THERE are large numbers of Saudi young women working in the hospitality sector in Makkah. Many of these women hold key positions in the holy city’s five star hotels and shoulder big responsibilities and meet career challenges successfully, according to a report in Makkah daily. 

 

The outstanding performance of these women has been instrumental in removing the skepticism of a large number of people in Saudi society on whether women can succeed in the hospitality sector. Several women who spoke to Makkah daily said they managed to consolidate their positions in the hospitality sector after challenging the notion that women belong indoors and can only receive guests at their homes. 

 

Nihad Yamani, supervisor at Makkah Hilton, is one of the pioneering Saudi women who specialized in human resources (HR) at star hotels in the Kingdom. She said that women can do wonders in the hospitality sector and cited her own example to prove that Saudi women can scale heights of career performance in the hospitality sector. “I started my career as a customer service employee and then was promoted to section supervisor. With hard work and untiring efforts, I soon became a specialist in HR at the hotel.”

 

Referring to the secret of success in her career, Yamani said that she is keen on minute details of hospitality while serving guests. “This is part of the nature of a woman. They have the potential and intrinsic qualities to outshine men in the hospitality sector,” she said while underlining the need for creating more opportunities for women in this vital sector.

 

“Society should also look at us with a positive outlook,” she added. Iman Bushnaq, an employment specialist at Swissôtel Makkah, said young Saudi women are finding success in numerous positions in the hotel industry. “There are several women who work as HR officials, reservation staff and specialists. These positions are no longer the monopoly of Saudi men, and there have been tremendous changes in favor of women.”

 

Al-Jawhara Munawar works as an officer in charge of e-business, designing of ads and managing social networking sites at another star hotel in Makkah. Munawar is among a handful of Saudi women who took charge of such a mission at hotels in Makkah for the first time. “I enjoy doing all these jobs, in addition to taking photographs for events and running promotional ads for the hotel,” she said. Munawar joined the hotel as a staff at the reservation counter. 

 

Afnan Muadan, customer service employee at Swissôtel, said she and her colleagues faced some difficulties due to the reluctance of certain members of Saudi society to accept the reality of women working at hotels. “Even some Saudi officials maintained reservations in interacting with women staffers. On some occasions, customers who called the hotel would hang up the phone when they heard a female voice,” she said.

 

Discussing some of the obstacles women face at the workplace, Naeema Ibrahim said transportation between home and her workplace was one of the biggest problems facing working women. “The ongoing massive construction works and heavy traffic during the Haj and Umrah seasons in the holy city make it very difficult to reach work and return home,” she said. Noura Jafri, who is working as an official in charge of employment at Fairmont Makkah Hotel, sees the arrogance on the part of some young Saudi male staffers to obey their women superiors as the major hurdle faced by her and her colleagues. 

 

Rihab Hathout, an official at the reservation counter of another star hotel, said the most pressing problem faced by Saudi women staffers pertains to their lack of proficiency in English. “The majority of our colleagues as well as customers are foreigners and the only way to communicate with them is through English.”

 

Echoing the same view, Abeer Fakeerah, assistant director for employees’ affairs at Makkah Hilton, said hotel management recently started conducting English language proficiency courses for its staffers in an attempt to improve their communication skills.