Abdullah Faiz, Rooms Division Director at Villa Park

Abdullah Faiz first joined the Villa Resorts group in September 1995, two years after starting his career in the Maldives Tourism industry. This year he will celebrate a milestone 30 years in the tourism industry. Hailing from Addu, his family lives abroad in Malaysia where he frequently travels. With a consistent dedication to guest services and the passion to ensure every guest need is met with exceptional and authentic hospitality from the heart.

Sharing his knowledge and passion for hospitality is what drives Faiz and he relishes every opportunity to make a positive difference and pass on his acquired knowledge to aspiring hoteliers joining the industry. In conversation with Faiz, he explains he always aspires to be the kind of person that will acknowledge weaknesses and work on improving where needed. Within his guest facing role, there is always areas to improve and enhance the overall guest experience.

My first role in the hospitality industry was as a billing clerk in one of the main bar outlets at Kurumba Village Resort. After working for some months, I then moved to Bandos Island and worked there for one and half years. As I started to learn more about the industry, I discovered my passion for guest service. My journey at Villa Resorts started when I saw an advert for a cashier at Paradise Island Resort & Spa and I took the chance and applied. At the time there was only Fun Island, Holiday Island and Paradise Island Resort & Spa was just starting to open. As the pioneering family-run business, the group was very prominent in the Maldives tourism industry and had really started to establish a name in the industry. I was thrilled to join the team and begin a new and exciting journey.

I joined Paradise Island Resort & Spa in 1995 and worked there for 3 years as a cashier in the finance department. Then I got the opportunity to move to Sun Island Resort & Spa as a Cashier also in the finance department where I worked until 2011 before I took on a dream new role within the front desk finance team as Chief Cashier at Sun Island. My past experience working as a cashier collector prepared me for interacting with guests and having that personal touch.

Since day one joining the family-run company, I have been given a lot of opportunities. Even within my first year working at Paradise Island, I got two promotions. I started as an outlet cashier, and was promoted to become the front desk cashier. Within three years of working for the company, I had achieved the second top position within the department when I was promoted to Assistant Chief Cashier. When I moved to Sun Island Resort & Spa, within only 8 months at the resort I became the head of the cashiering department and was reporting directly to the General Manger.

“Throughout each step of my journey in the tourism industry and with Villa Resorts, I feel I have been gaining substantial knowledge and valuable experience which has prepared me for my current role, daily operations and any challenges that I may face.”

My role is primarily guest service focused. I handle all arrivals and departures on a daily basis. We make sure every guest we receive is given a warm welcome and taken care of during their stay. I assist guests with planning excursions and ensuring any guest requirements are met with exceptional hospitality which we prioritize. I also meet with our press and media visits on arrival.

I believe our guests travel with the peace of mind that they will be well taken care of and choose to visit us year after year, often requesting the same villa to stay in. We understand the importance of personalized service and unique experiences to create those once-in-a-lifetime moments that our guests wish to cherish from their Maldives vacation.

“We have a lot of repeater guests who stay with us at Sun Island. Yesterday I received my diamond guests who are visiting the resort for the 11th time and we also have repeaters which have visited for 40 times. We are fortunate to have built a connection with our loyal guests.”

I always strive to be a better version of myself. I believe there is always room for improvement and we never stop learning. I often ask my team to comment on areas where I can improve and adapt to new ways of working. I believe working alone, no one can achieve success, however as a team we can achieve in anything. I always aspire to be the kind of person that will acknowledge my weaknesses and work on improving them. I often ask my team to comment on areas where I can improve and I am always open to adapt to new ways of working.

One thing I admire, is how the company really recognizes their colleagues and rewards consistency, dedication and hard work. Villa Resorts present incredible opportunities to grow and develop. I wish to highlight certain people who have been part of my journey over the last 27 years, who without them my journey would not have been as memorable or successful. Firstly, I would like to highlight the Chairman Honorable Gasim Ibrahim, the Managing Director and executive team, the General Managers of the resorts, particularly the current General Manager at Sun Island, and a special acknowledgement to all my colleagues who have worked with me throughout the years.

