Whisperer

YOU never lose your touch although hospitality hotshot Anna-Marie Dowling admitted she wasn’t sure her ‘hospital corners’ were as perfect as when changing the bedding in rooms was her major forte.

The kingdom’s only female five-star hotel general manager began her career as a waitress and learned the art of cleaning rooms and changing beds before stepping up the management ladder to masterminding multi-million dinar leisure operations.

Now at the helm of The Westin Bahrain City Centre and Le Méridien Bahrain City Centre, as reservations surpassed themselves and they were selling rooms faster than the speed of light – the housekeeping team was having a tough day as five called in sick.

Anna-Marie got stuck in to clean the rooms. “When one department is suffering we go to help lighten the load,” she said, adding that her efforts were ‘closely supervised’ by some of the hotel’s nest attendants.

In her first interview with the local media, she told GulfWeekly. “The beauty about hospitality is that if you have the drive, determination and self-motivation anything is achievable,” she said. “No-one is going to lay it on a plate for you, you really do have to work hard and climb that ladder inch-by-inch but it is possible to get to the top job. You can get to be whatever you want to be – I share my story with people all the time because I’m a great believer in life that your destiny rests in your own hands.”

The Whisperer would like to acknowledge a boss who also knows how to lead.