Caroline Delbecque is the chief executive and chief happiness officer of Andalus Hotel Resort in Abu Dhabi. After studying hospitality at the Glion Hotel School in Switzerland, the Belgian worked for six years in a series of senior finance roles for Marriott in Dubai. After completing her MBA in Belgium in 2011, she was appointed director of finance for the Middle East for Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas, before taking up her current position in 2014. The 34-year-old is married and lives in Abu Dhabi.
How do you spend your weekend?
People usually escape from work during their weekends, but that’s not the case for me. At the weekend I’ll go to the resort and check that everything’s OK, and then go to our other resorts that we’re developing to make sure everything’s working. Then to relax I’ll see some friends and go out for dinner and have some fun. I don’t mind working at the weekend at all.
How did you become a chief executive?
Growing up in Belgium, my family always had people over; we’d have big dinners with friends and friends of friends and we’d just spend many enjoyable days together, so I think my love of hospitality came from there. I’ve got a background in finance that has certainly helped but it’s not the most important thing. Passion, dedication and perseverance are what have lead me to this place, but I’ve been lucky during my career to meet the right people at the right time, and most recently to have found the resort and the right concept here in Abu Dhabi.
What is your go-to gadget?
My iPhone. I’m on it constantly. It’s my go-to gadget both for my work, but also for keeping my mind off work as well, so it’s a mix of everything. I also have an iPad Pro that I use for most of my work apart from when I’m working with big spreadsheets.
What was the lowest point of your career?
After six years working in finance with Marriott in Dubai, some of the people in the company told me that I couldn’t carry on in finance because I didn’t have the right qualifications, even though I had plenty of experience. That made me realise I should maybe go back to studying and perhaps do something different. I could have stayed with Marriott but I decided to study and go back to basics. It was a difficult decision at the time, but I’m very happy I made it, because otherwise I’d have still been in finance and I’d kind of had enough of that by that time.
What advice would you offer others starting out in your business?
Once you’ve decided hospitality is for you, keep on putting in the hard work. It’s not about the number of hours you put in, but about being effective and paying attention to the small details. If you can do this in a small part of a hotel, you can do it throughout the whole hotel. And the more you prove yourself to people around you, the more they believe in you, and the more opportunities they’ll send your way.
What is your most indulgent habit?
It’s got to be food and eating out. We live in a country where there are so many different food offerings. If I could I’d go out for dinner, lunch and breakfast every day, because I always want to try something new. I love my Japanese food so Zuma’s always on my list. There’s also Din Tai Fung, which I first tried in Hong Kong and fell in love with, so sometimes I’ll drive from Abu Dhabi to have lunch at their restaurant in Mall of the Emirates and drive back afterwards.
What do you have on your desk at work?
My desk is where my smartphone is. On my physical desk there’s an office phone that never rings (because I’m always on my iPhone), and a stack of papers so I have a physical reminder of what I have pending.
What can’t you live without?
I can get bored very quickly, so I can’t live without challenge and diversity, working with different nationalities and cultures, which is one of the reasons I love living and working in this country. There are people of around 30 different nationalities working at our hotel, which brings challenges and opportunities at the same time.
How do you achieve a work-life balance?
I personally don’t really feel the need for a balance, as I enjoy my working life as much as my home life.
If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be and why?
If I swapped it’d be for someone else to understand what I do and to enjoy it rather than me swapping to understand what someone else does. Perhaps I’d swap jobs for a week or so with other people in the hotel, in a department like housekeeping or engineering, so I can understand what daily challenges they face, and they can see what my challenges are, and we can learn from that.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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