“People ask me why I have worked so long for the same company. My answer is that every day is not always the same. It is almost like travelling to different parts of the world as I meet people from an average of 10-20 countries a day. Interacting with different cultures and nationalities and learning their story is so inspiring and keeps me motivated and driven in my role.”

In this industry it is so important to be punctual, dedicated and try to learn quickly so that you will have a better work environment the more you adapt and learn from your team. It is important to be focused and committed at all times on duty. With a good work ethic, a young hotelier can progress far within the industry as I feel this is one of the best industries for opportunities and to grow to become leaders.

I am proud to say that we have a good number of locals leading the team at Sun Island. In addition, all of the General Managers at Villa Resorts are Maldivian and 90% of the department heads are locals.

I do believe it is important as someone working in guest services to take time off from work to refresh. In my spare time I love to travel and visit different countries. I am also really interested in enhancing my world affairs knowledge which supports my role as guests from around the world often ask a range of questions. My colleagues will also ask me for advice on things as they know I will have the answer.

I am happy to be a part of the Villa groups rebranding currently taking place. I can say that myself and a lot of our team members have been part of the vision towards the new transformation. From the beginning I have been part and we have a huge plan to uplift the guest experience. Not only the villas and facilities have been transformed, but a total transformation is reflected in our enhanced and authentic guest service.

Earlier this year we held the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour at the extensive mermaid beach where we welcomed top volleyball players from around the world. The Beach Pro Tour is a worldwide beach volleyball tour for both men and women and it was an honor and great opportunity for Sun Island to be the official Maldives host. In addition, we have organized a lot of big events at Sun Island where we have even had over 800 people attend. Organizing large group events like this has been part of our history at Villa Resorts and I am pleased to have been a part of these large events.

During the past 27 years many interesting experiences we have had with guests, which include helping guests during the Tsunami which came to Maldives, during covid and during the Russian and Ukraine conflict.

When the Tsunami hit, we were not badly affected at Sun Island Resort, but we took guests from other resorts which had been damaged or affected and took care of them at Sun Island. During that time there was a lot of coordinating for people to get back home safely. The unfortunate crisis which came following the conflict with Russia and Ukraine.

We supported guests in helping with their flights and accommodation in Male until they could travel back home. It was a challenging time that really tested us as a team in offering the highest level of guest care and service.

Sun Island Resort is the first resort in the Maldives to be awarded the International Environmental Green Key award, a leading standard of excellence in the field of environmental responsibility and sustainable operation within the tourism industry. The resort has invested in Solar energy installed by Swimsol Maldives, a global leader in offshore photovoltaics, which aids in the resorts production of clean, renewable energy. Today the resort uses 20% of energy sources from the solar panel grid to power the property. The target is to reach 30% by the end of 2022.

To achieve our efforts in reducing plastic waste, particularly single use plastic, we have established Island Resort, but we took guests from other resorts which had been damaged or affected and took care of them at Sun Island. During that time there was a lot of coordinating for people to get back home safely. The unfortunate crisis which came following the conflict with Russia and Ukraine. our own bottling plant, which will be used as general drinking water within the island. Moreover, a brand new technology by SensorFlow will be installed in the guest villas and will drastically reduce the electricity used in the guest
rooms.

I take pride in telling our guests and attendees at the awards shows about everything we do at the resort. I was part of the team that attended the SATA awards (South Asian Travel Awards) and have contributed towards our various awards which include Leading Green Resort in the World Travel Awards and Leading Sustainable Honeymoon Resort in the UK Marie Claire Sustainability Awards.

“I have always been involved in our environmental and ocean conservation initiatives at the resort and also attended awards where we have been presented with notable achievements for our commitment to preserving the fragile Maldives environment.”