. We were of course challenged with the pandemic, however were able to turn it into a positive result for the property. We created, developed, and introduced an experience for the kids: “Hospitality Ninjas”, which has been a success year over year. We have been recognised and won a number of awards over the years, achieved a number of certifications, and have just recently opened the M Ballroom located on the ground floor, bringing us another key facility that will help further establish us in the MICE market.

How do you see sustainability and eco-friendly practices evolving in the hospitality industry?

Sustainability is such a catchphrase at the moment, that it has become so important to ensure that due diligence is done when presented with a ‘sustainability opportunity’ to ensure it truly lives up to being sustainable. I foresee that over the coming months, there will be a streamlining of sustainability and Eco-friendly practices and companies. We are seeing an increase in the number of visitors requesting that the hotel they choose be as environmentally friendly as possible, which highlights the need to ensure that your company is accredited to confirm this, such as the Dubai Sustainability Certificate or ISO 14001. Energy-efficient methods, trash reduction, and environmentally friendly designs are here to stay.

How do you see the role of technology evolving in hotel management and guest experiences?

Technology plays, and will continue to play, a pivotal role in enhancing the management of property across all fields, from guest experiences to rate setting, from business intelligence to Marketing strategies. Embracing innovations like AI-powered software are helping to make these activities more efficient and effective, and are expected to therefore improve over time.  However, any technology employed must contribute to making the guest experience more engaging, simple, and pleasant. Most significantly, we have already seen and heard of a number of firms experiencing serious data breaches, and therefore the protection of your acquired data, as well as training your workers on how to handle guest data, will continue to evolve at a rapid speed.

What innovations or changes would you like to see implemented in the hospitality industry over the next decade?

Hospitality, at its most fundamental and pure form, has remained unchanged because it is about engaging with people. What we are currently witnessing is a push to accept new technology for efficiency, but an existing trend that is gaining favour (especially post-COVID-19) is to focus on more local experiences, wellness, and returning to nature. So how these can be combined will be a very interesting point for the future of hospitality.  I’d also want to see more ‘regulated’ guest reviews, with a qualifying process at the moment of entering the review as being from a legitimate visitor (or diner in an outlet). Currently, it is way too easy to add a review to Google, TripAdvisor, and other sites without having first-hand experience with the hotel.