LIVE from the Great GM Debate 2011
Keeping you up to date with the latest news, comments and pictures from Hotelier Middle East's Great GM debate.
8:30am A prompt bunch, the first few general managers have already started to arrive at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel conference room, and the Hotelier team has spotted Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing's director of hotel classification Majid Al Marri mingling.
8:45am Hotelier has a quick catch up with Al Marri, who said he's already spotted a host of familar faces among the event's first attendees. "I've had about 60 emails from general managers saying they'll be seeing me at today's GM Debate," he tells Hotelier. Sounds like it's going to be a busy day!
9:00am ITP Business group editor - hospitality Louise Oakley gives a friendly welcome to the audience, before handing over to Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority's director general HE Mubarak Al Muhairi, who spoke of the "I" factor, discussing issues such as investment, making an impact and innovation.
"Are you selling your destination as well as your hotel?" he asked the audience. "The two are interlinked."
Keep an eye on the live coverage as we'll be catching up for an exclusive interview with Al Muhairi shortly.
9:25am DTCM's Al Marri's takes over the mic talking about the new Dubai Hotel Classification system due to launch by the end of the year, it's exciting stuff.
He updates the general managers on regulations and visitor numbers to Dubai, shedding some light on the number of tourists expected to come to the emirate via the cruise industry.
"Over the coming years, DTCM expects cruise passengers to increase to 135 ships, with 475,000 passengers in 2012; 150 ships with 525,000 passengers in 2013; 165 ships with 575,000 passengers in 2014; and 180 ships with 625,000 passengers in 2015."
That's a lot of ships!
Following his speech, Al Marri kindly popped over to give the Hotelier news team some exclusive insights into the ins and outs of the new system. Don't miss October issue for the full report, including details of how he expects the changes to hotel classifications to impact average room rates in Dubai.
9:40am: The audience is transfixed as Viability Management Consultants partner and general manager Guy Wilkinson unveils the latest UAE hotel pipeline data: here's a sneak peek published earlier this week.
And you can download the full presentation here: download
In a nutshell:
- 58 projects had been ‘put on hold’ or cancelled altogether since the 2010 rankings, accounting for 15,757 potential rooms
- 98 projects had been delayed by between one and five years compared to their original programmes declared in 2010, and this is without taking into account that in many cases they were already behind schedule by at least a year last year
But it's certainly not all bad news...
- 167 projects were still bang on schedule, which represents 61% of the total, as compared to just 50% in 2010
10:00am: Our GMs weren't the only ones to find the "Where are we headed" panel discussion interesting, Arabian Travel News editor Monika Canty checked in at the Hotelier newsdesk to tell us more about the debate comprising:
- Chiheb Ben Mahmoud, Executive vice president, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels MEA (moderator)
- Manfred Simons, vice president of operations and development, Millennium & Copthorne Middle East
- Marwan Al Ali, senior vice president operations - Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Jumeirah Group
- Sami Al Ansari, CEO, Ishraq Holding
"There was an emphasis on the imortance of recognising all of the emirates as a single tourism destination and how that will happen in the future," she says.
"While the experts say the launch of a UAE Tourism Ministry was the first step towards this, it's been acknowledged that it still isn't happening yet."
On another note, Marwan Al Ali mentions the threat of more and more hotel rooms coming online in the emirates, suggesting that one strategy to alleviate this challenge was to target new inbound tourism markets.
According to Al Ali, since Dubai started to target the Chinese inbound tourist market to the UAE recently, Chinese nationals made up the majority of guests to stay in the Burj Al Arab, but one general manager in the audience disagreed.
"I'd be suprised if the Chinese business is that strong, as far as I'm aware this market only tides you over the summer as many Chinese travellers don't tend to be big spenders," Ian Rydin, GM, Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Downtown, told us after the discussion.
You know you've made a good point during a debate when it's met with a round of applause from the audience, and Sami Al Ansari was looking rather smug when that was exactly the response to his comment regarding the ongoing challenge of emiratisation in the UAE hospitality sector.
