Former glass cleaner clinches Fairmont Hotels’ coveted award

When John King’ori joined Fairmont Hotels and Resorts 10 years ago, he started off with cleaning glasses at the bar.

As an untrained worker, his ambition was to one day serve Fairmont patrons as a waiter. Well, a lot of surprises lay in store for him. Fairmont is a five star global chain of hotels.

Since then, Mr King’ori has risen to become the food and beverage supervisor.

And in a show of lion-hearted determination, he trounced 26,000 employees of Fairmont’s global operations to clinch the Employee of the Year award in May.

He became the first African employee of the chain to scoop the prestigious award.

“Mine has been a case of looking for a meaning and focusing on a career that I begun with no hope of growing,” says the 32-year-old King’ori.

But what exactly does it take to win the award?

Every year, guests to the Fairmont chain write recommendations about services offered by staff.

Judgement is made from the variety of visitors’ recommendations.

“Winning this year’s award was due to referrals by past hotel guests that I served. This led to curiosity among new guests to the Mara Safari Club. This was evident in their recommendations about me. More importantly, other hotel staff from various countries who visited our branch recognised my work,” says Mr King’ori.

Thanks to his hard work, he is now Sh300,000 richer.

“During nominations it is hard to tell who will emerge the winner. There were 26,000 other employees contesting for the same title, which made the process very unpredictable. All along I ensured that I maintained high performance while hoping to be chosen as winner of the prestigious award,” adds Mr King’ori.

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts has operations in Europe, America, Asia and Africa — in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. Locally, the chain made its entrance into the hospitality industry in 2006 by acquiring five properties.

They include Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, Mara Safari Club, The Ark, and Aberdare Country Club.

According to Mara Safari Club general manager Munene Ngotho, winning the award is a great honour not only to the group but to the entire Kenyan hospitality industry as it demonstrates the potential that lies in the country.

“We are extremely proud that one of our colleagues has been chosen as the Fairmont employee of the year. This honour demonstrates that we attract and retain the best people and that we have individuals who truly understand the value of providing service — and naturally provide it to our guests,” says Mr Ngotho.

Mr King’ori says the award is the beginning of a long journey, adding that he plans to crown his career with a hotel manager’s job.

A lot of exposure

“After being declared the winner in the tightly contested award, I have received a lot of exposure that has led me to receive numerous job offers. However, of more importance to me now is to build my career. I owe this award to my colleagues at Mara Safari Club and the whole company. I am dedicating my time to training other staff so that we all become perfect,” says Mr King’ori.

Just like in any other career, the hospitality industry calls for passion and dedication.

“For career development, ensure that you are in the right field then develop love and passion for your job.

“Work not because you are under supervision but because you are passionate about it. This way there is bound to be better communication and relation between you, colleagues, and customers,” he says.

Mara Safari Club has not only received recognition among other Fairmont hotels for producing the employee of the year, it has also been ranked the third best hotel in the world and best resort in Africa and the Middle East, according to this year’s annual World’s Best Hotels list by the Travel + Leisure magazine.