It was a very exciting summer of course, but it doesn’t provide for the long lasting success — you have to build that from the ground up, you have to make sure that you have the fundamentals right and the business works and then when the World Cup comes along, it is exciting, but then you’ve still got some fundamentals in place after that,” he continues.
Thinking strategically is something which Roberts clearly takes pride in, explaining that in every area — from source markets to staffing — there are clear plans in place for the future; though this doesn’t stop the company from recognising opportunity when it knocks, he says.
“In the short-term the recent unrest in the region has generated unexpected, very welcomed, demand in our hotels in the Middle East, and as a result, some hotels that came on line in the fourth quarter of last year were able to open with relatively high occupancies — probably higher than we anticipated and expected,” Roberts explains.
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“Subsequently, our two operating hotels in the UAE both have had very strong first quarters and we can see that momentum continuing in the near future.
We don’t have a lot of visibility looking into the fourth quarter of 2011, but nonetheless we are optimistic that the business that has come to the UAE in the last quarter will enjoy the fact that it is very easy to do business here, it is a very safe destination and they will perhaps begin to repeat their stays.”
Fairmont Hotels in the Middle East and North Africa
Fairmont has six hotels in the region:
UAE, Abu Dhabi — Fairmont Bab Al Bahr
Egypt, Cairo — Fairmont Towers, Heliopolis
Egypt, Cairo — Fairmont Heliopolis
Egypt, Cairo — Fairmont Nile City
UAE, Dubai — Fairmont Dubai
Saudi Arabia, Makkah — Makkah
Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont Hotel
About the company
Fairmont is one of three brands which make up Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (the other brands being Raffles and Swissôtel). Each brand has its own unique identity and each has a presence in the Middle East market — Fairmont with six hotels, Raffles with two, and Swissôtel with one hotel to open in Makkah this year.
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