Kieth Walter Ayuso Recognized as Commended HR Leader of the Year
A Pinoy pride honored for hospitality excellence from a prestigious award-giving group in the UAE.
The Middle East Hospitality Excellence Awards 2022 were presented to recognize outstanding businesses and unsung hoteliers for their accomplishments, brilliance, and competence in the flourishing hospitality industry in the MENA region. This year Kieth Walter Ayuso was recognized as the Commended HR Leader of the Year amongst the line-up of prominent hospitality executives in the Middle East. He was selected by the esteemed panel of Judges who all contributed significantly to shaping the region's finest hospitality services.
Kieth Walter, of Filipino descent, was a true testimony of servant leadership in and out of the corporate set-up. He was called to be a leader at a very young age when he entered the seminary at the age of 13 and underwent all human formation of becoming a priest for about 11 years. His passion for service continued right after the seminary formation when Kieth joined the HR department of a BPO company in the Philippines. For the record, he has not been in any other department to date apart from Human Resources.
He relocated to Dubai and ventured into the hospitality sector as a pre-opening HR of Ghaya Grand Hotel. He soon propelled his career by developing the HR core services at Emaar Hospitality Group as a Cluster HR for about six years. His service portfolio widened as he joined a UAE-based military defence company in Abu Dhabi as a Corporate HR Manager.
Presently, Kieth looks after the HR deliverables at Jannah Hotels & Resorts as the Corporate Director of Talent & Culture. His primary focus is to balance the People and Business strategy while staying humane amidst the inevitable development in the sector.
"A lot of credit must go to my team at Jannah Hotels & Resorts and all my previous HR teams in the region for moulding, mentoring, and pushing me to push my boundaries while remaining humane despite the difficult times. Being included in this year's list of recipients of the hospitality excellence awards has me speechless and eternally grateful. The main goal of HR is to make sure that our employees get the most out of their experiences—not just at work but also in their personal endeavours, career aspirations, and development plans. Because they need to feel confident and at ease with whatever they do outside of the demands of the workplace if they're going to be effective at work. True, maintaining one's mental health at work is essential, “says Kieth Walter.
Kieth also feels elated for bagging the Best Employer of the Year – Silver Award for Jannah Hotels & Resorts, which is certainly a testimony of how effective the HR team is with the full support of the management and operational leaders. Much has to be recognized for Jannah Hotels & Resorts for maintaining zero termination at a group level related to manning restructures brought about by the global pandemic.