"We don't need a quota system for for employing UAE nationals it will only hinder the industry. The UAE doesn't understand the industry - we just need to change the mindset of Emirati nationals," he said.
Coffee break: So it's time for a coffee, but there's no rest for Hotelier's roving reporter Harriet Sinclair who catches up with some of the GMs to hear their thoughts on the first half of the Great GM Debate.
Qamardeen Hotel general manager John Aritho says he absolutely loved it! "It was a very relevant discussion in terms of supply in the market and what different experts think about what the future holds. It was interesting to hear about the marketing of the UAE as a whole."
Meanwhile, Bruno Guilloux, general manager at Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers in Dubai, said things were "so far, so good with everyone trying to predict the future", adding that despite the talk of marketing the UAE as a whole "you can still feel competition between Dubai and Abu Dhabi".
Some audience members weren't as happy with the outcomes of the "Where are we headed" panel session.
Emaar Hospitality Group director of revenue management and distribution Anjum Khan said "the panel did not give a concrete answer about what will happen next year". We're thinking, our experts may well be some of the best industry minds in the region, but we'll forgive them for not being able to positively predict the future. However, Khan expanded on this comment giving some of his own predictions for the future: "Next year it will be difficult to balance occupancy and rates due to a shift in GCC holidays."
"The debate did not look at how to manage rates. If people say they are increasing their budgets next year, we want to know how," he explained.
Well, we hope to be able to answer that one after one of this afternoon's revenue-themed workshops. We'll keep you posted.
Click through to the next page for live coverage from part two of the Great GM Debate.
11:15am: Our general managers have a choice of four conferences before lunch and we’ve already had word back of some heated discussions over issues close to the hearts of our hoteliers.
Our “Motivating and retaining staff” workshop presented by Craig Cochrane, vice president of HR – Middle East and Asia, Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts, got the general managers fired up about two key problem areas; one which also popped up earlier today - Emiratisation of the workforce.
A lack of hospitality trainee schools is making it even more challenging for hotels to employ UAE nationals and some fear that if forced to meet a quota, the issue of “phantom employees” will arise, according to the debate.
One of the most popular topics - if workshop subscriptions is anything to go by - is our “Making social media work for you – improving customer service and opening new revenue streams”. The workshop is being presented by Iconsulthotels founder Martin Kubler, who has so far given us the following headlines:
- The number one social media network to be on is Facebook, with the most users and the widest reach, every hotel should have a Facebook page, said Kubler
- Quality is better than quantity when it comes to fans, friends and followers
- There’s still much debate over who’s job description the social media aspect of marketing falls within
12:45pm: Time for a well-earned lunch for our general managers and hosts - the roast beef is going down a treat!
13:45pm: Back to the debate, and service is under scrutiny in the “Delivering world-class service” workshop presented by The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre, GM Lothar Quarz.
Find out more about how the hotel group ensures excellent service through training and empowering staff here.
Revenue is up for discussion in the “Boosting ancillary revenue” workshop presented by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts area director of sales and marketing Raki Phillips.
The GMs stressed the importance of creating additional revenue without upsetting the guests, which included a debate on whether internet should be charged and how to make more money on food and beverage.
The expert of the day on F&B revenue however is Hannes Bos, director of revenue management Middle East and Africa, InterContinental Hotels Group. He gave away some of IHG’s secrets in his workshop “Revenue management in F&B outlets”.
You’ll have to wait until the October issue of Caterer Middle East for the full low-down but in the meantime, his best advice to hoteliers wanting to maximise F&B revenue is to know the answers to the following questions:
1. Who are your F&B guests?
2. Where do they go for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
3. Why do they make these decisions?
4. What type of food and beverages do your guests consume?
While most of these answers can be gained from collating the information from a simple receipt, many hoteliers do not extract and analyse this content from their under-utilised, but highly-capable systems, according to Bos.
3:15pm: An afternoon caffeine boost before this afternoon’s panel discussion.