From front of house to IT, Mahmoud Kamal knows the hospitality industry inside out and has shown resilience, heart and determination to make his way to the top. Habtoor Hotel’s Jordanian Group IT Manager tells his story.
Some people would curse an upbringing of stricts laws and tough living areas, but not Jordanian born Mahmoud Kamal.
In fact, he says it was these environments that spurred his dreams to work in hospitality.
“Inside a hotel you could mix with different cultures and experience different people,” he says.
Recalling his childhood, he adds: “It was a tough place to grow up; you can say this but you can’t say that, you can go here but you can’t go there. Hospitality was a release from this situation.”
For Kamal, the game plan was set out nice and early. Finishing school in 1976, he undertook a course on hospitality management at a hotel college, which is now Amoun University.
After completing this diploma, he began his two years mandatory service in the Jordanian army. Following advice, he served his time with the air force because it presented a unique opportunity for him.
“The air force had an onsite five star hotel for the top officers and pilots. I was given the opportunity to work at the front of house in this resort during my time. It was perfect,” he says.
“It had everything that a top hotel has but it was just onsite. I loved that more than my actual position because I was making a difference. It was fantastic, I was helping and people were appreciative of me. That was the element I loved the most – being known.”
Following his time serving his country, Kamal took his first official hospitality job doing front-of-house for a Marriot hotel. He spent three years working there before he joined the InterContinental Group, a company he stayed with for over a decade and where he took on his first IT role.
Making history
“The job here was very strange,” he says. “I was in control of the only computer which controlled the entire hotel. I just supervised it. My title was PC supervisor I suppose, it was my first experience in IT. Previously, IT had only been a hobby really.”
It was a highly important job for Kamal as he was forced to master spreadsheets before Excel even existed. All payroll and budgets went through this one computer and so he was sent away to enrol in a six month course at IBM in order to be able to master the difficult technology.
“This was high risk for me. I was allowed to go on one condition; if I passed, they would pay the total cost of the course, but if I failed, I would have to pay in full. This was over $1500 and I was making around $250 at the time, so this was nearly half a year’s wages.”
Fortunately for Kamal he passed the course and took all this experience back to InterContinental.
“This was when I realised I wanted to be in IT and not front of house. I just loved being able to do what others could not. It was like being a magician. I was respected – I would sit in on executive meetings and get called the expert, it was amazing. However, my 17-year-old son now knows twice as much as I did back then.”
During this time, Kamal recalls every hotel was running on IBM 36, a complicated and expensive solution. He decided to make a change, and having knowledge of personal computers, he was well placed to do so. At this point in his career, Kamal made a little bit of history.
“I saw an advert for a Fidelio product, version 1.0. It was a PC product, it was brilliant, and I thought this could happen. So I asked my regional director about it. I got absolute hell. I was threatened with termination of contract, it really didn’t go down well,” he says.
“So I used unconventional methods and eventually I managed to acquire the solution. It was a tenth of the cost of what we were previously using but because it was a personal computer it was still a looming technology – people didn’t want to convert. I spent 20 hours a day implementing the product and training people to use it.”
Physically, the product was beautiful, Kamal says. It gave an immediate ROI and added value to the company. This was his first big IT triumph. It also got him recognised by the vendor, which set the wheels in motion for the next chapter in his life.
Wheels of change
Kamal was offered a directional role at Fidelio itself, based in Beirut and on a much healthier wage. Kamal took the job and moved into Lebanon, where he would stay for 12 years.
“My previous boss who never wanted me to buy Fidelio in the first place became a major shareholder for Fidelio. He offered me the job. But I was doing well, so I wanted to be tough with him,” he says.
“When I walked into this office, I had calculated everything and wanted three times what I was making. The guy didn’t even want to interview me, he said put it down on paper and hand it over. So I did, I was nervous now. He looked with half an eye, slammed the paper back on the desk and just said “done”. I felt like such a jackass. He didn’t even care, I should have asked for five times the amount. That was the start of a strong 12 year relationship. When I left the company, we had installed in more than 60 five stars hotels and the company was making more than $1.7 million.”
Forced out
After the assassination of the former prime minister and increasing conflict in Lebanon, Kamal was forced to take his family and leave the country. It was a time he describes as difficult and worrying, and one that he doesn’t like to look back on.
“I threw the family into the jeep and made my way to the border. I wouldn’t say I was running for my life, but I was running for my family.”
Things were about to take a turn for the better for Kamal and his family however. His wife told him to search the Web for jobs back in hospitality, and within days he was offered a job in Dubai at Banyan Tree Resorts.
But after moving and settling in, it was only another two years before a former CFO Kamal had worked with at Beirut Habtoor Hotels recognised his CV online and offered him a job for the group in Dubai.
“It wasn’t until I made my way over there and asked what the actual job was that they turned around and said “group IT manager” – then it just fell into place,” he says.
“I’m so proud and happy to be here at Habtoor Group now – it’s doing very well.”
However, looking forward there may be more change for Kamal. After spending some of his life tutoring students on hospitality systems, a time he described as one of his best, Kamal is keen to go back into some form of tutoring.
“You will have a million teachers in your life but only one will truly stand out and be remembered. Being that one is a fantastic feeling. When you plant a thousand trees and see four or five start to blossom, it’s truly fantastic.”
