Rotana announced the appointment of Eddy Nohra as its new General Manager for Gefinor Rotana effective July 2021.
New to the Rotana family but not to the hotel industry, Nohra brings with him over twenty years of solid hotels and resorts management with an extensive experience in sales and food & beverage. Holding two diplomas from the American Hotel & Motel Association; Hospitality Management and Human Resources Specialization, and a diploma from the Hotel Institute Montreux, Switzerland in Hospitality Management.
Building his career path, Nohra started with Capital Trust IDARAT after which he occupied several key roles at the InterContinental Hotels Group, Edde Sands and Coral Beach Hotel & Resort. As a new GM to Gefinor Rotana and ready to take over the fully renovated five star property in Beirut, Nohra is committed to implement unconventional strategies to deliver superior accommodation in the city.
We thought what could be a better way to know our GM than through a fun and interactive interview, read through the Q&A below:
1. How do u spend your lunch break?
- It is always a quick lunch, currently I am spending time meeting new colleagues and interacting more with them at the canteen or elsewhere in their own departments.
2. What is the best way for you to relax far away from the work environment?
- At home mostly I daydream about our existence for example, many deep thoughts come through regarding conspiracy theories, work, space etc. you name it, that's the best way for me to relax.
3. We know that you have started your career in the banqueting department, what was the biggest number of covers you have served at the same time?
- Around 3000, we had an outside catering of 1,200 persons and 3 in-house weddings at the same time! F&B is a passion and I was always involved in the smallest details because I know they make a lot of difference. However, during Sunday's we used to welcome around 3,200 during lunch time and with the beach bar around 700 persons all combined in a time frame of 4 hours.
4. Close your eyes and imagine you are in a five star hotel, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
- The first thing that comes to my mind is the smell reflecting cleanliness, freshness, which will set my mood for the rest of the day.
6. How can we get easily get a “yes” from your side?
- With a logical sequence of things while presenting the idea, if it makes sense, you will get a yes.
8. If you won the lottery, what would you do and how will this change in your life?
- Have thought about this many times, that’s why know that I will not change my job, will dedicate the same hours and I will still walk to work. However, just inside, I would be at additional peace that no mater what happens my family is financially safe, everyone's perspective I believe will change.
9. What image would like the employees to have about you?
- I really would like them to know that I will always be there for them and my door will always be open.
10. What is the biggest learning of your life?
- I am blessed to have my first newborn with special needs. What my wife and I had to go through that was my biggest learning of my life on a personal level. Yes, he is my blessing.
11. Give us your version of your Lebanon, how it would look like?
- I like Lebanon with its diversity in every sense, you don't find it somewhere else. My version will be when everybody will be taking care of his own business, we have a beautiful place, we have very hospitable people by nature and business will flow automatically. Have your own beliefs but don't impose it on anyone else, you will then have a multinational country with big diversity of tourism of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, living all together in harmony as we used to live in my golden age, between 2000 and 2005.
12. What’s the best part of your job?
- Not to know what to expect every day, and the worst part is the routine. Only day by day I break it and keep on doing so in order for me to feel the excitement of every new day.
13. What is your hometown, tell us more about it.
- Ain el Zebde, it’s a small village on a hill in Bouheyrit Al Aroun and behind us the Barouk Mountains so you can see the lake in front of you and greenery and snow at the back. God blessed us also with lots of water sources which makes the village produce very fresh and healthy.
14. What is your closing line, and what's your formula of success ?
- I’m fully confident we will have better days to come, be it for the country, the hospitality industry or socially. As for success, it has always been my my effort, the effort of the people I was surrounded with and the grace of God.
Listen to the live interview on our social media, visit @rotanalebanon on Instagram & Rotana Hotels Lebanon on facebook!
